RRS Charles Darwin CD105A
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | RRS Charles Darwin (74AB) |
| Cruise identifier | CD105A |
| Cruise period | 1997-05-29 — 1997-06-09 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Lisbon, Portugal |
| Port of return | Vigo, Spain |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | This cruise (leg) was the first of the EC-MAST Ocean Margin Exchange (OMEX) project phase II-II focusing on the NW Iberian continental shelf and slope. It carried out multibeam echo-sounding, associated side-scan and 3.5kHz sounding to map the sea-bed bathymetry and structure. Box and Kasten coes were taken to analyse the bed sediment structure for age, content, magnetic susceptability and other determinands to estimate deposition rates from the water above, the fate of deposited material and a record through thousands of years in which to place the present processes.
A trial inverted echo sounder deployment was also carried out. |
| Chief scientist | John Huthnance (Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory) |
| Project | OMEX II-II |
| Coordinating body | Universite Libre de Bruxelles |
| Cruise report |  (1.82 MB) (2.43 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | North East Atlantic Ocean (limit 40W) |
| Specific | The continental slope off NW Portugal and Spain |
| Track charts | (0.08 MB) |
| Measurements | |
| Physical oceanography | |
| Bathythermograph | Quantity: number of stations = 8 Description: XBT for swath bathymetry sound velocity |
| Other physical oceanographic measurements | Quantity: number of stations = 1 Description: Sound velocity profiler for swath bathymetry |
| Geology and geophysics | |
| Core - soft bottom | Quantity: number of stations = 4 Description: Kasten cores near 41deg48'N, depths - 110, 1600, 2700m |
| Core - soft bottom | Quantity: number of stations = 9 Description: Box cores. Subsamples taken for different analyses by Dr. Hall and Dr. J-L Reyss |
| Multi-beam echosounding | Quantity: activity duration in days = 10 Description: Multibeam echosounding for swath bathymetry |
| Long/short range side scan sonar | Quantity: activity duration in days = 10 Description: Side-scan sonar associated with RRS Darwin Simrad Multi-beam echosounding |
| Single channel seismic reflection | Quantity: activity duration in days = 10 Description: 3.5kHz sounder (paper chart) |
| Moorings, landers, buoys | |
| Physical oceanography | |
| Sea level (inc. bot. press., inverted echosounder) | 42° 23' 11" N 9° 29' 29" W — Inverted Echo Sounder one at 1350m deployed 31 May 1997 recovered 8 June 1997 |
| Data held at BODC | |
| Discrete samples | |
| 8 Expendable Bathythermograph | Temperature of the water column |
| 4 Kasten corer | Stable isotopes in sediment Geological sample density Geological sample magnetic, electrical and acoustic properties Sediment water content, porosity and surface area Inorganic chemical composition of sediment or rocks Sediment grain size parameters Carbon concentrations in sediment |
| 10 Sample taken from ship's non-toxic supply | Salinity of the water column |
