Just as I was lamenting the absence of scientific surveying in the Atlantic, my former colleague Renee Orr brought this NOAA announcement to my attention. Researchers from the University of Texas Institute of Geophysics and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, with funding from the National Science Foundation, propose to conduct seismic surveys in the Blake Plateau area of the South Atlantic (map below).
The proposed study would acquire two-dimensional (2-D) seismic reflection and seismic refraction data to examine the structure and evolution of the rifted margins of the southeastern United States, including the rift dynamics during the formation of the Carolina Trough and Blake Plateau.
The survey will lead to a better understanding of “the interaction between tectonic and magmatic processes that led to continental breakup and the onset of seafloor spreading in the central Atlantic Ocean 200 million years ago.” The investigators are particularly interested in the “stratigraphy of sediments that formed during and after rifting, the degree of crustal stretching at the continental margins, crustal faults that formed during extension of the margin, and the geometry of lava flows that were placed on the crust before the start of seafloor spreading.”
While not a primary purpose, the research should improve our understanding of the relationship between productive oil and gas fields offshore Africa and US analogs. Paul Post and his BOEM team estimated that the US Atlantic could contain >20 billion BOE (link to the latest report).
NOAA has conducted a detailed review of the proposal and made a “preliminary determination that the impacts resulting from this activity are not expected to adversely affect any of the species or stocks through effects on annual rates of recruitment or survival.”
