RV Pelagia PE401 (Fe Vici, GApr05)
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | RV Pelagia (64PE) |
| Cruise identifier | PE401 (Fe Vici, GApr05) |
| Cruise period | 2015-08-31 — 2015-09-17 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Istanbul, Turkey |
| Port of return | Varna, Bulgaria |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | This cruise forms part of the Vici Project "Response of the Iron Biogeochemical Cycle on Continental Shelves to Seawater Deoxygenation" funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The project involves partners in the Netherlands (Utrecht University, UU and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research; NIOZ), Romania (GeoEcoMar) and the United States (Rutgers University). The project builds on knowledge gained during the PHOXY project which included research cruises to the Black Sea in 2013 (with RV Pelagia) and in 2014 (with Mare Nigrum).
The aim of this cruise was to gain insight into the mechanisms and rates of iron release from sediments on the northwestern shelf of the Black Sea and the lateral transport of iron (and other trace metals) over the shelf to the adjacent anoxic basin. We are specifically interested in (1) the relationship of sediment iron release with changes in bottom water oxygen concentrations (2) the role of bioirrigating fauna for iron release (3) the potential role of cable bacteria in the sediment for iron release to the porewater (4) the form in which Fe is transported over the shelf. Sampling took place along the same redox transect sampled during the PHOXY cruise to the Black Sea in 2013 with some additional stations on the shelf. The Fe Vici cruise has been endorsed as a GEOTRACES process study and will follow International GEOTRACES protocols relating to intercalibration, methodology and data management. |
| Chief scientist | Caroline P Slomp (University of Utrecht, Department of Earth Sciences - Geochemistry) |
| Project | GEOTRACES -Trace elements and their isotopes in the water column |
| Cruise report |  (3.08 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | Black Sea |
| Specific | Romanian shelf in the Northwest Black Sea and the adjacent Romanian and Bulgarian deep waters. |
| Track charts | (0.32 MB) |
