Brendan Reilly is headed this weekend to Singapore where he will join IODP scientists, staff and crew aboard the RV Joides Resolution for Exp. 354 Bengal Fan. He will be working with the other shipboard paleomagnetists to develop the initial magnetostratigraphy and chronology for the recovered sediments.
From the IODP website:
The Bengal Fan Expedition…will drill a transect of sites across the middle Bengal Fan to obtain a Neogene and late Paleogene record of Himalayan orogeny and climate. The objectives are to investigate interactions among the growth of the Himalaya and Tibet, the development of the Asian monsoon, and processes affecting the carbon cycle and global climate.
One deep penetration site aims to document the early stages of Himalayan erosion, the India-Eurasia collision, and the development of the Himalaya and Tibet. The transect will constrain the Neogene development of the Asian monsoon, its impact on sediment supply and flux, and allow quantitative studies of the interrelations of climate change and sediment accumulation. Sediments obtained will document (1) uplift history through erosional flux and deposition patterns and detailed geochronology of minerals, (2) Himalayan evolution from isotopic tracing of particle origin and age, and (3) environmental and climate conditions through sediment granulometry, mineralogy and geochemistry, organic matter composition and oxygen isotopes of microfossils.
For more information on the expedition, check out the expedition webpage, this feature from the CEOAS website, and stay tuned for updates on the OSU P-Mag Lab Exp. 354 blog.
