Sea Floor Exploration: Scientific Adventures Diving into the Abyss

378 Pages·2014·10.06 MB·English

by  Roger Hekinian (auth.)

Springer Oceanography
Roger Hekinian
Sea Floor
Exploration
Scientific Adventures Diving into the
Abyss
Sea Floor Exploration
Springer Oceanography
For furthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/10175
Roger Hekinian
Sea Floor Exploration
Scientific Adventures Diving into the Abyss
123
Roger Hekinian
Saint-Renan
France
ISBN 978-3-319-03202-3 ISBN 978-3-319-03203-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-03203-0
SpringerChamHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2013955911
(cid:2)SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2014
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I dedicate this book to my children Aram,
Diran and Anna, and to the future,
which will be discovered
by my grandchildren
Preface
I decided to write about my experience at sea on the 8th of October 2002, while
sailing on board the German research vessel F.S. SONNE. Looking out at the
ocean,Isuddenlynoticedthattimewaspassing tooquicklyandIseemed tohave
more difficulty remembering previous cruises and discoveries. At that time,
IthoughtthiswouldhavebeenmylastcruiseandIshouldsummarizewhatIhave
learned during all these years.
NowthatIhavefinishedwritingthistext,Imustadmitthat2002wascertainly
nottheyearofmylastcruise.Indeed,sincethenIcontinuedtogotoseaeveryyear
until 2005. The Research Vessel F.S. SONNE is particularly important to me
because I have navigated more than 14 months on this ship from 1986 to 2005.
That is more time than I’ve spent on any other research vessel.
The history of our planet Earth is written in the rocks. The record left on the
emerged continents indicates that water has been a major architect shaping our
planet.Sincethemagmaoceanformingourearlyplanetmorethan4billionyears
agocooledandgaverisetoblueseawaterandtheatmosphere,Earthhasbecomea
haven for living organisms. Many species have evolved and disappeared, while
othernewoneshaveappearedandflourishedeversincethefirstorganisms,inthe
form of bacteria, were born in the earliest periods of Earth’s existence.
Ashumans,ourimpactduringourshorttimeonEarthisinsignificant.Humans
cannot alter the course of Earth’s evolution but rather they have to adapt. Our
livingplanetisinconstantmotion;itsoutershelliscreatedthroughthetransferof
molten mantle at spreading ridge axes and will eventually disappear inside the
deep Earth to regenerate itself again.
Thisbookconcludeswithmylastdivingexperiencelookingatanareanearthe
Tonga-Kermadecsubductionzone,whereoldcrustisbeingreturnedtothemantle
to be re-melted once again. While old lithosphere is disappearing, new crust is
being created to form a volcanic arc.
When looking at a map of the Earth it might appear that the ocean and the
continents are immutable, and one might think that they have always been there,
thatnothinghaschangedsincetheircreation.Thisisjustanillusionduetothebrief
timewehumanshavespentonthisplanet,asopposedtotheEarth’srocks,which
haveageologicaltimescaleandarerelatedtothebeginningoftheUniverse,which
occurred 15 billion years ago.
vii
viii Preface
Ihavewrittenthisbooktogivethereaderthefruitofmyexperienceandsome
oftheinformationwehavegleanedduringmy45yearsasamarinegeologistand
volcanologist.Ifyouclosethisbookabitwiseraboutthemysteriesofourplanet,
I will be pleased to think that I have fulfilled my work as an author.
Acknowledgments
Iwouldliketothankmywifeforherhelpandencouragementinwritingthisbook,
andforherpatienceandencouragementduringmyyearsofactivityasascientist.
Havinglivedthoughsomanyexcitingexperienceswhilelearningaboutourplanet,
my retirement has been like a prison where I’ve chafed at the confinements of
living a ‘‘normal life’’ each day. My wife says I am like a dormant volcano, just
waitingforanotherchancetoexplode,toexplore,andtomeetthenewchallenges
that life has to offer. Maybe she is right.
This book would not have been possible without the collaboration and help of
my colleagues, many of whom were involved in the sea-going expeditions I have
participated in over the years. I am particularly indebted to the captains and
officers that were responsible for the research vessels and the submersibles. The
ships’ crews, and the groups involved in the maintenance and the operational
aspect of the submersible dives are also warmly acknowledged. I would also like
tothankProf.RodeyBatiza,PeterStoffers,andStevenScottwhohavetakentime
to comment parts of this work.
ix
Contents
1 An Overview of Oceanographic Exploration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Ocean Explorers and Pioneers in Oceanography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Colleagues and Collaborators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Chronic Seasickness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Back to Lamont. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Cnexo-Ifremer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Personal Feelings and Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Scientific Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Preparing an Expedition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Life on Board a Research Vessel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Team Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Communicating Scientific Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2 Our Haven, Planet Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
The Birth of Planet Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
The Solid Earth’s Interior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
The Core . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
The Mantle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
The Lithosphere-Crust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Water on Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Why Seawater is Salty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
How Deep Can Seawater Penetrate into the Earth’s Lithosphere? . . . 35
Hydrosphere-Atmosphere Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Formation of Continents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Large Igneous Provinces (LIP) as a Nucleus
for Continent Accretion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Volcanic Arcs: Possible Sites of Crustal Accretion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Continental Drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Plate Tectonics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Mantle Convection Currents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
xi