Duration: 05.09.2011 - 23.09.2011
Harbours: Killibegs-Galway (Irland)
Fahrtleiter:  Dr Aggeliki Georgiopoulou, UCD School of Geological Sciences, University College Dublin
Future Ocean participants: Sebastian Krastel, Kim Trappe, Matthias Grün

Rockall Trough
The Rockall Trough and its margins offshore Western Ireland form a valuable natural laboratory holding information on slope stability, sediment transport, bottom ocean currents, and glacial/interglacial history and yet it is a relatively lightly-studied area.

New seismic and sedimentological data across the northern Rockall Trough were collected during a cruise with the Irish Research Vessel Celtic Explorer in September 2011 in the frame of the Irish "National Research Vessels 2011 SHIP-TIME PROGRAMME" (Lead PI: Dr Aggeliki Georgiopoulou, UCD School of Geological Sciences, University College Dublin).

This interdisciplinary cruise aims in

• i) studying the submarine landslide deposits and especially their spatial extent and temporal distribution as well as internal architecture,
• ii) examining the effect glacial cycles, and in particular the last British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS), had on the sedimentary processes occurring on the NW Irish continental slope, and
• iii) determining the relationship between the temperature-salinity structure of the water column and backscatter observed on acoustic data.

 

Current position of the Celtic Explorer