JA  Daily Science Report for Expedition 308, 27 June 2005      

           

LOCATION: Site U1324   

           

SCIENCE UPDATE: Cores U1324C-3H to U1324C-8H (505 mbsf) are characterized by greenish gray mud equivalent to the lithology described in Hole U1324B. Four new deployments of the T2P and four deployments of the DVTP-P in Hole U1324C resulted in good temperature and pressure data. Temperatures in Hole U1324B and U1324C range from 5oC at 50 mbsf to 17.5oC at 600 mbsf. The calculated geothermal gradient is 19 oC/Km. This result is reasonable in view of the very high sedimentation rates in the Ursa basin. Pressures measured in both Holes U1324B and U1324C fall in between hydrostatic and lithostatic, thus confirming that the formation is overpressured. This data provides the first evidence that the model on which Expedition 308 was based is correct, and the pressures measured are only slightly less than what was predicted.