Global Deep Sea Exploration Goals Launched

This is Brilliant! Following the Ocean Discovery League leadership and determination to actually calculate how much of the world ocean has been seen by humans (0.001%) this is a related and similarly epochal leap. This innovative approach takes a holistic approach in selecting exploration target areas, delivering a new domain: organized, comprehensive, purposeful targets. Much as Seabed 2030 has set an objective of mapping and discovery, this effort similarly sets a broad profile for all to follow, with reason, purpose, and surely results. Congratulations!

The Ocean Discovery League (ODL) today announced the launch of the Global Deep Sea Exploration Goals, an international effort to visually explore 10,000 strategically selected locations across the deep seafloor.

📢 Paper alert! Exciting new research led by Ignatius Argadestya here at the Institute of Geological Sciences investigates high-resolution orbital data from Mars, identifying evidence for historic high water levels within Valles Marineris. The study focuses on the geomorphology of scarp-fronted deposits, interpreted as fan-delta systems, consistently occurring at elevations between −3750 and −3650 m. These features were deposited during the Late Hesperian to Early Amazonian, pointing to a stable, basin-wide water level billions of years ago, and reflect a period with the highest water availability on Mars. Read more below ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/gtCM7w4P

The Global Deep Sea Exploration Goals: A representative approach to visually observing the deep seafloor - ScienceAdvances via Science Magazine: The Global Deep Sea Exploration Goals strategy is a spatially balanced, probability-based, actionable global sampling design identifying 10,000 target locations for deep-sea visual observation (≥200 m). This sampling approach integrates four seafloor characteristics: bathymetry, geomorphology, sediment composition, and particulate organic carbon flux, while accounting for documented historical deep-submergence deployments. It aims to correct for historical observational biases across factors such as depth zones, ocean basins, geomorphology, and maritime jurisdictions. These proposed targets will nearly double the number of unique observed seafloor locations, establishing a more geographically and environmentally representative dataset. This globally distributed sampling design also highlights critical scientific gaps in underexplored regions, guiding both exploration and capacity-building priorities. By aligning with and amplifying complementary global initiatives in mapping and sampling, this effort lays the foundation for a more inclusive, coordinated, and statistically representative approach to deep-ocean science, which is essential for informed policy and sustainable resource management. https://lnkd.in/eJHstUGX

Discovery of petrophysical and geophysical evidence for crustal formation processes during subduction initiation - JAMSTEC: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology: Key Points By measuring the physical property of rocks drilled from the Izu-Bonin Arc, we revealed that rocks formed by volcanic activity immediately after subduction initiation differ markedly in crack density and elastic wave velocity from those produced during subsequent volcanic episodes. By relating seismic velocity structures beneath the seafloor to the rock physical properties, we demonstrate for the first time that an "early-formed crust" and a "later-formed crust" are actually superposed within the forearc crust. Linking the physical properties of rock samples with seismic velocity structure enables estimation of large-scale structure beneath the ocean floor and provides a pathway toward more detailed reconstruction of subduction-zone evolution using existing drilling cores and geophysical datasets. https://lnkd.in/eCQUczwZ

Mark Clementz, a professor in the University of Wyoming Department of Geology and Geophysics, and colleagues have produced a compelling study that shows that an increase in volcanic activity in the Andes in the Late Miocene Epoch likely resulted in a cooling of the Earth between 5.4 million and 7 million years ago. The volcanic activity produced a biological boom in the Southern Ocean, which led to a drawdown of atmospheric carbon dioxide that resulted in global cooling, Clementz and co-authors concluded. Their findings are in a new article, titled “Andean volcanism, ocean fertilization, marine ecosystem turnover, and global cooling in the Late Miocene,” published this week in the journal Nature Communications Earth and Environment. The Late Miocene, Clementz says, “represents a pivotal transition in Earth’s climate system, marking the shift toward the modern climatic regime and the establishment of many of today’s floral and faunal assemblages. Identifying the mechanisms that drove this transition is critical, particularly for understanding how Earth systems may respond to ongoing and future climate change.” Read more at: https://lnkd.in/gTbeQEPq #UWyo #UniversityofWyoming #UWyoEngineering #uwgeologyandgeophysics #Geology #ClimateScience #Volcanos #UWyoResearch #ScienceDiscovery #EarthScience #NatureCommunications

A hidden force beneath the Atlantic ripped open a 500 kilometer canyon What created such an immense formation? A team of international researchers led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel has uncovered new clues. Their findings appear in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (G-Cubed), published by the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Read More: https://lnkd.in/dBfHTKgv

A hidden force beneath the Atlantic ripped open a 500 kilometer canyon What created such an immense formation? A team of international researchers led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel has uncovered new clues. Their findings appear in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (G-Cubed), published by the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Read More: https://lnkd.in/dBfHTKgv

Very happy to share that the first paper from my PhD has been published: “Seismic Modelling of Sandstone Intrusions With Unresolvable Geometry” – it was actually published back in September, so this post is a bit overdue! Take a look if you’re interested in how the seismic response of thin, high-angle geological features (sandstone intrusions) changes with varying frequencies (spoiler: higher frequencies don’t always make interpretation easier… they can actually make things a lot more complicated)! Have a read if you’re interested in seismic modelling, seismic interpretation, or the challenge of understanding very thin geological features in the subsurface (link in comments)! #Geology #Geophysics #SeismicInterpretation #ReservoirCharacterisation #SeismicModelling #PhDResearch University of Aberdeen

A volcano and the discovery that followed This concept explores what happens when extreme-environment engineering meets frontier science. A shelter designed for volcanic heat, ash, and instability becomes the setting for a volcanologist’s discovery with potentially major implications for materials science and geologic research. The bigger question: how should engineering teams balance risk, resilience, and scientific opportunity in hostile environments? Should more R&D investment go into infrastructure for extreme environments? Pride in innovation, leadership under pressure, breakthrough thinking. #EngineeringInnovation #ResilienceEngineering #ExtremeEnvironment #Volcanology #MaterialsScience #ResearchInfrastructure #ScientificDiscovery #FutureEngineering