On 14 February, the oceanographic expedition of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) 402 – Ocean-Continent Transition in the Tyrrhenian Sea, coordinated by scientists Nevio Zitellini, of the Institute of Marine Sciences of the National Research Council (CNR-Ismar) and Alberto Maliverno, of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (Ldeo) of Columbia University, will depart from the port of Naples. The expedition, conducted aboard the ocean drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution and which will last about two months, aims to address crucial issues on plate tectonics by trying to understand the crustal processes that lead to the separation of continents through the drilling of rocks in the Earth's mantle; rocks that are normally found at a depth of tens of kilometers, but which in the Tyrrhenian Sea are almost outcropping on the seabed, thus making it possible to sample them. The Joides Resolution (Joint Oceanographic Institutions Deep Earth Sampler) vessel is 61.5 meters high (above the waterline), 143 m long, 21 m wide and is capable of operating in all seas of the globe by drilling to depths of more than 6,000 meters below sea level. Under normal working conditions, it can accommodate up to 130 people, 60 scientists and technicians and 70 crew members. The ship, launched in 1978 as an oil vessel, is named after HMS Resolution, which explored the Pacific Ocean more than 200 years ago under the command of Captain James Cook. In January 1985, after being converted into a research vessel, she began working for the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP). Drilling activities with the ODP continued until September 2003, when IODPI and then IODP2 began, a program that will end in September 2024 with the decommissioning of the JOIDES Resolution.
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