NEOMA, Maldives December, 2007 Meteor Cruise: Carbonate Margin Miocene-Pliocene Evolution, Complimentary Site Survey for IODP-514-Full5

由于Droxler过去和现在在马尔代夫的研究工作，他应首席科学家Christian Betzler教授（德国汉堡大学）的邀请，参加了2007年12月在马尔代夫内海的R/V Meteor M74/4上进行的为期18天的研究巡航NEOMA。这次海上探险是由德国研究基金会（DFG基金会）资助的。资金用于Droxler（1）参加2007年12月的R/V Meteor研究巡航，以及（2）开发一个包括一名研究生在内的巡航后水稻研究计划。该研究巡航是德国NEOMA研究计划的一部分。在为期18天的NEOMA海上作业期间，将在马尔代夫内海北方进行测深（测绘）和地震勘测（Parasound数字回声测深仪和以GI枪作为声源的多通道高分辨率地震仪），并采集重力和活塞岩心。 R/V Meteor巡航的目标之一是为IODP提案514-马尔代夫群岛内海的全部5波动：海洋内碳酸盐系统收集额外的现场调查数据，Droxler是该提案的主要提案人，德国/荷兰有几个共同提案人（Betzler，C.G.，Reijmer，J.J.G.，Gischler，E.）他将直接参与2007年12月的“流星号”考察航行。拟定的514-Full 5钻井计划旨在解决有关渐新世和新近纪海平面波动的时间和幅度的未回答的、具有挑战性的和基本的问题，并很好地补充了新泽西硅质大陆架边缘过去ODP和未来IODP研究计划的结果、坎特伯雷盆地的预定IODP航段、大巴哈马浅滩西部边缘的166航段，在马里恩高原（澳大利亚东北部）进行的194航次钻探。2007年12月“流星”号考察船航行期间收集的一些数据将是宝贵的现场勘测数据，补充已经提交给海洋学发展方案数据库的现有工业地震数据集。在获得必要的现场勘测数据的同时，目标是汇编足够的地震数据，以测试和比较渐新世-新近纪层序地层模式特征的细节。PI将分析一系列岩心，以补充在716号站点进行的分析，特别是了解现代环礁周围深层环境中的晚布鲁赫间冰期循环，如果恢复，将重点关注在其他几个碳酸盐和混合碳酸盐边缘（如巴哈马群岛、伯利兹、佛罗里达群岛、更广泛的影响涉及研究生和本科生参与巡航和巡航后研究，并与拟议的IODP考察联系起来。

Because of Droxler's past and current research involvement in the Maldives, he has been invited by chief scientist Prof. Christian Betzler (University of Hamburg, Germany) to participate on a December 2007 18 days-long research cruise NEOMA on the R/V Meteor M74/4 in the Maldives Inner Sea. This sea going expedition is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG Foundation). Funds are for Droxler (1) to participate at the December 2007 research cruise on the R/V Meteor, and (2) to develop a post cruise Rice research program including a graduate student. The research cruise is part of a German research program NEOMA. During the 18 days of the NEOMA sea going operations, bathymetric (swath mapping) and seismic surveys (Parasound digital echo sounder and multi-channels high resolution seismics with GI gun as acoustic sources) will be acquired and gravity and piston cores retrieved in the northern part of the Maldives Inner Sea. One of the goals of the R/V Meteor cruise is to gather additional site survey data for the IODP proposal 514-Full5 Fluctuations in the Inner Sea of the Maldives Archipelago: an Intra-Oceanic Carbonate System for which Droxler is the lead Proponent with several co-proponents from Germany/Netherlands (Betzler, C.G., Reijmer, J.J.G., Gischler, E.) who will be directly involved in the December 07 R/V Meteor cruise. The proposed 514-Full5 drilling program is developed to address unanswered, challenging, and essential questions on the timing and amplitude of the Oligocene and Neogene sea level fluctuations and complement well the results of past ODP and future IODP research programs across the New Jersey siliciclastic shelf margin, the scheduled IODP leg in the Canterbury Basin, Leg 166 across the western margin of Great Bahama Bank, and Leg 194 drilling on the Marion Plateau (Northeast Australia). Some of the data collected during the December 2007 R/V Meteor cruise will be valuable complementary site survey data to the existing industry seismic data sets, already submitted to the IODP Data Bank. In parallel to acquiring the necessary site survey data, a goal is to compile enough seismic data to test and compare the details of the Oligocene-Neogene sequence stratigraphic pattern signature. The PIs will analyze a series of cores to complement the analyses that were done at Site 716, in particular to understand the late Brunhes interglacial glacial cycles in the deep surroundings of modern atolls and, if recovered, to focus on the mid-Brunhes transition, clearly observed in several other carbonate and mixed carbonate margins such as the Bahamas, Belize, the Florida Keys, and the Gulf of Papua.Broader Impacts involve graduate and undergraduate student participation in the cruise and post-cruise research and connection to a proposed IODP expedition.