Moving Off the Ophiolite Standard

The Galapagos
Click on the image above for  the lovely details
Source: Google Earth

Another of ma belle soeur's is Barbara (Bobbie) John. Bobbie is a research geologist who teaches at the University of Wyoming. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, she chatted with me about her upcoming cruise. We're not talking kicking back with a Mai Tai on the Lido Deck, and checking out the action in the deep end of the pool. At the end of this quarter, Bobbie's going to head off on a jaunt aboard the Joides Resolution to study the action a good ways down beneath the ocean waves.

Out there on the Cocos Plate, west of the Galapagos there's a V-shaped ridge known as Hess Deep. The Deep is a crack under the ocean. Once aboard the ship, Bobbie and the rest of the gang will be drilling a hole down into Hess Deep, and recovering the rock (which at that point will be known as drill core) that comes back up in the drill rod to see what they've found.

How far will y'all be a' drillin' Bobbie? 

OK...we're drill at approx 4872 m below sea level....so  roughly 15980 feet or nearly 1500 feet deeper than Mt Whitney is above sea level (if that helps).  This depth is likely not totally accurate as we have to find a drill site and then go for it...will keep you updated as we go. 

Adios.

Bobbie

And why bother?

Because the current model research scientists have of what lies below the ocean crust in the Cocos plate, is based on rocks transported far from their origin onto remote continents, by tectonic forces (plate tectonic uplift). Geologists refer to these ancient assembleges as ophiolites. Ain't that a beautiful name? 

On this trip, the folks on the Joides Resolution want to see the fresh stuff. They are planning to get a more accurate picture of what lies under the ocean right there, right now, in situ. 

Check Out Hess Deep
by Clicking on the Image above
A V-Shaped Crack in the Bathysphere
West of the Galapagos