MARIA S. MERIAN MSM19/3

The R/V Maria S. Merian-Expedition MSM19/3 AGULHAS (Cape Town - Cape Town) is schedueld from Dec. 1th to Dec. 22nd. During the cruise led by Dr. Reinhard Werner from the Leibniz-Institute of Marine Science (IFM-GEOMAR) comprehensive bathymetric mapping and hard rock sampling will be carried out at the Agulhas Ridge and the Discovery Hotspot in the South Atlantic. Using volcanological, geochemical and geochronological methods in combination with the geophysical data yielded on the previous leg MSM19/2, leg MSM19/3 aims to verify if the Agulhas Ridge has tectonic-magmatically been reactivated during the Cenocic. Furthermore this approach should provide new constraints on the origin of the Dupal-Anomaly in oceanic basalts of the southern hemisphere and on the origin of intraplate volcanism („Great Plume Debate“, www.mantleplumes.org/).