Despite the exotic name, the Eemian is not a mythical deep sea monster or a Byzantine shipwreck... although both may be waiting to be found in the unexplored depths of the Black Sea... it is a period of time recorded by an unusual sediment layer buried deep under the seafloor below our ship Pelagia.
The problem with the Eemian layer is that it was deposited 125 thousand years ago and has since been buried under a thick stack of sediments laid down during the Ice Age, when the Black Sea was a large lake. Scientists know that the layer is under there, somewhere, but until now only a few research vessels have been able to recover samples of it.
The problem with the Eemian layer is that it was deposited 125 thousand years ago and has since been buried under a thick stack of sediments laid down during the Ice Age, when the Black Sea was a large lake. Scientists know that the layer is under there, somewhere, but until now only a few research vessels have been able to recover samples of it.
To give us the best chance of reaching the Eemian layer - and being able to answer questions about the climate of this region during its deposition - the crew rigged up a special 18 meter long 'piston corer', equipped with a 1 tonne weight to penetrate deep into the sediments.
Suspense built during the day as the time for coring approached. Chief scientist Gert-Jan opened bets at 20 Turkish lira (or a nightshift in the cool container) over whether or not we would find the layer. After the successes of recent days a few optimists raised their heads, but our Romanian geology expert Sliviu was more cautious... "no chance", he said with a smile.
Suspense built during the day as the time for coring approached. Chief scientist Gert-Jan opened bets at 20 Turkish lira (or a nightshift in the cool container) over whether or not we would find the layer. After the successes of recent days a few optimists raised their heads, but our Romanian geology expert Sliviu was more cautious... "no chance", he said with a smile.
So, around 3 pm the core finally came on deck. Eveline, Lorendz, Henk, Jan-Dirk and Gert-Jan tried their best to push the plastic core liner out of the piston corer so we could open it up and search for the Eemian layer.
After a lot of huff and puff, the piston core was opened up. One meter at a time, we cut the core open and hunted for the dark layer of organic-rich sediments which is the trademark of the Eemian. Meter after meter were opened, each containing plenty of grey lake sediments but NO SIGN of our target layer. Unfortunately it looks like the outflow of the Danube has deposited so much material over the last 125 thousand years that the Eemian is just too deep for our corer to reach. So Silviu was right. But even he was delighted to find a sequence of layered lake sediments (left) which might still be used to investigate climate change during the Ice Age itself.
The exhaustion of the day was too much for some, including Peter who fell asleep at the bar with his hand in a box of peanuts.
In the coming days the optimists among us will get another shot at glory as we sail further from the influence of the Danube and try again to find the Eemian at deeper stations in the open Black Sea.
We'll keep you posted!
Tom
In the coming days the optimists among us will get another shot at glory as we sail further from the influence of the Danube and try again to find the Eemian at deeper stations in the open Black Sea.
We'll keep you posted!
Tom