The Top of the Record: On-Mound and Off-Mound

Before the R/V JOIDES Resolution ever entered the Porcupine Seabight to drill Challenger Mound, the top of different mounds and their surrounding environments were already subjected to many detailed studies to unveil the top of their secrets. A systematic sampling of the top of different on-mound and off-mound records was carried out with the Calypso piston corer and the gravity corer aboard the R/V Marion Dufresne during the MD123-Geosciences campaign in September 2001. Within the EC FP5 programmes GEOMOUND and ECOMOUND these cores have been extensively studied.