Day 22 - Nouvelle-Calédonie
Today we passed into New Caledonian waters! Quinn gets another (unofficial) passport stamp to add to her collection.
Another lost dredge
We lost dredge number 3 (yet to be named). That’s 3/6. Our biggest problem is the amount of “sacrificial wire” we have left. If the dredge gets stuck, then there are 3 points of failure if the tension on the dredge is too high:
- The sacrificial wire - flips the dredge if it breaks under too much tension
- Stress pin - connects the sacrificial wire to the dredge.
- The dredge - we lose everything
Currently, we have enough sacrificial wire to connect one more dredge if the existing one breaks. Lucky we’re getting towards the end of our voyage.
Intraplate volcanism talk
Amelia Smethurst and Aki Suganama present their research on the central volcanoes that comprise the Tasmantid and Lord Howe seamount chains in the Pacific Ocean and the leucitite suite volcanics on the Australian continent. They are analysing bulk rock composition and trace elements to classify the geochemistry of these intraplate volcanoes.
