R / V “Akademik Aleksandr Karpinskiy” went for the next cruise to Antarctica from St. Petersburg on December 28, 2018, to perform the work under a contract with the FSBI “VNIIOkeangeologiya” “Geological and geophysical study and assessment of the mineral potential of the subsoil of Antarctica and its marginal seas as part of the 64th RAE. These works are carried out in accordance with the Order of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 699-p of April 19, 2018 to support activities of the Russian Antarctic Expedition in 2018-2022 in Antarctica; the plan of activities provides for the organization and conduct of the annual Antarctic expeditions in the optimal time frame for Russian organizations conducting scientific research in Antarctica, including land and marine geological and geophysical research. The R / V “Akademik Alexander Karpinsky”, owned by the Polar Marine Exploration Expedition JSC, is provided as a ship support for marine operations.
R / V “Akademik Alexander Karpinsky”
Cruise Chief I.V. Ksenofontov and Master V.M. Ananyev
Geological and geophysical study and assessment of the subsoil mineral and raw material potential is carried out to consolidate Russia's priorities in Antarctica and its marginal seas and to increase Russia's presence in this region in accordance with the Development Strategy of the Russian Federation in the Antarctic and within the Russian Antarctic Expeditions.
The regular cruise of the R / V “Akademik Alexander Karpinsky” will last 120 days. After passing the Baltic and North Seas, the vessel will cross the Southern Ocean, pass Cape Horn and the Drake Strait, reach the Pacific Ocean and head south to the work area between the Amundsen and Ross seas, where it will perform complex seismic and gravimetric magnetic work with bathymetry with a multibeam echo sounder. As a result, the deep crustal structure, sedimentation conditions and the history of the formation of the main geological structures will be studied. Based on the data obtained, an assessment of the hydrocarbon potential of the sedimentary cover in this new area will be given. Previously, such studies have not been conducted here.
Scheme of works of the R / V “Academik A. Karpinsky” in the 64th RAE
The land part of the Expedition on the R / V “Akademik Fedorov” is arriving on New Year's Eve at Mirny station, where the An-2 plane will be unloaded onto fast ice, assembled and flown to the runway in Mirny. Next, aero geophysical studies will begin, including magnetic and radar observations of a scale of 1: 500,000.
The vessel will move southerly to the Queen Mary Land, where geologists will be taken by helicopter to the Eastern part of the Bunger oasis.
Specialized geological work, aerovisual observations, airborne landings, land based magnetometer survey, and tests will be performed here. As a result, a geological map with points of occurrence of minerals, an anomalous magnetic field map, and an subglacial relief map with the definition of ice-sheet thickness will be compiled. All the works will end in the first half of April 2019.
Managing Director V.D. Kryukov