Volatiles and Fluids in Subduction Zones

SFB 574 Cruise “JC 23” with the British research vessel James Cook is scheduled from March 3 to April 18, 2008, devoted to geophysical investigations of the area offshore Southern Chile. During the first leg, which will be led by Prof. Ernst Flueh, a short-period seismic network will be set out at the outer rise (Figures 1, 2), and combined onshore-offshore wide-angle and seismic refraction data will be gathered along trench-perpendicular transects deploying OBS (Figures 1, 3). The second leg, under leadership of Dr. Joerg Bialas, will be used for mapping work, as well as for recovery of the short-period stations, which will be replaced by broadband stations supposed to operate till October, 2008. The major goal of this seismic and seismologic work is to better understand the influence of serpentinisation on the subduction process and the release of fluids. The findings will be integrated with data from a land-based seismic network of about 60 short-period and broadband stations in the adjacent area (Fig. 1, 2), which is being established in cooperation with our Chilean partners.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3