International Team of Scientists return from Atlantis Massif

An international team scientists recently returned from 47-day research expedition to the Atlantis Massif in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Scientists on Expedition 357, part of the International Ocean Discovery Program (http://www.iodpcanada.ca/) and conducted by the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (http://www.ecord.org/), collected an unprecedented sequence of rock samples from the shallow mantle of the ocean crust that bears signs of life. EOAS faculty member Dr. Dominique Weis has spent the past two weeks analyzing the returned rock samples on shore in Bremen, Germany. The 31 member strong team seeks answers to how mantle rocks are brought to the seafloor, how the reactions between them and seawater might fuel life in such harsh conditions, and the capacity of such reactions to impact climate through sequestration of carbon dioxide. Dominique and her post-doctoral student Laura Bilenker will follow up with more comprehensive analysis at PCIGR. More information on Expedition 357 can be found here.