Trigger for earthquakes in focus

Jul 25, 2018

The expedition team is going to install borehole observatories. Photo: MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen

Events that trigger landslides and earthquakes are the focus of MARUM's M149 expedition, which takes the team to the Gulf of Cadiz off the Portuguese-Spanish coast and the western Alboran Sea. Earthquakes regularly occur in this region on the southern edge of Europe, the epicenters of which are located both on land and on the ocean floor. Possible triggers of natural hazards include active plate tectonics and fluid movements in the ocean floor.

Every quake and every landslide leaves relics in the ocean floor in the form of sediment deposits. On this expedition with the research vessel METEOR, the seabed drill rig MARUM-MeBo70 and a gravity corer will be used to drill as long sediment sequences as possible. They help to better investigate and assess the sequence of natural events and their hazard potential, explains MARUM chief scientist Dr. Andre Hüpers. The team also wants to investigate the consequences of fluid flows under water. The scientists will measure heat flows and install borehole observatories at three locations with MARUM-MeBo70. Another goal of the expedition is to measure the region with Multibeam and Parasound and to record temperature progressions.

More Information, weekly reports and log entries during the expedition

Position of RV METEOR

During the cruise the sea floor drill rig MARUM-MeBo70 is deployed. Photo: MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen — Auf der Fahrt wird das Meeresbodenbohrgerät MARUM-MeBo70 eingesetzt. Foto: MARUM - Zentrum für Marine Umweltwissenschaften, Universität Bremen