Robot to study hole in Earth's crust

[Nikijad4210]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/03/07/earth.crust.voyage.ap/index.html

Robot to study hole in Earth's crust

POSTED: 9:44 a.m. EST, March 7, 2007

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Canary Islands (AP) -- British scientists have embarked on a mission to study a gigantic hole in the Atlantic seabed -- an enigma that defies traditional geophysical theory and will give researchers an unprecedented look into the center of the Earth.

The 12-person team left the Canary Islands Monday with a new high-tech vessel and a robotic device named Toby that will dig up rock samples at the bottom of the crater and film what it sees.

The hole is about 16,400 feet under the surface of the Atlantic and located half way between Tenerife and Barbados. It has a diameter of 10,000 to 13,000 feet.

The mysterious orifice is in an undersea mountain range, the kind of structure believed to form when Atlantic tectonic plates separate and volcanic lava surges upward to fill the gap in the earth's crust.

But that did not happen this time. Instead, the hole exposes the mantle, the material that makes up Earth's interior, said British geophysicist Roger Searle of Durham University, one of the lead researchers.

"We do not know why that is," Searle said in an interview Monday before setting sail on the RRS James Cook for the 6-week mission. "Because of this gap we can see directly into the Earth's mantle."

He said the first-of-its-kind study aims to provide insight on everything from the chemistry of oceans to the mechanisms of how the Earth behaves under so much water.

The robotic device will land on the bottom of the crater, measure its depth and dig into the mantle to bring back samples.

The project is being financed by Britain's National Environment Research Council and the Department of trade and Industry's Large Scientific Facilities Fund.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070305/sc_nm/britain_expedition_dc_1
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12331&ref=rss

Website to track the expedition with:
http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/gg/classroom@sea/JC007/

I did a double-take when I read that ^^^

 

[OneWingedImp]

Gnar gnar! Im interested.

 

[NserUame]

Wait...the robots name is Toby? Damn those brittish scientists are cruel, ha.

I saw this two days ago I think? Not as large an article as that, just a blurb. Seems intriguing enough, however I don't see how it'll tell us much more about the interior of the earth than we already know.

 

[Verite]

Turns out the robot is sponsored by pizza hut to study the probability that the earth crust hole can be filled with cheese.

 

[Sinfuldreams]

and that would be

and that would be

Turns out the robot is sponsored by pizza hut to study the probability that the earth crust hole can be filled with cheese.

Hole Cheese?

Sin

 

[Verite]

I was going to go with fudge but would have had to use this pic.

 

[BagseedSamurai]

anyone ever seen Abyss?

 

[Verite]

anyone ever seen Abyss?

Everytime I look in my wallet.

 

[BagseedSamurai]

Abyss is a movie about an expedition JUST LIKE this one.

 

[Verite]

The robot must be getting close.. it found the lair of the Molemen.

 

[pipeline]

Pretty cool stuff! Thanks Nikkijad!



(not my wonderful creation)

 

[guineapig]

wow exciting!!!! i hope they find out how many licks it takes to get to the center of the tootsie roll pop Earth.....

I can't believe the robot won't get crushed under all that pressure!!!! truly remarkable.....

kind regards from guineapig

 

[DogBoy]

I read about this the other day on the BBC. Seemed silly not to involve the US Geo teams. They are better equipped than us Brits for this kind of thing and their skills would make for a much more effective search IMHO.

I'm curious as to what they will find down there, last time we found a whole eco system which changed how we thought about extremophiles. The implications for space and undersea development are huge. No man made or biological influence would have reached there for millions of years so could be a gold mine if we dont do the usual human thing and fuck it up. I'll give 2:1 they find a McDonalds big mac wrapper down there!