Today was a day of dredging. Three dredges were carried out, one up the face of a decapitated core complex, another across low topography faulted terrain and the third near to the margins of the rift valley. All returns were dominated by pillow basalt with some occasional nice glass.
Dredge 5- pillow basalt, glass and a highly foliated piece of slate- from Antarctica.
We did recover some clear schistose, soapstone, fault rock samples from the dredge up the face of the core complex and even a piece of a quartz vein (which might be a dropstone).
Another interesting sample is shown below. one of two rounded pebbles of basalt suggesting the influence of wave action. The top of the core complex- unofficially named “Table Mountain” core complex is only 500m below sea level and has a apparently, planed off, flat top- likely indicating it had once formed an island. Maybe the pebble once inhabited the surf zone of that island..
Only a couple of cms in diameter, a rounded pebble of basalt.
Now we’re back to continuing the multi-beam survey as the weather threatens to worsen over night
