Design and deployment of autoclave pressure vessels for the portable deep-sea drill rig MeBo (Meeresboden-Bohrgerät)
Thomas Pape1,2,Hans-Jürgen Hohnberg2,3,David Wunsch3,Erik Anders3,Tim Freudenthal2,Katrin Huhn2,and Gerhard Bohrmann1,2Thomas Pape et al.Thomas Pape1,2,Hans-Jürgen Hohnberg2,3,David Wunsch3,Erik Anders3,Tim Freudenthal2,Katrin Huhn2,and Gerhard Bohrmann1,2
Received: 22 Jan 2017 – Revised: 27 Apr 2017 – Accepted: 08 May 2017 – Published: 30 Nov 2017
Abstract. Pressure barrels for sampling and preservation of submarine sediments under in situ pressure with the robotic sea-floor drill rig MeBo (Meeresboden-Bohrgerät) housed at the MARUM (Bremen, Germany) were developed. Deployments of the so-called MDP (MeBo pressure vessel) during two offshore expeditions off New Zealand and off Spitsbergen, Norway, resulted in the recovery of sediment cores with pressure stages equaling in situ hydrostatic pressure. While initially designed for the quantification of gas and gas-hydrate contents in submarine sediments, the MDP also allows for analysis of the sediments under in situ pressure with methods typically applied by researchers from other scientific fields (geotechnics, sedimentology, microbiology, etc.). Here we report on the design and operational procedure of the MDP and demonstrate full functionality by presenting the first results from pressure-core degassing and molecular gas analysis.
Pressure coring is currently the only method that enables precise off-site analysis of gas and gas-hydrate volumes in marine sediments. Pressure barrels for sampling and preservation of submarine sediments under in situ pressure with the robotic sea-floor drill rig MeBo (MARUM, Bremen, Germany) were developed. Here we report on the design and operational procedure of the so-called MDP during two seagoing cruises and demonstrate functionality by presenting results from pressure core degassing.
Pressure coring is currently the only method that enables precise off-site analysis of gas and...
