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USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program

Field Activity Details for field activity 1979-013-FA

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Other ID: GS-7903-3

Status: Completed

Organization(s): USGS, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Funding Program(s):

Principal Investigator(s): John M. Aaron

Affiliate Investigator(s):

Information Specialist(s):

Data Type(s): Electro-Magnetic: Gravity, Electro-Magnetic: Magnetics, Location-Elevation: Navigation, Seismics: Air Gun / Water Gun, Seismics: Sparker, Seismics: Sub Bottom Profiler, Sonar: Single Beam

Scientific Purpose/Goals: 1. Determine location, extent, morphology, and internal geometry of mass sediment movement (slumps, slides) on the continental slope off New England using high-resolution geophysical methods (14.5 days). 2. Study and correlate stratigraphy of Jurassic and Cretaceous strata north and south of the New England sea mount chain using geophysical methods (3 days).

Vehicle(s):

Start Port/Location: Provincetown, MA

End Port/Location: Woods Hole, MA

Start Date: 1979-06-07

End Date: 1979-06-25

Equipment Used: Air gun, Teledyne single-channel 300-500J 40-tip minisparker, 3.5 kHz, Marine magnetometer, Gravity meter (wh), Integrated Navigation System, Single channel hydrophone, 12 kHz

Information to be Derived: Morphology;

Summary of Activity and Data Gathered: Overall data quality is excellent, with good resolution and penetration. The data show much slumping on the continental slope between 500 and 2000 m water depth. Many displaced slump bodies occur near the base of the continental slope and on the upper continental rise. Slump study - 3.5 kHz/Minisparker/40 cu. in. airgun: 3257 km; Deep Stratigraphy - 3.5 kHz/Minisparker/500,160 cu. in. airguns: 775 km; Gravity: 4032 km; Magnetics: 4032 km.

Staff: John M. Aaron, Kathryn Scanlon Catanach, James E. Dodd, David Egelson, John C., Jr. Hampson, Barry Irwin, Kim D. Klitgord, John Larson, David Mason, Valerie Paskevich, Richard E. Sylwester

Affiliate Staff:
Gerard McCarthy
Robert Douthart; Kurt Grove - USGS-San Juan

Notes: Original Center People field contained: John Aaron - Ch. Sci., Richard Sylwester, Kim Klitgord, Gerard McCarthy, Barry Irwin, James Dodd, David Egelson, David Mason, Valerie Paskevich, John Hampson, Kathy Scanlon, John Larson, Robert Douthart.
Project = North Atlantic OCS Environmental Assessment, North Atlantic OCS Environmental Assessment

Location:

New England Atlantic outer continental shelf, United States, North America, North Atlantic;

Boundaries
North: 42.1 South: 39 West: -71 East: -65.1

Platform(s):

photo of James  M Gilliss
James M Gilliss

Publications

Bailey, N.G., and Aaron, J.M., 1982, High-resolution seismic-reflection profiles collected aboard R/V James M. Gilliss cruise GS-7903-3, over the Atlantic continental slope and rise off New England: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 1982–718, 2 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr82718.

Chaytor, J.D., Twichell, D.C., and ten Brink, U. S., 2012, A reevaluation of the Munson-Nygren-Retriever Submarine Landslide Complex, Georges Bank Lower Slope, Western North Atlantic: In: Y. Yamada et al (Ed.), Submarine Mass Movements and their Consequences Book. Springer, doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-2162-3_12,.

Chaytor, J.D., ten Brink, Uri S., Solow, Andrew R., and Andrews, Brian D., 2009, Size distribution of submarine landslides along the U.S. Atlantic margin: Marine Geology, v. 264 no. 1-2, doi: 10.1016/j.margeo.2008.08.007.

Geist, E.L., Lynett, Patrick J., and Chaytor, Jason D., 2009, Hydrodynamic modeling of tsunamis from the Currituck landslide: Marine Geology, v. 264 no. 1-2, doi: 10.1016/j.margeo.2008.09.005.

ten Brink, U.S., Barkan, R., Andrews, B.D., and Chaytor, J.D., 2009, Size distributions and failure initiation of submarine and subaerial landslides: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 287 no. 1-2, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2009.07.031.

Twichell, D.C., Chaytor, Jason D., ten Brink, Uri S., and Buczkowski, Brian, 2009, Morphology of late Quaternary submarine landslides along the U.S. Atlantic continental margin: Marine Geology, v. 264 no. 1-2, doi: 10.1016/j.margeo.2009.01.009.

Portals/Viewers

Documents associated with this activity

Title Survey Equipment Description
Cruise report (document not focused on specific equipment) Chief Scientist's cruise report and daily log of ship movement, personnel, equipment and data acquisition notes and a trackmap.
Data inventory (document not focused on specific equipment) Cruise Curator's Field Data Inventory describing media, data type and quantity, etc. for 3.5kHz, sparker and airgun profiles, magnetometer stripchart, sparker, airgun, 3.5kHz analog tapes, Raytheon airgun monitor, and airgun tape monitor.
Cruise log (document not focused on specific equipment) Watchstanders' daily log of ship movement, personnel, equipment configuration, and data acquisition notes, weather observations, 15 minute fixes, latitude and longitude, ship speed and bearing.
Navigation log Integrated Navigation System NorthStar Navigation and Integrated Navigation System (INS) navigation systems logbooks including time, latitude, longitude, course and speed, start and end of lines, observations, etc.

Data Acquired

Survey EquipmentSurvey InfoData Type(s)Data Collected
Air gun --- Air Gun / Water Gun
Teledyne single-channel 300-500J 40-tip minisparker --- Sparker
3.5 kHz --- Sub Bottom Profiler
Marine magnetometer --- Magnetics
1979-013-FA-GP-002-01 (Geophysical data)
1979-013-FA-GP-001 (Digital tape(s) of BT, NV-INS, NV-FINAL, NV,GR,MG, GR-L&R, NV,GR,VN,VE,RWG, NV-NSTAR-FINAL, )
Gravity meter (wh) --- Gravity
1979-013-FA-GP-002 (Digital tape(s) of BT, NV-INS, NV-FINAL, NV,GR,MG, GR-L&R, NV,GR,VN,VE,RWG, NV-NSTAR-FINAL, )
1979-013-FA-GP-001-01 (Geophysical data)
Integrated Navigation System --- Navigation
1979-013-FA-LN-002-01 (Nav. Tape 1936 (txt) Final FIXE navigation.)
1979-013-FA-LN-001 (Navigation trackline plot for field activity 79013)
1979-013-FA-LN-002 (Digital tape(s) of BT, NV-INS, NV-FINAL, NV,GR,MG, GR-L&R, NV,GR,VN,VE,RWG, NV-NSTAR-FINAL, )
1979-013-FA-NL-001-04 (NorthStar Navigation and Integrated Navigation System (INS) navigation systems logbooks including time, latitude, longitude, course and speed, start and end of lines, observations, etc.)
1979-013-FA-LN-002-02 (Zip archive of individual line navigation)
Single channel hydrophone --- Air Gun / Water Gun
Boomer
Bubble Gun
Sparker
Sub Bottom Profiler
1979-013-FA-SE-001 (Collection of paper record displays of seismic data (3.5 kHz, minisparker, and airgun))
1979-013-FA-SE-003 (analog tape of seismic data)
1979-013-FA-SE-001-01 (Electronic scans of some paper seismic profiles (3.5 kHz, minisparker, and airgun))
1979-013-FA-SE-002 (microfilm of )
12 kHz --- Single Beam
1979-013-FA-BA-001 (Digital tape(s) of BT, NV-INS, NV-FINAL, NV,GR,MG, GR-L&R, NV,GR,VN,VE,RWG, NV-NSTAR-FINAL, )

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