Track 1) Marine & coastal zone geology, ecology, resources, and sustainable development

This program is being set up as an international exchange program through the Ocean University of China, where students will have the opportunity to work from three large research and ocean drilling vessels, on problems mostly focused on Quaternary climate change.

Marine geology and oceanography. The study of the physical, chemical, biological, and geological aspects of the ocean basins is called oceanography. The oceans are increasingly being studied with an environmental Earth system science approach, with the appreciation that many of the different systems are related, and changes in the biological, chemical, physical, or geological conditions will result in changes in the other systems and also influence other Earth systems such as the atmosphere and climate. The oceans contain important geological systems, since the ocean basins are the places where new oceanic crust is both created at mid-ocean ridges, and destroyed at deep-sea trenches. Being topographic depressions, they are repositories for many of the sediments eroded from the continents and carried by rivers and the wind to be deposited in submarine settings. Seawater is the host of much of the life on Earth, and also holds huge quantities of dissolved gases and chemicals that buffer the atmosphere, keeping global temperatures and climate hospitable for humans. Energy is transferred around the planet in ocean currents and waves, which interact with land, eroding or depositing shoreline environments. Being host to some of the planets largest and most diverse biota, the oceans may hold the key to feeding the planet. Mineral resources are also abundant on the seafloor, many formed at the interface between hot volcanic fluids and cold sea water, forming potentially economically important reserves of many minerals.

One of the Marine Geology research vessels from Ocean University, that students have opportunities to work from on oceanographic cruises from Qingdao, China.

The oceans cover two thirds of the Earth’s surface, yet we have explored less of the ocean’s depths and mysteries than the surfaces of several nearby planets. The oceans have hindered migration of peoples and biota between distant continents, yet paradoxically now serve as a principal means of transportation. Oceans provide us with incredible mineral wealth, renewable food and energy sources, yet also breed devastating hurricanes. Life may have begun on Earth in environments around hot volcanic events on the seafloor, and we are just beginning to explore the diverse and unique fauna that can still be found living in deep dark waters around similar vents today.

Ocean basins have continually opened and closed on Earth, and the continents have alternately been swept into large single supercontinents and then broken apart by the formation of new ocean basins. The appearance, evolution, and extinction of different life forms is inextricably linked to the opening and closing of ocean basins, partly through the changing environmental conditions associated with the changing distribution of oceans and continents.

Early explorers were slowly able to learn about ocean currents and routes to distant lands, and some dredging operations discovered huge deposits of metals on the seafloor. Tremendous leaps in our understanding of the structure of the ocean basin seafloor were acquired during surveying for the navigation of submarines and detection of enemy submarines during World War II. Magnetometers towed behind ships and accurate depth measurements provided data that led to the formulation of the hypothesis of seafloor spreading, which added the oceanic counterpart to the idea of continental drift. Together, these two theories became united as the plate tectonic paradigm.

Ocean circulation is responsible for much of the world’s climate. For instance, mild foggy winters in London are caused by warm waters from the Gulf of Mexico flowing across the Atlantic in the Gulf Stream to the coast of the British Isles. Large variations in ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns in the Pacific lead to alternating wet and dry climate conditions known as El Niño, and La Niña. These variations affect Pacific regions most strongly, but are felt throughout the world. Other movements of water are more dramatic, including the sometimes devastating tsunami that may be initiated by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and giant submarine landslides. One of the most tragic tsunami in recent history was generated by the eruption of the Indonesian volcano Krakatau in 1883. When Krakatau erupted, it blasted out a large part of the center of the volcano, and seawater rushed in to fill the hole. This seawater was immediately heated and it exploded outward in a steam eruption and a huge wave of hot water. The tsunami generated by this eruption reached more than 120 feet (36.5 m) in height and killed an estimated 36,500 people in nearby coastal regions. In December 2004 a massive earthquake in Indonesia generated a large tsunami that devastated the Indian Ocean, killing nearly 283,000 people.

Variations in ocean waters in the East China Seas in different seasons, as measured from the Oceanographic Research Vessels from Qingdao, China. (Li et al., 2006)

The oceans are full of rich mineral deposits, including oil and gas on the continental shelves and slopes, and metalliferous deposits formed near mid-ocean ridge vents. Much of the world’s wealth of manganese, copper, and gold may lie on the seafloor. The oceans also yield rich harvests of fish, and care must be taken that we do not deplete this source. Sea vegetables are growing in popularity and their use may help alleviate the growing demand for space in fertile farmland. The oceans may offer the world a solution to growing energy and food demands in the face of a growing world population. New life forms are constantly being discovered in the depth of the oceans and we need to take precautions to understand these creatures, before any changes we make to their environment causes them to perish forever.