Over time sediment accumulates on the ocean floor. Typically this process is gradual and a cross section of the sediment below the seafloor reveals layer upon layer of deposits. By taking cores with different target depths, scientists can make chemical measurements on sediment samples to gain insight into the ocean and climate across timescales ranging from the modern day to hundreds of thousands of years ago.
LongCoreRecoveries
KNR197-3 Long Coring Sites
Long coring sites relative to water column salinity
We recovered 12 long cores at a variety of depths between 556 and 3,089 meters below the surface.
The range in salinity values across the water column suggests the presence of different water masses at the Demerara Rise - AAIW with low salinity centered at ~ 800 m water depth, and saltier NADW below. The distribution of cores over a range of depths in tandem with the extended records that were recovered with WHOI’s long core system will shed light on changes in deep water geometry on time scales ranging from centuries to millennia in our highest accumulation rate cores to orbital time scales in our lower accumulation rate cores.
For results of MST scanning, visit the stratigraphic results page