MARIA S. MERIAN MSM17/1

From 24 November until 29 December 2010 14 scientists of the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences IFM-GEOMAR and the Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research investigate processes of continental rupture. They use the example of a classical flood basalt province (Paraná-Etendeka), to elucidate the temporal and spatial relationships between deformation and magmatic input in the course of continental breakup and later development of an aseismic ridge on oceanic crust (the Walvis Ridge). The methodologies used are marine seismology and magnetotellurics. The main purpose of the expedition is to image the crust and uppermost mantle at the continent-ocean boundary sufficiently well to be able to infer magmatic budgets, and the relative timing of magmatism and deformation. The working area lies off the coast of northern Namibia and above the Walvis Ridge. This is a submarine range which stretches from the Tristan da Cunha hotspot in the southern Atlantic to Namibia. Chief Scientist of the expedition MSM17/1 is Prof. Jan Behrmann of IFM-GEOMAR. The cruise is part of the DFG-SPP SAMPLE.