RRS Charles Darwin CD56
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | RRS Charles Darwin (74AB) |
| Cruise identifier | CD56 |
| Cruise period | 1991-02-11 — 1991-03-13 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain |
| Port of return | Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | The specific objectives of the UWCC cruise on RRS Darwin were as follows:
1. To improve our knowledge of the processes transporting sediments on continental margins; particularly with regard to the origin, pathways and ultimate destination of the sediments, and the differing roles played by sediment slides and debris flows versus turbidiity currents. 2. To examine in detail the flow, erosional, and depositional processes associated with the Saharan Sediment Slide (Embley, 1976) and its associated debris flows and the turbidity current channel systems on the Saharan continental rise. 3. To elucidate the timing of the flow events, and the extent to which the slide was a single or multi-phase event. 4. To determine the interactions between slide processes and turbidity current processes, and in particular the extent to which the slide generated turbidity currents. The main tool to tackle these objectives was to be the TOBI sidescan and profiler which would be used in at least two detailed study areas on the continental rise that had been selected from existing GLORIA data. The surveys were to be bottom transponder-navigated and were to be supplemented by precisely navigated core sampling and bottom camera runs with the WASP vehicle. Subsiduary objectives related to: studies of diagenetic processes in the upper few meters of pelagic sediments in this region of the North Atlantic basin, as part of UWCC's involvement in the B.O.F.S community programme: and geotechnical investigations of slope stability around the Canaries. |
| Chief scientist | Robert B Kidd (University College Cardiff Geology Department) |
| Cruise report |  (0.42 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | North East Atlantic Ocean (limit 40W) |
| Specific | NW Africa |
| Track charts |  |
| Measurements | |
| Geology and geophysics | |
| Core - soft bottom | Quantity: number of cores = 6 Description: Box and Kasten cores, pore water extraction on ship |
| Core - soft bottom | Quantity: number of cores = 12 Description: Piston cores, p-wave logged on board ship |
| Core - soft bottom | Quantity: number of cores = 13 Description: Kasten cores, geotechnical measurements aboard ship |
| Bottom photography | Quantity: track kilometres = 9.26 Description: WASP survey camera runs |
| Geophysical measurements made at depth | Quantity: track kilometres = 360 Description: TOBI magnetometer |
| Geophysical measurements made at depth | Quantity: track kilometres = 360 Description: TOBI sidescan and profiler (deep tows) |
| Single-beam echosounding | Quantity: track kilometres = 3240 Description: 3.5kHz high resolution seismic/echo sounder profiles |
| Single-beam echosounding | Quantity: track kilometres = 3240 Description: SIMRAD wide beam echosounder |
| Single channel seismic reflection | Quantity: track kilometres = 770 Description: single channel air gun profiles (analogue and digital) |
