SeaMARC II, Seismic and Coring of the Western Solomon Sea Collision Zone

所罗门海是澳大利亚东北部大堡礁以北1000公里处的一个小海盆，随着新几内亚东部的巴布亚半岛与新不列颠岛弧的碰撞，该海盆正在逐渐消失。这种斜向碰撞沿其西端完成，形成了新几内亚岛的褶皱和逆冲带。肖尔博士和他的同事来自加州大学圣克鲁斯分校的Silver和Reed将对所罗门海进行为期32天的调查，研究这次碰撞过程中涉及的结构和沉积过程，其特征与形成洛矶山脉东部的Laramide造山运动有当代相似之处。这些数据将通过同时收集单通道气枪剖面、3.5 KHz回声记录、磁力和重力来补充。7天将用于收集活塞芯，另外2天将收集底部照片。巴布亚新几内亚地质调查局和澳大利亚国立大学的参与者将加入这次巡航并进行后续分析。整个数据集将使与在新几内亚的褶皱和冲断带观察到的陆上构造和沉积进行比较成为可能，并提供对造山过程的更好理解。

The Solomon Sea is a small ocean basin 1000 km north of the Great Barrier Reef of northeast Australia that is gradually disappearing as the Papuan Peninsula of eastern New Guinea collides with the New Britain island arc. This oblique collision has been completed along its western extremity and has resulted in the fold and thrust belt on the island of New Guinea. Dr. Shor and colleagues Drs. Silver and Reed from UC Santa Cruz will conduct a 32-day survey of the Solomon Sea to study the structural and sedimentologic processes involved in this collision process, the features of which are a contemporary analog to the Laramide orogeny that formed the eastern Rocky Mountains. 23 days of seafloor imaging will be conducted with SeaMarcII; these data will be supplemented by simultaneous collection of single channel airgun profiles, 3.5 KHz echosounding records, magnetics and gravity. 7 days will be devoted to collecting piston cores, and during 2 additional days, bottom photographs will be collected. Participants from the Geological Survey of Papua New Guinea and the Australian National University will join the cruise and conduct subsequent analyses. The entire data set will make possible the comparison to structures and sedimentation observed onshore in the fold and thrust belt of New Guinea, and provide better understanding of orogenic processes.