Korean Post Cruise Analysis

On January 21st Peter and Melanie joined scientists from the Korean Institute of Geology, Mining and Materials (KIGAM) and took the 7 remaining pressure cores retrieved from the UBGH expedition back in Oct 2007, to a local hospital for CT scanning. From Feb 8th-20th, Peter and Melanie teamed up with a science and engineering group from Georgia Tech and Lehigh University to perform some post cruise analysis on the pressure cores.

Using specialised equipment, the physical properties of the cores were able to examined under in situ conditions. Core measurements of P and S wave, shear strength, electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity were performed using invasive techniques whilst the cores remained stable under high pressure and at low temperature. These measurements continued for some cores during a controlled degassing phase, allowing investigation into the physical dynamics of the cores caused by hydrate dissociation.

The slow release of pressure from another core provided a detailed insight into the nature of hydrate dissociation and allowed for a quantitative analysis of the gas released. Other cores were degassed rapidly, sectioned, and either sampled for geochemical analysis or preserved in LN2 for future study.