Journals Dec 11th - 19th

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December 11, 2007
Location: Seymour Island

Willy Guenthner, University of Arizona

Day one of our extended tour of Seymour Island began overcast with a
light snow. Both our group and the paleontologists take great stock in
this rather small island in the Weddell Sea and so the venerable
Laurence M. Gould will stay put for several days to provide us with
extended access to the island. And what a strange place it is. The
island is devoid of all plant life and the few mammals and birds that
are present (mainly gulls, seals, and penguins) do not venture in
further than the coast. Combine this scarcity in flora and fauna with
an absence of snow or ice (save the light dusting that was falling
that day) and you have the makings of an almost alien place, what I
imagine the surface of Mars to resemble, or land in the Precambrian.
The island is literally falling apart and seeing as how the "rock" is
mainly loosely consolidated sandstones and shales, mud is everywhere.
The wind is fierce and the team has encountered many bizarre, wind-
shaped rocks and outcrops in our time spent in the field. As this is
our first extended venture on land, sampling has taken on an almost
expeditionary flair to it... leaving the Zodiacs at the shore, we
journeyed inland across muddy summits and ravines to collect samples.
Using GPS coordinates provided by a general survey of geologic units
on the island, Team Barbeau sampled several key Eocene sandstone
outcrops for the purposes of reconnaissance detrital zircon analysis.
As the day wore on, the weather deteriorated and the light snow turned
into a blizzard (alright, maybe I'm exaggerating slightly, but the
wind was mighty fierce). However, the team hiked back to the Zodiacs
safely and steaming cups of hot chocolate and warm beds greeted us
upon our return to the Gould. Quite the exciting day... Antarctic field
work at its finest!

-Willy
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December 12, 2007
Location: S 64 13.999' ; W 056 39.931'
Air Temperature: -1 C
Wind Speed: variable
Samples Collected: more than 5, each weighing more than 20Kg

A birthday on the bottom of the world. Kendra Murray, Carleton College

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would spend my 23rd
birthday traipsing through 45 million year old Antarctic mud. But as I
open my porthole this morning to a lovely (but blinding) view of
massive ice bergs large and low on the calm horizon, I could only
smile widely and anticipate another grand adventure on Seymour Island.
And the chorus of "Happy Birthdays" that would likely greet me as I
walked into the mess area for breakfast.

Today was our second day landing on the northern tip of Seymour
Island, sampling Eocene sandstones and shales from the mostly
unconsolidated La Meseta formation. By hiking along the coast several
kilometers and then heading south towards the interior of the island,
we slowly made our way up section, strategically sampling multiple
submembers for provenance analyses. The barren landscape on Seymour is
surreal. It looks a lot like the pictures of Mars sent back by one of
NASA's rovers, except for the massive beds of shells and trace fossils
that dominate many of the more lithified beds, and much of the float.
I know just enough invertebrate paleontology to be amazed at the
incredible size, quantity, diversity, and preservation of the fossils
here. The massive beds of sandstone dominated by thick bivalves up to
20cm in diameter are perhaps the most impressive. The shells look
modern, not 40 million years old, as many are in perfect condition.
These beds shed the shells readily, making entire hillslopes appear to
be giant middens. Other fossils include delicate brachiopods,
gastropods, and even a sea urchin. There is also an abundance of
Eocene wood, some of which is barely fossilized and still soft and
springy to the touch.

With the indispensable aid of our rock Sherpas (aka Brian the Gould's
EMT and Dan the Gould's electronics tech, both of whom are also marine
techs for the zodiacs) we successfully took five large samples of
sandstones and many more small samples of related shales. We spend
over 8 hours in the field, and after a long, heavy hike back to the
zodiacs through mud, slush, ice and groups of curious penguins we were
ready for a late dinner. Usually if we do not return to the boat until
after the posted dinner hour, we can scrounge for left overs and
sandwich fixings. Today both scientific parties and all the marine
techs were onshore until after dinner. Chef Bobby and his Galley crew
when above and beyond the call of duty, not only leaving dinner out on
it's usual hot plates but also providing a particularly amazing
selection of delicious food, including a lamb curry that had everybody
raving. Bobby also created a beautiful birthday cake for me, complete
with fancy fruit and frosting decorations.

Never again will I find such a delightfully eclectic group to sing me
happy birthday. Thanks everybody!

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December 13, 2007
Location: 64 15.276' S, 56 41.551' W, Seymour Island / Isla Marambio
Weather: Blue skies, Sunny
Wind Speed: 5-10 knot
Samples Collected:

Mars, South Dakota Dave Barbeau, University of South Carolina

Ignore a few things, and this place is what I imagine Mars or the Moon
feels like. It is arguably the most surreal place I have ever been. If
you keep your eyes on the ground, it is not hard to convince yourself
you are trudging over the comparably aged strata of the badlands of
the northern Great Plains of North America. Then you look up, and
instead of earthy, dusty, windblown ground replete with desert
pavement, desiccation cracks and poorly consolidated mudstones and
fine sandstones, you are looking across kilometers of fast ice to
hundred meter-tall plateauian bergs, white-capped ink-blue water and
the occasional ice breaker. Over three days of walking and exploring I
have seen not a single lichen, grass or other recognizable flora, yet
while the rest of the peninsula is choked with ice and snow, Seymour
is largely barren of solid water in the austral summer despite its
regularly subzero temperatures. This says nothing of the occasional
propeller roars coming from the mesa-top Marambio airstrip that fully
send your mind into a whirl. Not to mention the petrified wood and
mollusc fossils, which many times look, feel, and weigh as though they
were deposited within the decade, despite their 35 to 50 million
years! And the geomorphic processes?! -- although I'm sure I'm
ignorant of such literature, it seems as though a new suite of
subpolar geomorphology could be described from Seymour's hills, coasts
and flats.

Currently surrounded by fast ice on all sides but the narrow tip of
the northwest peninsula, Seymour Island holds a number of our research
targets a distant slog from the closest Zodiac landing we can manage.
Although we've been able to sample the Eocene La Meseta Formation
quite easily from our beachhead, the Cretaceous-Paleocene Lopez de
Bertodano, Sobral, and Cross Valley Formation outcrops occur on the
southern part of the island, a 4+ mile distance away. Gifted with
spectacular weather today, the younger members of Team Barbeau
graciously voted for us to make a go of it, although we smirkingly
used 'DM' (for 'death march') as our sample label prefix for the day.
Given the splendid working conditions, the trek was a hard option to
turn down despite the 12 hour day we logged yesterday. Guided
spectacularly by our medic / marine technician / morale-booster Brian
Kliesen, Team Barbeau rolled up its dirty and tattered sleeves and
headed off to the far side of the island only to return at 10:30 PM
with 50-60+ pound packs. Each. I can't imagine having done this in
less than perfect weather, for our mettle was intensely tested.

Long overdue, today's entry is dedicated to Dave Gombosi, Kendra
Murray and Willy Guenthner -- the hard-working, amicable and generous
(beaker) foundation of Team Barbeau 2007. As Louis Jacobs told me,
'You owe these guys -- they are making you famous.' I don't know about
the latter part, but one thing is certain -- DaveKendraWilly has been
unbelievably wonderful and productive. Despite my growing reputation
aboard the LMG as a taskmaster, Lou's perceptive eyes and ears report
that these kids haven't uttered a single word of complaint, but rather
appear to be having the time of their lives. Boy, am I fortunate and
grateful. I indeed owe them big.

As great as DaveKendraWilly is, they'll need to share today's
dedication with our Marine Technicians Meghan King and Toby Koffman.
Informed two days ago that our record-setting number of Zodiac trips
has greatly depleted the gasoline coffers used to fill the Zodes (the
MTs had to siphon gas from everything but the lifeboats for us to have
any hope of completing our tasks), we had to get very wise about our
shore trips, including their distance, number, cargo weight, and the
weather conditions that allow hydroplaning (which uses less gas). As
proud of we are of this research indicator (it's a sure sign of a
successful sampling season when one exceeds the liberal resource
planning and allocation of USAP vessel operations), it has meant that
Toby and Meghan have had to spend long days keeping watchful eyes on
the Zodiacs along the windblasted and icy shore rather than returning
to the warm and dry LMG to await our radio beckoning for return
passage. While we scientists are off trudging about the hillsides
seeing beautiful things and taking advantage of inland windbreaks, for
the past two 14-hour days Meghan and Toby have been skipping meals and
needed maintenance work aboard, stamping their toes and swinging their
arms to keep warm, and responding "We're great, Dave, keep working as
long as you like" during our regular radio checks. Are you kidding me?
Are these folks selfless and dedicated or what? And all of it with
genuine smiles and camaraderie. The USAP and its associated NSF
scientists are blessed to have such valiant support. This ship is like
my beloved New England Patriots -- fully focused on the goal and
selfless from top to bottom.

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December 14, 2007
Location: 63 34.984' S, 56 24.536' W, Antarctic Sound
Weather: Blue skies, Sunny
Wind Speed: 5-10 knot
Samples Collected: 0

Streak Has Ended Dave Barbeau, University of South Carolina

I can't believe it has lasted this long, but today is the very first
day we did not collect a sample (excepting the days when our goals
were to put-up or take-down the Byers Peninsula camp). Pretty
impressive streak (19 days) for a cruise destined not to achieve many
of its goals given the dynamic nature of ice, wind and wave conditions
in the early summer Southern Ocean and Antarctic Peninsula. To be
honest, the defeat (and its resultant rest day) couldn't have come at
a better time -- after two successive long days on Isla Marambio, Team
Barbeau certainly needed a rest. Likewise, I'm so glad we decided to
do the death march yesterday -- had we waited until today the wind
conditions would have sank our proverbial ship and we'd be out some
vital Cretaceous and Paleocene samples.

The nuts and bolts of the day: we took a shot at Seymour this morning
but wind and wave conditions were too strong to safely land the
Zodiacs. Off to James Ross and Vega Islands we went, in search of
Cretaceous targets. Pack and fast ice stopped us in our tracks twice
(made easier by our first sighting of a king penguin) and so we headed
for a lower Cretaceous target on the westernmost point of Dundee
Island. No dice there either -- about 100 meters of fast ice kept us
from the goal. We'll start early tomorrow to get a good day in on
Seymour (goodness willing) before heading north to Esperanza around 3
PM. Two days there, then we hit Cape Debouzet targets en route past
the South Shetlands, across the Drake and back to Punta Arenas in time
for brief vacaciones before our Tierra del Fuego epic begins....

best,
dlb

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