Sedimentation Rates Lab

 SO461 Lab, Spring 2013

You will prepare a Word document with appropriate tables and figures to summarize your results.

• Include a location map to show where these cruises went.
• Determine how the overall sedimentation rates (m/Ma) vary among these holes.
• Determine how the sedimentation rates (m/Ma) vary as a function of depth in each hole,.
• Determine how the P wave sound velocity changes with depth.

General pages on the DSDP/ODP databases

• http://www-odp.tamu.edu/database/
• http://iodp.tamu.edu/janusweb/links/links_all.shtml

Data.  You can get data for an entire Leg, or each site individually.  In MICRODEM it will be easy to view the results by hole; that might be harder to manipulate in Excel.

• Save the output from the web server as a text file, and do some preliminary clean up.  The columns are separated with tabs, which are not visible; be careful not do delete any of them.
  • Other than a single line (row) with column headers, remove any extraneous lines at the beginning of the file.
  • Remove any blank lines in the middle of the file.
  • Remove any extraneous lines at the end of the file.
• Obtain Depth-Age Models for the following ODP holes: Leg 190 (sites 1173 to 1178)  and Leg 165 (Sites 998 to 1002).
  • Age depth models at: http://iodp.tamu.edu/janusweb/paleo/agemodel.shtml
  • If you have multiple Age Models, use the later or more complete (Initial Reports come after the Shipboard determinations, and Final Reports come last.
  • Plot the data for each hole (age versus depth). 
  • Compute the sedimentation rate for each linear segment you see in the data.  This will be in m/Ma.
• Obtain PWS3 P-wave velocity data from all of Legs 165 and 190.
  • Data at: http://iodp.tamu.edu/janusweb/physprops/pwsdat.shtml
  • Plot the P-wave velocity versus depth for each leg.

Excel tips.  See especially the directions on importing an ASCII text file.

• You will probably not be able to compute a single rate for each hole, as it probably varies with depth.