Full version, low resolution, 7.5MB - InterRidge
Full version, low resolution, 7.5MB - InterRidge
Full version, low resolution, 7.5MB - InterRidge
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
National News<br />
New Zealand<br />
Richard Wysoczanski, Christian Timm and Malcolm Clark<br />
The past year has been an extremely busy year with a new research<br />
initiative announced, a further research cruise conducted and several<br />
planned, and the added excitement of multiple volcanic eruptions<br />
from the Kermadec Arc. As well as continued activity from<br />
Monowai and new activity from the active White Island volcano,<br />
there was an eruption from Havre Volcano, which has had no<br />
known recent activity. This eruption produced an extensive (482 km<br />
x 48 km) raft of pumice, which was spotted and sampled by the<br />
HMNZS Canterbury on route from Auckland to Raoul Island.<br />
Satellite imagery confirmed an ash plume over Havre Volcano on the<br />
18th and 19th July that coincided with a cluster of earthquakes.<br />
Research voyages<br />
A survey in April 2012 (TAN1206: Clarke, voyage leader) was<br />
completed to the northeast of New Zealand, which sampled depths<br />
between 700 m and 1500 m with various combinations of towed<br />
camera, beam trawl, epibenthic sled, multicorer and boxcorer gear.<br />
The sites included 3 seamounts in the southern section of the<br />
Kermadec back-arc, two of which are hydrothermally active.<br />
Notable on these latter features were the first observations of live<br />
vent fauna on Tangaroa seamount, comprising stalked barnacles<br />
(Vulcanolepis o’sheaii), bathymodiolid mussels (Gigantidas gladius, Fig.<br />
1) and alvinocarid shrimps. Stalked barnacles were also seen on Clark<br />
seamount, but the extent of these appears much reduced from<br />
previous records from submersible dives as part of the Ring of Fire<br />
Expedition in 2005.<br />
The information on faunal communities will be incorporated into an<br />
assessment of the vulnerability of the different habitats to human<br />
activities. This is largely directed at the effects of bottom trawl<br />
fisheries, but there is increasing interest within New Zealand to mine<br />
polymetallic sulphides, which are mainly found on the Kermadec<br />
arc volcanoes.<br />
In September 2012 the GNS scientist Fabio Caratori-Tontini will<br />
join the R/V Roger Revelle, which will include scientists from<br />
University of Washington, NOAA/PMEL, Oregon State University,<br />
SOEST (Hawaii), Australian National University (Australia), WHOI<br />
and University of Bremen (Germany) to investigate the seafloor in<br />
the NE Lau Basin using Bremen’s ROV Quest.<br />
A research voyage (TAN1213 or ‘NIRVANA’) to the Kermadec arc<br />
will be conducted in October 2012 (Wysoczanski, voyage leader) by<br />
scientists from NIWA, GNS and Auckland University. This voyage<br />
will conduct further multichannel seismic surveys of the Kermadec<br />
Arc region to add to surveys completed during the TAN1007<br />
(‘KARMA’) voyage. Deep (> 2500 m) basins will also be sampled for<br />
geological and biological specimens. This voyage is also the first<br />
opportunity to investigate the recent Havre Volcano eruption, with<br />
Figure 1: Gigantidas gladius retrieved from Tangaroa volcano<br />
during the research voyage TAN1206. Photo courtesy of Rob<br />
Stewart, NIWA.<br />
multibeam mapping and possible sampling of the volcano to be<br />
undertaken.<br />
<strong>InterRidge</strong> Island Arc and Back arc (BI-ARC) working<br />
group<br />
Cornel de Ronde (GNS) and Richard Wysoczanski (NIWA) were<br />
involved in establishing a new <strong>InterRidge</strong> working group, chaired by<br />
Maria Seton and Cornel de Ronde. The first meeting was held at the<br />
IGC conference in Brisbane in August.<br />
Special Issue of Economic Geology<br />
Cornel de Ronde (GNS), Dave Butterfield (NOAA/PMEL) and<br />
Matt Leybourne (GNS, now at ALS Geochemistry, Canada) guest<br />
edited a special issue on the metallogeny of intraoceanic arcs. Eleven<br />
papers were accepted and the special issue will appear in December<br />
this year.<br />
New Zealand/German-led IODP workshop to drill the<br />
active hydrothermal system at Brothers volcano,<br />
Kermadec arc<br />
The workshop, funded by ECORD (European consortium for<br />
ocean research drilling), will be held in Lisbon, Portugal and aims to<br />
prepare an IODP proposal to drill into an active hydrothermal<br />
system hosted by a submarine intraoceanic arc volcano offshore<br />
New Zealand. Both the workshop and IODP proposal will be led by<br />
Cornel de Ronde (GNS Science, New Zealand) and Wolfgang Bach<br />
(University of Bremen, Germany) with 30 scientists invited from<br />
around the globe.<br />
INTERRIDGE NEWS 42 VOL.21, 2012
Change language