RV METEOR M84/2

M84/2 from February 26 until April 2, 2011

Istanbul - Trabzon - Istanbul

In the frame of R/V METEOR'S 84th cruise, 2nd leg, several drillings with the seafloor drill rig (MeBo) are planned in the Black Sea. On this occasion the first 50 metres shall be examined at selected locations on the distribution, composition and structure of gas hydrates, in order to come to conclusions about the dynamics of methane hydrates. For the first time ever autoclave sediment samples shall be taken from deeper layers of the Black Sea (under in-situ pressure of the seafloor) by means of the recently developed MeBo-pressure core sampler (MDP), so that for the first time a quantification of gas hydrates will be possible in the Black Sea. The research areas are in Ukraine (Kerch-Flare), in Georgia (Pechorie Mound, Kolkheti Seep and Batumi Seep) as well as in Turkey (seeps at Archangelsky Ridge). Besides the drillings several acoustic measurements of the gas emersions will be executed with the ship's own devices (EM710; EM122 and Parasound), as well as their micro bathymetry and taking micro backscatter samples with the AUV SEAL 5000.