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

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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.