One more dredge today and more surveying.
Dredge 22, to the north of our area, recovered lots of bright orange, weathered peridotite with a fascinating fabric defined by elongate orthopyroxenes. When cut, several samples revealed fresh peridotite cores (see picture below) which will be in high demand during the next sample party.
The science team contemplates dredge 22
Dredge 22- surface weathered peridotite
A core of fresh mantle peridotite- no scale bar- can you guess the scale?
Another, small corrugated surface appeared in the new multi beam bathymetry and we are now just about to start dredge 23 just south of the ridge axis.
The weather at the moment is exceptionally calm and Sentry is feeling restless. Next stop might be a Sentry dive on the clearly volcanic ridge axis.
