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Press Release 05-065
Ireland Joins International Marine Research Program
Scientific drillship readies for expedition in Irish waters
April 27, 2005
Ireland's Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey, today visited the JOIDES Resolution, one of the largest research vessels in the world, to announce Ireland's participation in the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP).
IODP is an international marine research drilling program that advances scientific understanding of the Earth by monitoring, sampling, and monitoring sub-seafloor environments. IODP scientists explore the deep biosphere, environmental change and solid earth cycles.
Dempsey welcomed the JOIDES Resolution to Ireland, saying its presence speaks of "a prestigious international geoscience exploration program, and marks Ireland's growing reputation for sophisticated geoscience capability." Aboard the drillship, Dempsey announced Ireland's affiliation to IODP through the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI).
"Ireland was an important participant in the Ocean Drilling Program, IODP's predecessor," said Bruce Malfait, head of the marine geosciences section at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). "We welcome Irish scientists into this new phase of international cooperation in the exploration of our planet and its oceans."
Ireland joins the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD), a contributing member of the program primarily supported by NSF and Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, in supporting IODP. The JOIDES Resolution was docked in Dublin Port for the first time in preparation for sub-seafloor research on what are called the Porcupine Basin Carbonate Mounds.
"Ireland is well placed," observed Dempsey, "to join the international team of scientists on this voyage. Substantial investments are now a regular feature of Ireland's geoscience programs, attracting many scientists from abroad who are aware of the programs' international caliber."
Samples recovered by IODP will address how the carbonate mounds originated on the ocean floor and whether bacteria play a major role in building the mounds. Samples also will provide information about how mounds relate to cold- and deep-water coral and sponge reef development, and give clues about past regional climates.
IODP scientist Jean-Pierre Henriet of Ghent University described the expedition: "Layer by layer, we will 'decrypt' the story of Ireland's deep-water mound ecosystems. Drilling into the layers of a mound is like reading the pages of a book."
According to GSI director Peadar McArdle, "The expedition will shed significant light on the evolution of Ireland's carbonate mounds and, in addition, the possible role of gas seeps in the development of these features."
Giant carbonate mud mounds like the Porcupine Mounds, some more than 300 meters high, have been discovered in recent years off the continental margins of Europe. The mounds are accumulations of sediment that usually occur in localized clusters and vary in size and shape; some are conical, some ridge-like or ring-shaped, and some steep-sided.
The Porcupine Basin mounds are up to two kilometers long and 350 meters high. Seismic profiles there also have revealed buried mounds some 50 to 100 meters high and covered with tens of meters of sediment.
Deep-sea surveys completed in the past few years suggest that Porcupine Basin may be among the most prolific areas for the formation of carbonate mounds in the world. New discoveries include a huge cluster of deep-sea reefs on hundreds of buried mounds off southwest Ireland.
-NSF-
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Cheryl L. Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdybas@nsf.gov
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