We crossed the Equator on June 27th at 10:30am local time!
Posted by: Rory Wilson
Thursday, June 28, 2007
5:00 PM Indian Ocean
Life on the ship is mostly demanding. Everyone here works seven days a week. The science team and the crew all stand watches. This means that someone is on duty, or watch 24 hours a day. But when we have an event like crossing the equator, everyone takes part, on-watch or not. Right after this, a group of us went out on deck and looked to see if we could see any lines or special markings anywhere along the ocean. (above: Leslie, Amy, Dax, Ines, Will, Jackie, Sarah)
What do you think we saw?
Ahhh, no, not rocks.
But since you mention it, take a look at this:
In this dredge, the main find was this large, rather lumpy-looking rock. Well, the scientists thought it was actually really interesting and after they told me the story, I could see why. You see that almost burnt looking crust on the top of the thing? That happened because a volcano spewed out lava underwater and since water is colder than molten rock, the outside cooled really quick. But since it formed a crust on it, the inside stayed hot and gradually began to cool, expanding slowly as it did. At some point during this initial process, it came to rest somewhere, then cooled and sat there for, ohhh, maybe 50 million years or so.
Until we came along.
And this lump-shaped thing is called a pillow basalt. Why? Because the top is rounded outwards where it expanded, and the bottom in curved in where it rested on other rocks. That is why we know its' story. We chipped it open, and it looks cool inside. The basalt we find is partially mixed with other rock and teams of petrologists will likely spend several years studying and testing samples from this stone to see exactly how old it is and what other materials are mixed in there.
Once we look at them and chisel them into chunks, then we cut them with a rock saw. This is a cool machine because it can saw a rock in not much more time than it takes me to cut a 2X4 with a small table saw. It even looks like a table saw blade except that it is "smooth" and has an edge of pure diamonds. I think each blade is about $200.
BUT LOOK WHAT HAPPENS!
That reddish surface on the rock is volcanic glass. These are both altered in some ways just because they are sitting on the ocean floor and things get added to them, and taken away.
Almost all of these rocks have some iron in them. They also have magnesium, iron and silica.
Breccia is rock that consists of other broken-up rock. So take a look at these. Aren't they cool.
These green rocks contain glass, calcite crystals and clay. The petrologists think that they might be able to write a paper on just these!!
All right, enough about rocks for now.
There is another side of shipboard life that really does make up for many difficulties. The food here is awesome! Three meals a day. Snacks all day; leftovers in a walk-in cooler for night snacks. So I think now in flavors; tonite is fresh baked banana cream pie. (There were brownies at lunch and blueberry muffins for breakfast.) Some days are rough and windy; some days are not.
Like now for instance. I just brought my slice of banana cream pie out to the bow of the ship and am comfortably sitting in a deck chair, enjoying the early parts of a sunset.
But, enough for now. I am sure you will understand. It is time to put away the computer for a few hours, eat my banana cream pie and get some rest for tomorrow.
JULY
7/30 - Final day at sea: on the way into Singapore
7/26 - A Day in the Life of a Teacher at Sea
7/18 - Checking our Position (Latitude) with a Sextant
7/16 - Monsoon Blues in the Indian Ocean
7/15 - WAVES, Rough Weather, but an exciting day... WHALES
7/11 - Not the Best Day for Science at Sea
7/9 - Discoveries on the 90 East Ridge
7/5 - Closer to Home, Life Here Onboard
7/2 - Ocean Careers: Texas to Russia
JUNE
6/30 - Easy Cruising Day: Now in the Southeast Trade Winds
6/27 - We Crossed the Equator Today, Heading South.
6/21 - Night Time Fun in the Indian Ocean
6/20 - Transit Gale in the Indian Ocean
6/17 - Arrived in Phuket, Thailand (finally)
