EXPEDITION 351 TECHNICAL REPORTS

LAB OFFICER'S REPORT

Roy Davis

General Leg Information

Expedition 351, IZU Bonin 2 commenced on May 30, 2014 at Honmoku Berth 3, Yokohama, Japan with the boarding of the marine specialists. The science party boarded the following day. The vessel sailed at 0600 on May 4, 2014 for Site U1438. The Expedition ended in Yokohama on July 30, 2014.
There was 1 Site with 6 holes, which produced 189 cores and 1,225 meters of core recovery.
The sewer plant smell in the lab stack was eliminated by the ships engineers with the construction of an extension to the vent.

Port Call Activities Overview

Yokohama, japan

• Two days of tours were conducted

Loading of

• IODP Air freight
• IODP Surface
• VIT cable
• JAMTEC drillpipe
• Bulk
• SIEM frozen and fresh food
• Fuel

Offloading of

• Old VIT cable off
• IODP Flat
• Drill pipe for testing
• Trash

Yokohama, Japan

Offloading of

• World Courier -1 frozen, 1 refrigerated
• SURF – 6 gas bottle racks, 16 pallets
• FLAT – drilling equipment
• RAF and FAF

ASSISTANT LAB OFFICERS REPORT

Heather Barnes, Chieh Peng

Summary

Heather is an official ALO. YAY. No problems encountered. This was a relatively low recovery cruise that included sediment, sedimentary rocks and basement hard rocks. One site and five holes. Series of personal sample parties for holes A-C were held during the one week casing period. A daily personal sampling party was conducted for samples from hole E. Two temporary technicians, Susan Boehm in Xray and Vincent Percouco in chemistry lab, sailed. They did a very good job. Ship went into WOWing around week 5 to avoid super typhoon Neoguri.

CORE LAB

• New laser engraver software was tested and used without too much problem.
• The USB cord on the back of the laser engraver is corroding (Etienne is looking at it).
• The raised cutting platform on the aft MK101 saw, the one that's closer to supersaw, wass replaced to cover the entire length of the cutting table. This helped with cutting longer rock pieces.
• The parallel saw was overhauled and the saw shaft bearings were replaced (the saw does not make as much noise with the new bearings).
• The drain under the sink by the supersaw was repaired.

AMS/INVENTORY

A request is made to modify the way "build core shipment" generates shipping papers .
Please see below, which was sent as an email on July 10, 2014:
'Currently, when we use "Build Core Shipment" function in AMS under shipment, we enter how many boxes, and AMS creates a lump sum shipment.
So if we enter 210 boxes of core, the item=parcel=pallet=shipment. It doesn't show how many pallets, or how many boxes per pallet.
This was the concept when we offload core boxes one box at a time. But it is not true anymore.
We need to have a way of indicating in the shipping paper, how many boxes on a pallet, and how many pallets there are total.
I have not been using the "build Core shipment", but instead, create an item=parcel=pallet scheme. And using the multiple piece function in Pallet to indicate actual pallets number.
However, on the packing list, it only show the individual parcel, unless I can do the following (which I have not done).
Item = 10 x individual d-tube
Parcel = create 21 separate parcels (from 10 x d-tube and all the same)
Pallet = individual pallet, which contain the entire 21 parcel, and use multiple piece, enter 10.
Then the packing list will be accurate.
So my question is can we create a multiple piece function under Parcel? So that we don't have to create 21 separate parcels. Because right now, Parcel is the only function that there is no place to enter qty."

SPECIAL PROJECTS

• Super magnets were installed on elevator doors on all decks to assist holding the door open.
• Identification labels, colored dot/locks, were placed on property items for ECCN purpose. Those highlighted on the Master copy are 'stickered'. Many items were not labelled because the items are used in the seawater or in the drill rigging (drill collars, joints, beacons). In addition Thin Section needs to be completed.

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED

None

OFF-GOING SHIPMENTS

World Courier -1 frozen, 1 refrigerated (same shipping address).
SURF – 10 gas bottle racks (4 from EXP350), 2 empty O2 bottles, 2 Kboxes of misc items, schlumberger sinker bar, empty kboxes.
FLAT x 2 – drilling equipment, VIT cable drum and platform
RAF – Line scan camera, Coulometer, data boxes and sample boxes
FAF – 2 Wooden Boxes of pipe tubes, German magnetometer tool, sample and data boxes.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

Ty Cobb

Summary

Expedition 351 went successfully for the Physical Properties lab. The SHIL gave some issues throughout the expedition, but were resolved successfully with the help of the Developers and MCS's.
Measurement Counts as of 7/23/14:

Individual Measurement Systems

Velocity Gantry

Gantry operation was mostly successful; the Y bayonet was inoperable throughout the expedition. No other problems occurred.

Technical Service

Cleaning/lubrication of Y/X bayonets and caliper axes with silicon spray was performed in June.

Moisture and Density (mad)

MAD was run successfully. The vials were rearranged so that the remaining (old, lower numbered) vials will be used first before the 'new' printed label vials. No, non-printed label vials remain. Procedure was switched to hard rock once material became to hard to successfully take cylindrical 10cc samples.
Problems

1. The oven threw error 13 (over heating) several times, but with the alarm turned off it presented no problem.

Technical Service

1. With help from ET's the water tube system was cleaned at the beginning the expedition. This helped remove much of the buildup that was present and preventing proper circulation of water through each of the cells. Suggested this be performed at least once per expedition.

shear strength station (avs)

Shear Strength operation was successful throughout the entire expedition.

SPECIAL Task Multisensor logger (STMSl)

Not used during Expedition 351.

Whole Rounds Multi Sensor logger (WRMSl)

The WRMSL ran without problems.

Additional Details/Observations

Care must be taken with water dispensed from the Peristaltic Pump. A cap full of Bleach should be added to water to keep clean. Also, the cores remain extremely wet after moving though the instrument; this causes concern for the NGR.

Technical Service

Cleaning/lubrication of Y/X bayonets and caliper axes with silicon spray was performed in June.

SECTION HALF Image LOGGER (SHiL)

The SHIL started with problems upon first use during Expedition 351, but we were able to work through most issues and kept the instrument functional.
Problems

1. One of the drives for SHIL_a went out of service causing the computer to only run one drive; SHIL_b was put back on the instrument to alleviate this problem.

2. Generating too many of the images issued by LIMSpeak at one time consumes available CPU and I/O resources on the Solaris web server. Too many appears to be between 3-5 at once. This causes MUT to break [temporarily] at all stations, not just this one.

3. IMS would often crash while writing TIFF files for the image; this required the program to be restarted and the current section to be rescanned. The program would still send a 0kb TIFF to MUT. After July 1^st, when a separate but unrelated code change was made to SHIL, this happened less frequently, but still exists and is something to be aware of. See Developer report for more details.
4. One of the lights was found to have a crack in the lenses; it does not appear to cause an affect in the quality of the image and has not been replaced.
5. The JAI camera started to show discoloration in the lower density colors by way of yellow lines in the black areas as a result the camera was switched out with the spare on board.
6. The 'Green Flash' appeared after the camera was replaced. The code was modified to work-around a known camera hardware issue. David Fackler is talking to JAI tech support about this 'noise,' he thinks date of manufacturing could be a cause. Although, the 'noise' was reduced by a software change.

Additional Details/Observations
RGB data is being collected on every scan, it is an unnecessary collection for 360 imaging; there is no easy way to turn it off/on something to think of adding to IMS in the future. This needs to be made convenient—to be done at the same time the operator switches to scanning whole round surfaces.
*Also to note: cropping is not required for WRLS, internal image should reflect the whole round surface scan method, only two files need to be saved TIF and JPG, WRLS should not be optioned into the display image selection, and VCDs should not be generated by default for WRLS.
Technical Service
Bill Crawford performed all necessary services.

SECTION HALF MULTI SENSOR LOGGER (SHMSL)

The SHMSL ran smoothly despite and with a few small problems.
Problems

1. There was a loose connection in the switch box found by the ET's. This was causing the USB 4000 to turn off its lights at the beginning of each measurement. Once the wire was found and tightened the problem was resolved.
2. Once during the expedition the program lost the CW and CCW switches, the program was restarted and this resolved the problem.

NGR

The NGR showed steady performance and worked very efficiently throughout expedition.
Additional Details/Observations
Background was run 2x during Expedition 351. Calibration was done 4x during Expedition 351.
**Special care needs to be taken when moving the core from the WRMSL to the NGR. Now that the Peristaltic Pump is in place, the cores are covered in water and must be dried completely down before running them in the NGR.

ThermCon

The Thermcon was run successfully for the entire expedition. Both the Needle Probes (V10702) and Half Space Probes (H11025) were used.
Additional Details/Observations

• Needle Probe V11027 is bent to the point that it should not be used.
• TK04 software updated to V5.3.5.
• Two new half-space probes have been added with .ini files (H11038 and H11040).

General

• Highly recommend restarting instrument computers on a regular basis, as this seems to keep the instruments free of errors.

shipment

To shore

1. SHIL JAI camera
2. Logging sheets for all instruments

PALEOMAGNETICS LAB

Technician: Helen Evans
Scientists: Tony Morris, Marco Maffione

Summary

The paleomagnetics lab was used extensively this cruise to measure APC, XCB and RCB archive half sections and discrete samples. The Flexit tools were deployed at Site U1438. The spinner magnetometer, Kappabridge and bartington loop were used to measure discrete samples of sediment and basement. The sediments ranged from muds, clays and mudstones to volcaniclastics. The basement sections consisted of basalt. Liquid nitrogen demagnetization was carried out on ~150 shipboard discrete samples.
Thermal and AF demagnetization was carried out on several hundred shipboard discrete samples.

Issues

• D-Tech AF demagnetizer freezing during the demag cycle. This resulted in very slow processing of some discrete samples when the AF dmag had to be repeated up to 11 times to get the demag process to complete with freezing the software. Re-starting the demagnetizer controller would help for a short time. Changing the decay time on the demag cycle appeared to have little effect. Jurie went over it and checked the connections and it started working again.
• Kappabridge gave an error 6006- and wouldn't measure. Cleaned the belt and the up-down mechanism and the problem resolved. However it re-occurred the next day. I went through the same procedure and it failed to resolve the problem. The belt was adjusted and that appeared to work for a short time. The problem keeps occurring and may be a problem with one of the optical sensors that in the motion control mechanism. Need input from Agico.

Other

A Helium fill is scheduled for the portcall in Yokohama at the end of the expedition

Cryomag readings

CORE DESCRIPTION

Sandra Herrmann

Summary

A total number of thirteen core describers and four paleontologists worked with DESClogik during Expedition 351. The templates were used for the following scientific disciplines: core description – microscopic and macroscopic, foraminifers, nannofossils, and radiolarians.
Overall, DESClogik seems to run more stable and we had less complains than I have seen it before. I supposed, this is not due to the software itself, but more to 1) expectation management was set lower at the beginning of the expedition, 2) all fancy features, like resolve overlap, were switched off, and 3) scientists, that followed the rules set at the beginning.
The SEM was used by paleontologists and core describers on this cruise. Mr. Mohammed Aljahdali took pictures at a resolution of 20.000x, which is a new level of quality achieved on this expedition.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
Expedition 351 is the second IBM expedition. A workshop prior to those expeditions was arranged in order to design core description templates that would work for all three expeditions.
Expedition 350 modified the macroscopic and microscopic templates according to their needs. Their scheme focused on volcaniclastics disregarding all other rock types. Those templates were used as baseline for Expedition 351 discussions. Expedition 351 core description was primarily focused on hemipelagic sediments, turbidites and volcaniclastic sediments and some igneous rocks. The template layouts and the classification schemes of lithologies, colors, structures etc. were adjusted and partly completely redefined by 351 scientists. The science party decided to adjust the methods and terminology for microscopic and macroscopic description. It was remarkable that those schemes were set once and basically kept for the rest of the expedition.
The initial goal to keep core documentation terms and definitions the consistent over three expeditions seems to be a thought that can't be brought to reality.
Microscopic description was lead by Kathleen Marsaglia for smear slides, Sebastien Meffre and a few others for thin sections. Those schemes were redefined several times up to the middle of the expedition. The igneous thin section part was defined very strait forward and only changed one more time during the documentation.
The science party decided not to use the Thin Section Reports. They established a thin section report sheet in Excel that they used for the entire expedition.
Paleontological observations were captured on excel sheets first and then entered into DESClogik. The scientists tried to stick with 350 templates, added species and adjusted time scales to Gradstein et al., 2012.
ISSUES
1. Export to excel
Export to Excel hangs up if the column 'File Data' is hidden. Workaround: Just don't hide the column. Add to rules on website.
FORMULA
The formulas in DESClogik seem to save the result in the cell, where they are only supposed to calculate it. This causes problems if the values in the cells that the result is calculated from, change. 'String' and 'Double' conflict error warning appears.
Workaround: Switch off formula, fix numbers, and switch back on. However, this is only allowed as administrator and is therefore painful for users.
3. summary (comment) formatting
The 'Section summary description' formatting is removed no matter what the user does. This hinders work for VCD plotting and general look and feel for the scientists. It is a new phenomenon, potentially related to the latest DESClogik release.
changes to descinfo
Sub-value list website was created for porosity.
SEM
The SEM was used by paleontologists and core describers during Expedition 351.
Data Backups
data files (excel export from DESClogik, tracking of scientists changes) for the Expedition were copied to:
\\JR1\DATA\data1\10. Core Description
\\JR1\DATA\data1\25.1. SEM

CURATORIAL REPORT

Gemma Maxwell

EXPEDITION SUMMARY

Sample summary

A total of 10910 samples were taken on Expedition 351. A total of 7173 personal samples were taken and 3737 shipboard samples were taken. 1225.84 m of material was recovered during the expedition with 72% total recovery.
All shipboard and personal samples were taken onboard. There will be no post-cruise sampling party for this expedition.

SHIPMENTS

Approximately 10 pallets of 192 core boxes are scheduled to be shipped from Yokohama, Japan following the expedition to the Kochi Core Center in Kochi, Japan. This shipment will be combined with the 10 pallets of 200 core boxes that were left onboard from Expedition 350. The cores were divided into working and archive pallets. All sediment and lithified sediment cores were wrapped in cling wrap while all basalt cores were heat sealed with shrink wrap. All core boxes are labeled by the box number and a W for working halves and A for archive halves. All cores were boxed in order however please refer to the core box inventory sheets and section summary emailed in conjunction with this report. Core inventory sheets and the section summary will also be attached to one of the first core pallets in the container as well as the pallet holding residues.
Frozen and refrigerated shipments will be send via World Courier from Yokohama, Japan during the 351/352 port call. There are 1 frozen cooler & 1 refrigerated cooler being shipped to the following address:
Clara Sena Dr. Newton Gomes
Edificio da Reitoria
Campus Universitário de Santiago
Universidade de Aveiro
3810-193, Aveiro
Portugal
Newton Gomes +351 965475315
Clara Sena +315 916018835
Osamu Ishizuka scientists will be hand carrying samples following the expedition. A hand carry letter was drafted for him for any customs and immigration issues.

SITE CONVERSION

The conversion between pre-site and site identifiers is given below.

U1438 core flow & Sampling

Hole A - APC cored from 0 to 20.0 m for 3 cores. The cores from this hole were designated for high resolution sample table sampling.
Hole B – APC/XCB cored from 0 to XX m (refusal)
Hole C – Jet In Test
Hole D – Drilled interval from 0 to 219m. RCB cored from 219m to 897.8m.
Hole E – Casing installed to 60m. Drilled down to 867.3m and RCB cored to 1611m
Hole F – Dedicated logging hole to 700 mbsf
In order to have continuity between all three IBM expeditions, it was requested that volcaniclastic material be curated as sediment. A request was made by the paleomagnetists that the solid pieces of material still be labeled with their order and orientation in case a section was dropped. After splitting, each piece was labeled on the bottom using a wax pencil and its orientation marked on the bottom of the piece. This served the purposes of the paleomagnetists while also keeping cores curated as sediment. I would encourage 352 to follow the same numbering scheme for their sediment curation in harder materials.
Most of the shipboard scientists were heavily dependent on the age of the material in order to determine where to start sampling as they were targeting certain ages or boundaries. Therefore, it was decided that personal sampling would be staggered a few days behind shipboard sampling in order for the data to analyzed and help determine from which cores the science party should sample. This resulted in a number of hard rock style sampling parties for sediment curated cores. Due to this, the technicians cut and processed almost all of the samples on this expedition including shipboard and personal samples which is unique to this expedition.
During a slow period early in the expedition, samples were taken for VAUT at the request of the 350 sample allocation committee if time allowed. This box of samples will be shipped with the other 351 sample boxes following the expedition.

HOLE A – for High resolution sampling on working half

A mudline sample was taken for Sev Kender (14065IODP).
A headspace sample was taken at the top of a section in the middle of the core.
A pal sample was taken from the core catcher.
These sections were run through the whole round tracks and split. Working halves were not sampled for shipboard samples but archive halves followed normal core flow. Personal samples were taken from the working halves of this hole for a few scientists a few days later.

HOLE B – APC/XCB to refusal

A mudline sample was taken for Sev Kender (14065IODP).
Core 1:Section 1 marked and cut at 1m. Section 1 was cut into 10cm whole rounds for microbiology. Section 1 is used entirely for microbiology and nothing remains. The remaining sections are cut into 50cm sections. A 10cm whole round is cut at the end of each section for microbiology.
Core 2: Sections are cut at 150cm. A 10cm whole round is removed from the bottom of each section for microbiology.
Core cutters and spatulas were sterilized with ethyl propyl alcohol before each cut. Cleaned endcaps were placed on one end of the cut whole round. The exposed end was covered with sterilized aluminum foil.
The sections were then engraved and labeled. They were run through the track systems after temperature equilibration. The sections were then split. Shipboarde samples were taken on the cores from this hole. Personal samples were delayed by a few days and taken by the technical staff.

HOLE C, D & E – RCB Coring

Hole C was a jet in test and no cores or samples were collected.
Hole D was APC cored from 0 to168.9m and XCB cored from 168.9 to 617m. Headspace was taken from 18m for the entirety of the hole. 5 to 15cm IW whole rounds (increasing in length with depth) were resumed from where they ended in Hole A (~18m) until a depth of 550m. 5cm microbiology whole rounds were taken at a frequency of 1 per core. All shipboard and personal samples taken on the sampling table were taken for the entirety of this hole.
Hole E was RCB cored from 867.3 to 1611m. 5 IW whole rounds were taken from cores 6R to 12R before it was decided to stop IW sampling due to a lack of water. All shipboard and personal samples taken on the sampling table were taken for the entirety of this hole.
A series of personal sampling parties took place at noon crossovers from the cores that were recovered from the previous 24 hours.

HOLE F – Dedicated logging hole

A dedicated logging hole was drilled from seafloor to 700 mbsf and then logged. No cores or samples were recovered.

shipboard SAMPLING

MADC, XRD, ICP, PMAG, SED and TS samples were taken from the working halves routinely (SED samples taken from the archive halfs). Biostratigraphers would occasionally take FORAM, NANNO, or RAD samples from the working half in order to fill the gaps in their age models.

rESIDUES

Scientists were asked to list the types and volume of residues they are interested in requesting at the end of the cruise. This allowed squeeze cakes, PAL samples, IW porewaters and squeeze cakes to be divided as the samples were processed. This avoided extra labor at the end of the cruise to divide these samples.
The remaining residues (MADC, TSB, CARB, ICP XRD, etc.) were claimed and divided between scientists during the last site and transit. These residues were reassigned to each scientist's request code and number.
Thin Section Billets: Select billets are being sent to Richard Arculus (16416IODP), Alex Bandini (16422IODP), Sebastian Meffre (12221IODP), Kathie Marsaglia (12442IODP) and Gene Yogodzinski (11045IODP) and Rosemary Hickey-Vargas (12184IODP)
Smear Slides: For Core Description to KCC
Biostratigraphy Slides: All slides from Core Catchers and working halves were divided by groups
SEM Slides: Alex Bandini (16422IODP)
IW (Squeeze Cakes):

• ¼ to Van der Land (16412IODP) – vacuum sealed, room temperature
• ¼ for CARB Sample – vacuum sealed, room temperature
• ½ residue – room temperature to KCC

IW (Liquid):
IWICP: Cees Van der Land (16412IODP)
IWORP: ORP analysis, 45mL tube, untreated
IWPA: to Clara Sena (14421IODP)
IWS: Zhaohui Zhang (11802IODP)
XRD: To Rosemary Hickey-Vargas (12184IODP) and split between Rosemary Hickey-Vargas and Ivan Savov (12085IODP) for U1438E from 65R to 88R
CARB Powders: to KCC
MAD: U1438B 18H4 to 30X7 split between Mohammed Aljahdali (11301IODP) and Osamu Ishizuka (11423IODP); Rest to Osamu Ishizuka (11423IODP)
PMAG Cubes: Kept by the paleomagnetists, Tony Morris (12045IODP) and Marco Maffione (12054IODP) and shipped to Tony Morris
ICP (hard rock and sediment): Split between Rosemary Hickey-Vargas (12184IODP) and Ivan Savov (12085IODP)
HS: To KCC

THIN SECTIONS

A total of 144 thin sections were made during this expedition by Gus. These will be shipped back to the Kochi Core Center with the other residues. An approved thin section loan request that needs to be fulfilled can be found in the action items section of this report. Five duplicate thin sections were made during this expedition: 59B, 61b, 84b, 97b and 113b. Kathie Marsaglia (12442IODP) claimed duplicate thin sections number 84b and 97b.

Microbiological testing

Microspheres were run at the request of Clara Sena for microbiological sampling. The microspheres were run on select cores when a microbiological sample was scheduled to be taken. These cores were U1438D 40R and 41R and U1438E 4R to 6R.

sample request numbers and codes

Below is a list of the shipboard scientists, their sample request numbers and assigned sample request codes. Scientists were asked to revise their sample requests during the expedition and these revisions are saved on the Curator server on the JR. All revised requests were approved by the 351 SAC.

ACTION ITEMS for kcc

These items will need to followed up by the Kochi Core Center. Detailed information will be passed on to Dr. Lallan Gupta following the expedition.

KCC sampling

Some sampling has had to be delayed to the Kochi Core Center. Since there is only one site for this expedition and the cretaceous aged material was not recovered, a few scientists had to change their research areas at the end of the expedition. There are four sample requests that have to be sampled post-cruise. These requests have been reviewed and approved by the shipboard Sample Allocation Committee. The SAC asks that they be sampled as soon as possible. Requests are for Mohammed Aljahdali (11301IODP), Alex Bandini (16422IODP), Rodrigo Guerra (11701IODP) and Sev Kender (14065IODP). Their shipping addresses are listed here. The sample lists will be forwarded onto Lallan Gupta
Mohammed H. Aljahdali Geology/Micropaleontology
909 Antarctic Way
108 Carraway Building Tallahassee FL 32306-4100USA ma10u@my.fsu.eduTel: (850) 570-8300
Alexandre N. Bandini School of Earth and Environment (M004)University of Western Australia35 Stirling HighwayWA Crawley 6009Australia alexandre.bandini@uwa.edu.au
Tel: 61 4 2494 3333
Rodrigo do Monte Guerra Technological Institute of MicropaleontologyUniversity of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS)Bloco 6K, Avenida Unisinos, 950-B Cristo ReiSao Leopoldo 93022Brazil rodrigomguerra1@gmail.com
+(55) 54 91495670
Sev Kender British Geological SurveyKeyworthNottingham NG12 5GGUnited Kingdom sesev@bgs.ac.uk
Tel: (+44) 1159363068

THIn section loan requests

There is one request to borrow thin sections post cruise. Ivan Savov (12085IODP) requests to borrow all basement thin sections for a period of up to one year. This request is for thin sections 102-144. These thin sections will be sent to the Kochi Core Center and will need to be loaned out to the requestor for a period of one year. The SAC has approved this request. The requester's contact information is provided here:
Ivan P. Savov School of Earth and EnvironmentUniversity of LeedsLeeds LS2 9JTUnited Kingdom I.savov@see.leeds.ac.ukTel: (44) 113-343-5199

IMAGING LAB and MICROSCOPES

William Crawford

Summary

Expedition 351 was very successful in achieving the goals set forth by the Scientific Objectives i.e.; reaching and coring basement. The mission was delayed by weather but succeeded within the planed schedule.
The Science Party was excellent and worked very well together from my point of view. I benefited from the personal interface as several of the scientist taught mineralogy or has taught mineralogy. Many offered explanations including Conoscopy and advantage of the use of oils when viewing cross-polarized thin sections under the microscope.

EQUIPMENT & SOFTWARE PERFOMAnCE SUMMARY

The mission began with the installation of two new Zeiss compound microscopes. The installation coincided with a visit by Emile Milan and his son, of Serco Technical Services. This was the annual inspection and cleaning of the microscopes. Emile also help coordinate the packing and the shipment to shore of two Zeiss Axiophot microscopes, light sources and other related equipment. Older equipment that belongs to those microscopes of the vintage on shore was shipped also.
Several issues arose with the microscope systems. A Spot camera had intermittent " communication" problems. After testing was done and to the conclusion the problem was not related to software, cabling or the computer, the camera was replaced. The problem was illuminated with a conclusion the camera was faulty. The camera was sent back to shore for repair.
The transmitted light power supply on the last remaining Zeiss Axiophot was found to have an errant voltage meter. The error lead the operator to believe the voltage was in the "safe" zone when in actuality and over voltage setting existed. This led to over heating and failing bulbs and brittle wiring. Serco was contacted and a new voltage meter is being sent to the ship for replacement. We have a spare light power source to use until the repair is completed.
Scaling adjustments for the new microscopes were completed but David Fackler against a stage micrometer and field of view for each objective under each "power" of the opitavar equipped microscopes.
M-bio; An intermittent issue with the M-bio fluorescent light source control panel was observed. The on/off switch on the 490 mn light source would not allow the light to be powered down. Unplugging the unit and then returning power would " illuminate" the problem. This perhaps occurs during long periods of "use." Perhaps educating the users to be diligent in turning the light off after even during brief times of non use would help with the cooling of the unit. This behavior would have been problematic with Mercury bulbs and not so with the L.E. D. units.
There was an accidental mishandling of one of the new microscopes causing the stage to completely fall off. The knob, which engages the dovetail, which secures the stage, is located directly above the stage focus adjustment knob. A scientist mistakenly turned the wrong knob and caused the stage to completely disconnect and fall to the condenser stage below. This happened during an off watch and the stage was replaced the next morning. Realignment was done and the microscope was tested. The specimen holder has a slight bend. This bend is indictable to the eye but in affect raise the specimen as it is moved causing an out of focus condition to exist. The scientist using the scope knew to push gently on the specimen to flatten it with the stage. Generally carefully bending the specimen holder will eliminate the problem and I will do so when I clean and calibrate the microscopes in the next few days at the End of the Expedition. I do not expect any problems.
There was an unexpected and rare issue with the microscope in the Thin Section Lab. I was called to look at an issue with the light coverage being less than the field of view. Gus noted this condition had existed since the beginning of the cruise. Upon examination I saw the light box was slightly disconnected from the microscope. I expect too tight of a bungee cord to secure the scope from heavy seas caused undue pressure and the light box partially released. This led to a close examination of the scope and the reveling of many other problems. Gummy release pins led to screw stripped components, which had to be fixed. The unit was disassembled and the optics removed and Gus took on the task of rethreading while I took the task of re aligning the stage and the optics. The objective turret was found to be worn and shims had to be fabricated to insure alignment. This scope is older but unique in the reflected light source is attached to the objective turret. This weight with the addition of the moment arm as caused the turret to distort. This is the only microscope like this even among the recently surplused parts.
I believe the repair with the shims is a good one and the microscope will last in the environment it is in. The foot print of this microscope is small and the users are fond of it for various reasons. Looking for a replacement would have to be concentrated in the "travel field" style of microscope. I will brief Sandra and Tim plus Zenon on the work that was done.
All four of the new Zeiss Discovery V-8 was used. Three set-ups in the Microscope lab and one in the Smear slide description area. All of the microscopes used a combination of the LED Soft light with the more direct cross lighting of the fiber optic arms. There were not enough fiber optic arms of the newer designs for all so Etienne fabricated an adapter. This consisted of a plate, which screwed to the base and a round column protrusion, which allowed the attachment of the older style column mounted lights. This shortage of fiber optic arm lights was relayed to the shore and discussions are underway to purchase additional arms.
The microscopes were configured as follows;
2x Nano fossil set ups with higher magnification
1x Petro graphic (New Microscope)
1x Smear slide 5X-40X Axioskop
1x Radiolarian ( New Microscope with X/Y Stage)
4 x Stereo Microscopes 3x combination lighting, 1x single LED lighting
and without camera.
The Split half Imaging Logger's ( Shil) camera began showing signs that one of the three sensors were beginning to fail. This first manifest itself as a color balance issue, then streaks appeared. Generally following the calibration procedures with pixel leveling eliminates the problem. This was not the case and soon it was certain the camera itself was failing. The streaking only occurred in the lower densities but was pronounced. The replacement of the camera went without issue. The errant camera is packed to ship back to the shore and shore is sending a replacement out to the ship at the next port call.
During a routine examination and cleaning. I noticed a cracking of the focus lens on two of the lights. This has not appeared to effect the beam, however there are replacements on board. This might be due to heading or the use of ammonia based or chlorine based cleaning products. I have had experience with lexans and other optical plastics with deteriorate quickly with exposures to certain chemicals. I suggest only using water to dab clean the focus lenses on the lights. ( The lights will get splashed with muddy water when imaging wet sediment core if the operator is not gentle enough loading the core section in the logger)
The scanner performed well but issues with up-loading the larger heavier tiff image was frequent. (I will have to defer to Ty Cobb and David Fackler for more details as to the why.) After the replacement camera was installed the frequency of this occurring went down 90%. This puzzles the programmers and myself as nothing was changed in the program.
The Petrographic Image Capture and Archiving Tool ( PICAT) performed well with no issues other than replacing one bulb. The replacement bulbs had not been added to the inventory system. These was done and re-order and stock levels were created. This inventory list is on the gray cabinet with the extra SEM products and bulbs.
The close-up camera and workstation operated fine. No issues.
Mike Cannon installed the Eye One display calibration software to the Shil Monitor and that monitor was calibrated. It is set to be recalibrated each month (The longest period of time available in the program) An improvement was seen. Attempts to calibrate the HP Core Lab Printer was interrupted by core flow and never materialized.
The quality of output from the core lab printer and the F-deck scanner/printer is poor. More so with the core lab color printer. A custom generated printer profile for both of these printers is needed. There are two ways to approach this. The first installing the profile in each computer which prints to that printer. This would involve not only every computer which utilizes that printer but every program would have to be set up to use that profile. The other method involves installing the custom print profiler as the default profile inside the printer. This is by far the easiest and most productive way to get reasonable color from both printers from any computer. To do this will involve the advice and council of the printer manufactures and someway to interface with the printers to install a custom profile as its default. A team of I.T. / programmers/Imaging Specialist needs to meet and see what issues face us in doing so. Our clients are complaining, more so about the HP Core Lab Color Printer than the Sharp Scanner. Both printers require calibrating, repairing or replacement.
Upon reaching Basement, the SHIL was modified to produce the whole round images ( 0,90,180,270 degree). Those were downloaded to the Imaging Lab still workstation using LIms2excel.( L2E) There the images were corrected using Adobe Bridge Raw and then compiled using Adobe Photoshop. 38 compiled images were completed. L2E would not allow the change of the last selected core section unless closed and re-opened. This slowed the workflow considerably. David Fackler and Jon Howell are aware of the problem.

Numbers

783 Micrographs Images
158 Close-ups Images
296 Thin-section Images
1261 Line Scan Images
38 Whole Round Composite Images
41.97 GB Still Images

X-RAY DIFFRACTION, ICP PREPARATION AND MICROBIOLOGY

Susan Boehm

Summary

Bruker technicians replaced the XRD control box and detector during a two day service call in Yokohama. QAQC performed twice after the installation. All controls and software remained functional for the entire expedition. Hard rock and sediment ICP were conducted. One platinum crucible was dented and can no longer be used.

Total Samples

XRD: 297
ICP: 78
MBIO:177

X-ray Diffractometer

Along with the replaced control box and detector the technicians updated the configuration software. All samples ran smoothly. A few duplicate samples were run to make sure sample prep was consistent and that samples prepared with a slurry method gave the same peaks as samples prepared normally- they did. Two samples using the 1mm sample holders came out after analysis with disturbed surfaces, the data was shifted on the x-axis as well. Duplicate samples were prepared and run with no problem.
The oil in the freeze dryer was changed out on June 28. The removed oil was dark amber with some black debris. Monitor the oil color and change more frequently if needed (once per cruise at least).
On July 17 the chiller water to the ship was turned off. I discovered this after I had noticed the temperature on the Haskris chiller steadily increasing and I had to stop and shut down the XRD. By the next morning the temperature was back down to 55 degrees where it is normally kept and I could resume running samples.

iCP Preparation

One Pt crucible can no longer be used. The bottom surface is now dented because of trying to get out a stuck bead. The following standards gave a lot of trouble when trying to get the beads out: VS-N, Nod-A-1, STM-1, JR-2. Remaining bead residue eventually was removed after sonication in methanol for a few hours under the fume hood. Those same standards partially melted and stuck to the inner quartz crucibles when doing LOI at 1025°C. All subsequent samples were heated to 700°C as directed by the scientists until basement was reached.
Bead maker and furnace worked fine with no problems.

Microbiology

Microbiology samples were taken on the catwalk with sterilized cutting tools- plastic syringe bases when the sediment was still soft, and spatulas when the material got harder. Samples were double bagged and refrigerated.

THIN SECTION LAB

Gus

Summary

A total of 144 shipboard requests thin sections were processed.

Special Projects

An additional18 requests were processed for special clast studies ashore.
A new sink faucet was installed.

Problems Encountered

There were no problems.

Miscellaneous

Zeiss microscope was serviced while in port.
Routine equipment maintenance was performed as necessary.

ELECTRONIC TECHNICIANS REPORT

Jurie Kotze, Etienne Claassen

Labs

Chem lab

Source rock analyzer

1. We had some problems with Source rock analyzer, the gas supply to instrument would be normal but intermittent errors on gas flow detected by instrument, we bypassed the faulty electric valve and operated the gas flow manually to get gas flow to the head, instrument works fine again. A new valve will be ordered.
2. The glow plug was replaced after it went open circuit. With the new glow plug installed it failed to glow although the voltage and continuity in the supply circuit is normal. We had this similar situation in the past and it seems like there is some discrepancy in the ordering and glow plug checkout at the vendor and we need to take it up with them. Although similar glow plugs with the same P/N would be different. Some would glow normally at 2,5V and some would only glow at 3,5V. We suspect that it must be intended for different models of instruments and gets packed wrongly and might be a quality control problem somewhere. Both type glow plugs are similar but differ in operating voltage.
3. It is not a major issue as it is not difficult to connect it to a bench power supply to supply the 3,5V needed for it to glow as normal and we used it that way but will follow up with the vendor. It just ads manual operation to switch it on/off when used.

Glow plug, with lug for instrument
Vortex vial shaker

1. The vortex shaker stopped "shaking", it was opened and the springs were found to be very corroded and fatigued, the "speed control", a wire wound potentiometer was corroded and worn out (eaten by corrosion) as well, we did not have a replacement pot but seeing that it is not an essential requirement we fixed it at a comfortable shaking speed and removed the pot , the springs broke twice again after this and we suggested to the Lab tech to order a new one as this one was getting to the end of its useful life .The springs were fixed the best we could for the time being.

Coulomb meter

1. The coulomb meter that was worked on during Exp. 349 was tested again and found to still have the same problem it had before, all voltages and measuring points were found to be in spec, we traced the problem to the photo detector, we removed the detector and found the glass busy delaminating. We cleaned it and tested it again but it still had the same problem, we didn't have a spare and did not feel comfortable removing the photo detector from the working one to check as a test in case we lose both.

We decided to send it back for repairs and to use the opportunity to get it calibrated as well.

Core lab

SHILL

1. The SHILL presented with green luminance lines on the darker areas, we checked all wiring between the camera and the computer, it was confirmed by Bill C. (image specialist) that it is a problem, We are of the opinion that the sensor in the camera is the source of this, changed the camera out with a replacement camera, with Bill's help we tested the Shill and matched the camera with the instrument's standards and found it to be working well.

The camera will be sent back to Canon for repairs, and will be used as a spare.
Parallel saw

1. The parallel saw in the splitter room's one bearing was making a bad noise. The saw was removed and the bearings between the shaft and the blade drive pulley was removed and replaced, while the saw was out of service it was cleaned and checked. Reinstalled and working fine again.

We suggested to the LO and ALO's to buy a replacement motor as spare that can be used on all three the saws, they all use the same type of motor.
D2000 Demag.

1. The D2000 magnetometer presented with a problem that occurred during the previous Expedition as well. It would lose communication to the D2000 Demag instrument and will only get a "start" instruction from the PC without any further communications between the PC and Demag instrument. The instrument will go through the normal Demag procedure as it normally would without talking to the PC again.

The instrument was removed and opened up for a thorough checkup and it worked normal on the workbench as well without any problems. Using the opportunity we removed the high voltage plug-in socket at the rear and kept it hanging out on the outside of the cabinet. This ensures a proper connection once you have to connect it. It used to sit in such a way that you could never say for sure if it made good contact if you plug it back in. This now allows for both hands to take hold and feel the connection is made properly.
What we found is that the serial port plug at the back of the PC was hanging pretty loose even when it is screwed in due to the adaptors riding back to back. This is a common problem on many occasions on many instruments. One tends to forget that once you have a communication break on a serial port you lose it completely and has to power down the PC from scratch to allow the PC Bios to reconfigure the serial port from boot-up again. The O/S or user program cannot reconnect a serial port as it can do with USB ports. If you had a serial communication port problem you will always have to reboot the PC from scratch once you made sure the serial port is plugged in and screwed in properly.
SMSL

1. The SMSL presented with the same communications error and after no real issues could be found, the PC was powered down and booted up again and all back to normal.

Pygnometer

1. The Pygnometer circulation water was drained and the system being cleaned and flushed with anti-algae build-up solution. Refilled and checked for leaks, all okay.

APC UPS's

1. We lost 2 X 1,5kva APC UPS battery sets. One had an internal electrode short and the other an open cell battery. Both set's batteries we removed and the units replaced by spare ones we had available. We did not order fresh batteries as 2 new UPS's will arrive in Port. This new ones are a new generation of generating UPS's and will replace the faulty ones. If they work as expected we will over time replace all the UPS's with the new types. The ones "moth balled" are in good electronic condition and will be kept till later to decide about their future awaiting the outcome of the new unit test period.

Kappabridge
The instrument presented with a vertical position error (external carriage) with start-up or calibration run. This happens intermittently and not every time.
The vertical sample carriage was removed and the cylinder lifting assembly as well. It has several small optical sensors that detects the physical positions at different times. The drive belts and mechanical drive components had quite a lot of white fluff ( "worn-plastic" dust) on the belts and detectors. Blew and brushed it clean and reassembled. It worked for a couple of hrs. and it started again.
We found that removing the cover on the top gear assembly improves it. Seeing that it was cleaned it should not be any dirt problems any more, the optical detector might be getting less sensitive seeing that the external ambient light bias improves the switching level. The bottom gear assembly was opened and cleaned as well. It is currently running and we will monitor its performance. It might be time to have it send in for a factory calibration test. Helen and Maggie will discuss this option.

DHML Lab

1. Ran APCT3 tools no. 1858005C /007C on Hole U1438B on cores 3, 4,5,6,7 & 9. All excellent runs. We only have tools 05C & 07C on board. No.22 is on its way back to the ship and 04C is still on its way to College Station (if not arrived there yet) for calibration and a minor thermistor fix.
2. Set tool 3 and Set-P tool 1 on board packet for shipment back to College Station for calibration.

Rigwatch

1. Rigwatch crashed numerous times and with the help of MCS's we found that although the tracer pumps was switched off in the pump room the Rigwatch system would still think the pumps was switched on, this software was fixed and a new start-up file was created. No more crashes we reported.
2. The pipe counter stopped working and sometimes only worked counting up but did not count back, we found that there were small nuts loose on the optical switch holding plate; this happened due to the vibration/movement of the pipe stabber, we replaced it and tightened the nuts. That fixed it but we suggest to keep a close eye on this as this will happen again, and there is not much we can do else but to make it part of our maintenance plan for Rigwatch. The high velocity vibration tends to loosen the small nuts and cause the optical switches to shift and go out of alignment.
3. We had initial problems in getting the slave Rigwatch PC's (monitor stations) to display the correct pipe count although it was correctly displayed on the master PC. The wrong set-up file was used in the beginning of the expedition, the computer in the network locker was also restarted and repointed to the correct setup file as it had the wrong setup for the new site and the bad information was displayed on all the slave computers and the TV system. It is important to erase all redundant and old setup files after every expedition to prevent confusion for the upcoming crew as it is always a difficult decision for the new team to delete old files as you don't know if it was left there for a reason, so it's best to delete it once you know it's not needed any more before leaving the ship.
4. All the Rigwatch dongle keys have been renewed and keyed in; the master's expiry date was not renewed as its date is out of sync with the rest. Mike S. felt to renew all the keys so that expiry dates are the same to make it easier in the future, the new updated master code has not yet been keyed in as we had jobs running and will do this on the transit in the Yokohama. All keys will have the same expiry dates from now on.

Entertainment

Gym

1. The Schwinn bike in the gym's pedal back-plate came undone, we had to remove the crank and repair it, as we don't keep the needed special tool for this kind of job this was time consuming, we removed the crank arm with a puller and the crank was removed as well, we built a tool to remove the crank arm and gears for the job.

All the parts were cleaned and checked, reinstalled the back plate and crank arms, all parts where fitted and Loctite applied, the bike is working and in use again.
Photos were taken for future reference, The bike was probably assembled in the factory without proper torque on the back-plate, this lead to the separation from the frame, this should not happen again now that its properly tightened.
No damage was done and the threads were cleaned and inspected and found to be in a good working condition.

Bike BB and crank

General

1. Numerous small fixing jobs were done around the ship & labs. a Few wood work jobs have been done as well.

1. Door magnets were installed on the elevator & store doors to do away with the bungees on the following decks, bridge, core, foc'sle , main, upper tween deck and reefer.

1. Ceiling tiles have been replaced in chem, core, and XRD lab.

1. We removed four GFI receptacles in core lab and installed them in the bridge area close to the water fountains as per ABS safety requirements; we still have to do so in the core lab and order more to complete the job.

1. ET shop order was made out for needed spares.

PUBLICATIONS SPECIALIST

Alyssa Stephens

Summary

Expedition 351 has been a low recovery, but extremely successful expedition. The primary task I had to complete was to generate Visual Core Descriptions for sediment and hard rock. Additionally, I handled the proofing, formatting, and tracking of all volume materials (to include text, figures, and tables). There are Visual Core Descriptions for 1 site and 4 holes at current, final count (7/23/14): U1438A, B, D, & E (which has sediment and hard rock).
VCDs have been, and will continue to be, completed in a timely manner. For all holes, I have generated VCDs and hole summaries, as well as a site summary. All requested format and data changes have been implemented on my end. Hard rock VCDs are finalized. For sediment, I am still awaiting one column's worth of data – the age data from the micropaleontology group. As soon as I receive this, I will be able to fill in the last column of data and consider the sediment complete as well.
Though there was a steep learning curve for the core description group, which necessitated a greater than usual number of regenerations of VCDs, there was no trouble getting this all done. Once the core description group had a better understanding of how to describe sediment and use DescLogik, we were able to reach a final decision on how the VCDs should look, and all VCDs coming off the ship will be in their finalized form.
Volume materials are being gathered. I have received nearly all materials for the Methods section, and am anticipating many reports will be turned in during the final few days. The U1438 chapter has a deadline set by the staff scientist of July 28^th. I should receive the last bits of publications material by this date and will be able to check that off as complete. I anticipate some minor changes or new material to be added following the expedition, but not nearly as much as usual. This group of scientists has been efficient in looking things over extremely closely while out here, so many changes have been made on the ship to get materials to a final stage.
I was able to get my VCDs and other duties taken care of promptly, and so was able to assist with coring activities – helping on the catwalk and some shrink wrapping and packing core into boxes.
No major issues with software or programs occurred. Any minor issues were addressed by the developers in a timely manner and did not disrupt my workflow.

Equipment & Software Performance Summary

I used Strater 4 to create my VCDs. This is a program I have used many times, and it performed perfectly well and up to standard. There were no issues with this. I also used Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Distiller, and Acrobat for some functions. These worked as they should and caused no issues.

Database, entries, and data upload or download related

For my VCD creation, I also utilized Lims2Excel and DescLogik, both of which performed exactly up to standard and allowed me to get my work done efficiently. Both programs offered a fast and accurate data retrieval.
Lims2Excel was only used for core photo and track data retrieval. DescLogik was used for all description data retrieval. This change in Publications workflow was recommended and approved by all on shore prior to Expedition 350. This is an excellent change (one we have been pushing for quite some time), and I highly recommend that we continue with this workflow. In the past, we have used L2E to retrieve description data, and it is somewhat unreliable in this manner. DescLogik provides for a straight export of the description data and is easy to use for our VCD creation purposes.
Volume Materials
This portion of my tasks has been very smooth. I held a few publications presentations for the different groups to make the scientists aware of the volume submission process (including the creation of text, figures, tables, formats, labeling and naming conventions, etc.). I highly recommend that oncoming Yeop/Publications Specialists do this, as I credit it with being a huge factor in how smooth the report submissions process has gone. Materials have been submitted in a timely manner, with very few errors in the process. I also, as always, kept a tracking sheet (for both my and their benefit) and informed them of time limits so as to keep them focused on the goal of submission. Additionally, Kara is an excellent Staff Scientist who has kept hard deadlines for reports.

Volume Materials

This portion of my tasks has been very smooth. I held a few publications presentations for the different groups to make the scientists aware of the volume submission process (including the creation of text, figures, tables, formats, labeling and naming conventions, etc.). I highly recommend that oncoming Yeop/Publications Specialists do this, as I credit it with being a huge factor in how smooth the report submissions process has gone. Materials have been submitted in a timely manner, with very few errors in the process. I also, as always, kept a tracking sheet (for both my and their benefit) and informed them of time limits so as to keep them focused on the goal of submission. Additionally, Kara is an excellent Staff Scientist who has kept hard deadlines for reports.

General Duties Performed

• Created all visual core descriptions, hole summaries, site summaries. Updated these numerous times when data was changed or a template change was requested.
• Collected and organized all volume materials, to include text, figures, tables (both print and electronic copies).
• Provided administrative support. This includes: assisting the scientists with various tasks, getting supplies, helping with travel issues, customs forms.
• Provided graphics and publications support throughout the expedition. This includes presentations, proofing, formatting, editing and tracking all volume materials. Also, providing assistance with drawing of figures.
• Distributed and completed necessary expedition paperwork. This includes: communication policy, lab release, photo release, manuscript and copyright forms.
• Collaborated with the Staff Scientist to create server directories for the scientists, as well as creating the Publication directory for transfer of volume material to shore.
• Worked with DESClogik administrator to create accurate data reports for use with VCDs, thin sections, and smear slides.
• Worked with L2E programmer to test, and to identify problems so that future users of L2E will not experience these.
• Worked with science party: in my creation of VCDs to ensure that the data they wish to be represented was, and that it was scientifically accurate and aesthetically pleasing.
• Provided support for methods figures and core recovery summary figures.
• Modified initial shore-created Strater templates and Methods figures during the expedition to display specific patterns, symbols, and plots. Continued to update these as needed.
• Assisted and coordinated social events, including: birthdays, expedition t-shirt contest, and parties.

Additional Duties

• Selected weekly web photos each week and produced captions.
• Communicated with shore staff regularly to provide updates and seek expertise.
• Restocked Publication supply cabinet as needed, and provided science party with supplies per request.

Suggestions

There was only one real issue I would like to address. I truly enjoyed working with all members of the core description team, but I feel that the addition of a few sedimentologists would have benefited the entire group. The material we recovered was primarily sediment, and yet we had a group made up of almost entirely igneous petrologists. The description process was very lengthy for the core description group, spotted with more disagreements than usual regarding process and method, and data was changed at least a dozen times, which seems slightly inefficient. This in turn caused me to redo the VCDs around 20 times, which is about 15 times more than usual. Creating VCDs is my primary job out here, so I don't mind redoing them, but I feel this portion of the work could have gone more smoothly.

System Managers Report

Mike Cannon and Steven Thomas

Summary:

During expedition 351 there were some minor issues that caused some disruption early in operations. These disruptions were caused by the instability of one of our main Solaris servers. A more detailed description of this problems found can be found later in this document. However the issue was resolved and science operations continued without further difficulty from this issue.
We also implemented the virtual environment that has been in the planning stages for six months. It is now operational and is hosting several virtual machines and will take on more work load as our operational schedule allows.

Servers (Microsoft):

• RigWatch master crashed once early in the expedition. This was caused by an outdated setup file that was used to start RigWatch. This setup file caused the tracer pump device setting to become enabled although the tracer pump equipment wasn't being used and was powered off. This causes RigWatch to crash sometimes. The device setting was disabled and the settings were saved in a new setup file. The problem has not reoccurred.
• Pinatubo, the developers build server, was migrated to a virtual server and is fully operational
• A new virtual server was built, named Pelee and has taken on the role of running our HP data center monitoring software, Systems Insight Manager and Insight Remote Support.
• Everest was migrated to a virtual server and is operational.
• Krakatoa and Erebus developed an error condition due to a non-functional array controller battery. This is not a critical failure and just slightly affects I/O performance, the servers continued to operate. We started support cases with HP and they are sending replacement batteries which will be replaced during EXP352.
• Sthelens developed an error condition due to a malfunctioning memory module. We started a support case with HP and they are sending a replacement memory module which will be replaced during EXP352. The server continued to operate with no further problems.
• A new Windows Server 2008 system (Fuji) was installed to serve as the host for vCenter Server. See Servers (VMware ESXi) below.
• A lingering issue with Acronis was finally resolved in that we were unable to delete any of our manual backups from the image vault. We worked with Acronis support and were able to get those image files removed from the vault. The next step is acquiring the latest build software from shore to the ship to update our Acronis Management Server and Vault.

Servers (OES):

• A power supply failed in Rainier. We started a support case with HP and they are sending a replacement. We installed a new power supply from our onboard spares inventory. The failed power supply is being shipped back to shore for return to HP.

Servers (Solaris):

• On June 7^th Etna became unresponsive. Wayne Lambert called down to report that he could not get to the ship's webpage or access the drill report. After logging in to Etna, which was running web services, we discovered that the server was very slow and unresponsive. We attempted to move web services to Pico which is the second node in this cluster but after waiting several minutes with no response from Etna we decided to power off Etna to attempt to bring services up on Pico. Once Etna was powered off, we were able to bring web and net services online on Pico. After restoring services we brought Etna back online and began examining log files. We started a support case with Oracle to troubleshoot the issue. Oracle examined the log files we collected but was unable to determine a cause from them. They requested a crash memory dump which unfortunately we were unable to provide. This was due to that fact that Etna never officially crashed and therefore did not generate a dump. If this issue occurs again we will force the server to produce a memory crash dump and then the problem may be traced. After this incident, Etna did not exhibit any further unstable behavior for the remainder of the expedition.
• After Etna's unstable behavior and our moving web and net services to Pico, we started getting reports from the tech staff of intermittent problems uploading data from the tracks and accessing/using web apps such as LIME. After researching the problem with the developers it was discovered that the probe_sctomcat script, which checks to see if tomcat is running, was timing out and causing tomcat to restart every 10 to 20 minutes. After troubleshooting the problem we discovered that, with all services operating on a single node (in this case Pico), the node was running low on system resources during large operations such as image tiling and uploads from SHIL. We can prevent this issue from occurring by keeping services balanced between the nodes but the only permanent fix is to either:
  • Add more resources to the servers (more processors, more memory)
  • Replace the servers with newer, more modern equipment
  • Offload individual services to other servers in our environment
• While troubleshooting the Etna instability issue we also noticed that one of the two fibre channel host bus adapters installed indicated it was not linked to the fibre channel network. We determined that one of the two ports on the card had failed. We moved the cable to the second port and restored connectivity and redundancy. Since we operate two fibre channel HBA's in our servers Etna never completely lost connectivity to the fibre channel network. We started a support case with Oracle and they have sent us a replacement HBA.

SERVERS (VMware esxi):

• We installed and configured our virtual environment on the JR. It consists of three HP host servers running ESXi configured in a high availability cluster and a management server running vCenter Server. The management server software is installed on a Windows platform and manages operation of the hosts and migration of virtual machines.

EVA4000 Storage:

• No issues to report.

NETWork:

• There is an ongoing issue with workstations with static IP addresses where, after rebooting, they fail to recognize the ship's network and must be manually configured by the MCS. We have been working with Enterasys to find a solution. They recommended that we upgrade to the latest firmware and software however this is something not easily done during operations. We plan to implement the new firmware and software during the next tie up period and continue troubleshooting the issue. Until then we will remedy the symptoms when systems are rebooted.

PC Workstations:

• SHIL A suffered a drive failure with one of the 1.5 TB data drives. No data was lost and a replacement has been ordered and is in the shipment for EXP352.
• The Demagnetizer software on the Dtech computer appeared to not communicate with the instrument correctly. It would start a run but when the instrument finished the run the software would sometimes fail to acknowledge this. The problem was intermittent but happened often. We looked at the software settings and the computer itself and could not find an issue. The electronic technician then removed the instrument and cleaned the connections to the instrument and after putting the unit back in service, the issue seems to have cleared up.
• The VIT laptop in Subsea had some issues. Eugene (Siem ET) had problems getting Windows to start. We booted it into safe mode and then disabled some unnecessary processes from starting and loading into memory. We restarted in normal mode and we were able to log in. Laptop is operational but is very old. We recommend replacement with a newer unit.
• NGA1 workstation was being reported to intermittently lose network connection during operation. Eric reported that it seemed like the network connection went to sleep several times and had to be pinged repeatedly in order to get it to wake up. We looked at it and verified its configuration but were not ever able to visually verify these symptoms ourselves. Network connection always worked during our testing and evaluation. Unsure what the cause of the error was, but it has been several days since any further incidents have been reported.

MAC Workstations:

• No issues to report.

SATELLite/internet/phones:

• No issues to report.

other equipment/projects:

• The core color printer generated an error code 49.4C06 and requested to power cycle the printer. We performed this request but the code came back after restart. This code indicates a non-hardware error. It appears to have been caused by a document with a corrupt or incompatible format that was sent to the printer. We cleared the jobs in the print queue in iManager and power cycled the printer again and it resumed normal function.
• The EXP350 crew requested that we look at the Black Box serial server in the dynamic positioning office. It is connected to the ship's gyro compass and provides heading information to Winfrog. They had issues getting it to communicate with the computers in the underway geophysics lab. We looked at the unit and it had an incompatible IP address for the subnet it was connected to. We assigned proper network configuration information to it and it is now communicating properly.
• We installed a new Room Alert monitoring device in the data center. This device, a RA32, is more capable than the old RA24 previously installed in the data center. The RA32 is capable of interfacing with a light tower which we have installed in the office by the door to the data center. We have set up alerts in Device Manager running on Erebus to turn on the light tower which also has audio capability. If the ship's AC or main cooler stop working for any reason the light tower should light up and then sound the audible alert, which is a continuous beep.
• We moved the RA24 that was in LTDAT to F18. It is installed in the rack just below the DACs. It is still being monitored in Device Manager and may be used in the future to monitor temperatures in the bow radome.
• There were two instances of some Smart UPS units failing. We were involved with one which was the unit connected to the VCD1 station at the far end of the PMAG area. We replaced the unit with a spare and gave the bad unit to the ET's to troubleshoot. They removed the battery and mothballed the unit because they have two new units coming to replace it. The other incident, in which we were not involved directly, is the UPS under the NGR desk, not the large unit but a smaller unit located there. Apparently the batteries exploded and the ET's removed them and neutralized/cleaned up the unit and mothballed it for the same reasons mentioned earlier.
• Brought a copy of our PC Laptop Image that shore IT personnel use for imaging new Staff laptops. A copy is now stored on our servers, giving us the ability to re-load a Staff laptop with our IODP-approved build, should the need ever to arise to do so.

DEVELOPERS REPORT

Jon Howell, David Fackler

Overview

This document highlights changes to the JOIDES Resolution laboratory data management environment during Expedition 351.
Selected issues are highlighted, but not reviewed in exhaustive detail. In general, see the ship activity log and Pending pages of various products on the developer site for additional detail: https://sites.google.com/a/scientific-ocean-drilling.org/developer-page. The title of each product section is a link to the release notes for that product on the development Google Site.

WORK IN PROGRESS

During 351 the developers actively participated in development of LIMS Reports III. The revision in reporting technology enable reporting to be more configurable. The system provides mechanisms for handling very large data sets with less server resources than previous reporting implementations. Development previews available here: http://web.ship.iodp.tamu.edu/LORE/, http://build.ship.iodp.tamu.edu:8080/LORE/ for the LSIMG and RGB reports.

Curation and Core Handling

SampleMaster

No change. Operating at release 4.0. Version 5 not released.
Bugs noted (v4).

• Entry of bit information on the hole tab, if lacking the correct number of comma separators will throw an error that is unhelpful to the end-user: "Comp.length != val.length".
• In the hard-rock curation process, sometimes a section originally entered will be curated out of existence. In these cases the catwalk length will be recorded incorrectly. Rebuilding depths via depth-services will recompute the value correctly.
• In the hard-rock curation process, re-enty of section lengths after the binning process is sometimes causing an incorrect length to be computed for the parent core catwalk length (x_orig_len).
• If recovered length for a core is < 1 (e.g. 0.96), the recorded value will be truncated to zero. An indication of integer math being mixed with floating point math somewhere in the processing. Seen on U1438E-75R.
• SampleMaster is noted to not function properly under Japanese language versions of the Windows 7 operating system. Panels do not display as expected. Based on testing with Kochi.
• Three reports of re-currence of bug where the first label in a batch fails to print. More often reported with large sample batches that extend into a second page (i.e. must page down once). Reported once with one sample on the display.
• Further occurrences of clearing the entry screen, entering new samples, and seeing that the new entries were simply updated over the previous screens samples.

Laser Engraver

Changed. Operating with release 3 since Exp 350. Revised during Exp 350 to improve speed, efficiency of sample browser displays. This workstation is running under LabVIEW 2013.

LIME (LIMS Editor)

No change. Still operating with LIME 4.0 in production.
LIME 5 is under development. Addition of capability to manage DESC tests is already available for preview at http://build.ship.iodp.tamu.edu:8080/LIME/. A revision to display a summary of tests on a sample is in-progress.

Geology

DESCLogik

Changed. Operating with release 8 since 26 May 2014. Previously operating with release 5. Application was considerably sable so unchanged in 351.
First expedition where we have had positive responses to DL. Stability much improved over version used on 349. Upload speed still too slow, but ameliorated by uploading small sets of changes at a time.
Participants looking for more efficient means to query the data for routine analytical reports. Exporting a particular column or set of columns for analysis is painful via exports (have to cull unwanted columns, then cull the intervals not of interest for your particular variables).

Virtual core composite GENERATION (aka Virtual Photo Table)

No change. Operating with release 3.0.0.0 since tie-up 349P.

Stratigraphic Correlation

Correlator

No change. Not used. Operating with release 1.695 since Exp 344. Release 1.7.0 was evaluated, but not used (native OSX 64-bit operation by switching to newer release of the python interpreter core).

[ LIMS2Correlator

Sonic velocity (GANTRY)

No change. Operating with release 2.0.5.1 since 341P.

Reflectance and susceptibility (SHMSL)

No change. Operating at release IMS 7.0 SHMSL since tie-up 349P. Last changed Exp 346.
Operating source release snapshot to R:\AD\DEPLOY\JR\LabVIEW\351-ims-7.0-shmsl-20140609-df. Not under code management via Subversion. Not available as a compiled distribution.
Encountered multiple times: argon lamp would switch off upon proceeding into the MagSus and RSC measurement cycle. Tracing the code indicated it was not triggered via code. Hardware fault indicated. ET checked and reseated wiring at and around solenoids controlling lights. Haven't had a recurrence since.
Powering down the surface-height profiling laser lost it default settings. Re-applied serial port setting defaults via the commands documented here: https://sites.google.com/a/scientific-ocean-drilling.org/developer-page/applications/labview/section-half-multi-sensor-logger-shmsl/acuity-laser-reset-for-shmsl

Discrete sample systems

Thermal conductivity (TCON)

No change. Third party acquisition software. Operating with vendor TCON release 5.0.0 build 7 since Exp 335.Uploader utility. No change. Operating with release 1.3.1.0 since 341S.

Moisture and density (MAD)

No change. Operating with release 2.0.0.9 since Exp 344. Display shows different version than available in the distribution site.

Penetration Strength

No change. Not used. Operating with release 1.0.0.3 since Exp 340T.

Paleomagnetics

Kappa Bridge KLY-4S

No change. Operating with AMSPIN unchanged since Exp 335.
Hardware for raising and lowering the sample holder died at the end of the expedition. Yields an "E4 LEVEL ERROR". Cleaning the position detection optics allowed the system to operate for one more day, then failed again. See PMAG section of the Tech Report.

Superconducting magnetometer (SRM section)

No change. Operating with release 318 since Apr 2011.

Superconducting magnetometer (SRM discrete)

No change. Operating with release 318 since Nov 2011.

Demag and Internal Field Intelligence (DAFI)

No change. Not used. Operating with release 1 since Mar 2013.

Format2MAG

Changed. Operating with version 2. Revised to accommodate minor changes in columns presented by WTR and LIMS Reports since its last use. Compiled for use on the Mac and the PC. Distributed only to the participant Mac/PC in the PMAG lab.
Utility is used to preprocess measurements on PMAG cubes into standard analytical formats supported by Scripps.

Geochemistry

Alkalinity

No change. Operations continued with release 3.0 of the software. Release 4.0 was mothballed.

CHNS

No change. Operating with vendor FLASH_EA 3000 since 341P; and MUT 2.1.0.1 [TEST] since Exp 346.

• MUT 7 is not recognizing CHNS csv files. This station is running MUT 2.1.0.1 until the defect is repaired in the main version. The custom MUT release is available in these locations: http://web.ship.iodp.tamu.edu/tasapps/mut/chns2101, r:\ad\deploy\NET\mut\jr-2.1.0.1.
• The CSV file generated for CHNS presents the respective elements in these columns of the spreadsheet: C=12, H=14, N=11, S=13.

Coulometer

No change. Operating Coulometer with release 2 since Exp 349. Last changed Apr 2013.

JAVA BALANCE

No change. Operating Cahn balance with JavaBalance release 345 since Exp 345. Last changed Exp 318. Same release used in both the Chemistry and X-Ray labs.

Mettler-Toledo Dual Balance

No change. Operating with release ? since ?.

Gas bottle monitoring

No change. Operating with release 2.0.0.3 since Sep 2011. Monitor program continues to be run on the NGA/GC3 system.

NGA/GC3

No change. Data upload operating with release 6 of MUT since 349P (Jan 20, 2014).
Observed two instances where workflow uploaded files, but data never showed up in LIMS reports. Workaround. Retrieve raw data from Chemstation private directory. Re-upload. Verify.

ICPAnalyzer

Changed. Operating with release 2 since 27 May 2014. Previously operating with release 1.0.6.0 since 341S.
Carried forward:
It is desirable that the same application login dialog used for other .NET products be applied to this product. Presently credentials are hardcoded in the application.

SpreadSheet Uploader

No change. Operating at release 3.0.1.2 since Exp 344.

X-ray fluorescence

No change. ThermoScientific vendor product Niton XL? Available at version ? since ?.
Scientists used this instrument and generated Excel spreadsheets with data collected. Developers uploaded data using SpreadsheetUploader application.

X-ray diffraction

No change. Java Balance operating at release 345 since Exp 345. Last changed Exp 318.No change. Mettler Toledo balance software operating at release ? since ?.

• Passwords may be reset on the Java Balance system by supplying "your-username = xxx" in the authenticate.ini file. Upon successful login, and encrypted version of your password will be stored in place of "xxx". The facility leverages the LIMS login.

Rig Instrumentation Systems

Depth Overlay and WITS Communication

No change. Operating with release 4.0b5 of DOWcomm since 344S.

RigWatch

No change. Operating with release 8 since ?.

Development Tools and Frameworks

LabVIEW

Currently all production LabVIEW applications are built with LabView 2011. Exceptions: Laser Engraver and Alkalinity 4.0 are using LabView 2013.

IMS Common tool box

Carried forward. No change.
The IMS Common Tool box is currently in the middle of an important update. Full reconciliation with all IMS applications planned for X352. If you need to work on the code during X351, you'll need to work on the local host or make sure you have done the following before working in your development environment:

• Delete any copies of IMS Common Toolbox from the LabView User's library folder.
• Copy from the host (or the particular deployment snapshot), the IMS Common Toolbox to your local LabView User's library folder. Don't forget you'll need the Open-G and the i3 JASON libraries, as well
• When done, copy the changes to the track code and the IMS Common Toolbox back to the instrument host. Don't forget to back-up the host …just in case.

IMS 8 Upgrade deployment plan:

• The IMS 7 and the Common Tool Box will not be moved with the LV upgrade but stay behind with LV2011 making a clean break. That means LaserKatjie 3.0 and Alkalinity 3.0 which are using the final version of IMS 8 Common Tool Box, are developed in LV 2013. Copies of LV13 are these hosts.
• SHIL has been moved to a preliminary version IMS 8 to support the Image Length project (JASON Libraries were needed), but the SHIL code is not running on the final version of the IMS 8 and therefore, still running under LV2011.
• On X352 all IMS based applications (especially the SHIL and SHMSL) will move to the final version IMS 8. Also, at that time we'll attempt to integrate the code into SVN using the new tools available.

Current Status of IMS based applications for X351:

• Gantry-IMS7: SVN
• SHMSL-IMS7 > R:\AD\DEPLOY\JR\LabVIEW\IMS 7\SHMSL use me JAN 23
• SHIL-IMS8 > R:\AD\DEPLOY\JR\LabVIEW\IMS 8 -SHIL ONLY
• LazerKatjie 3.0-IMS8 > R:\AD\DEPLOY\JR\LabVIEW\lazerkatjie\3.0
• Alkalinity 4.0-IMS8 >R:\AD\DEPLOY\JR\LabVIEW\alkalinity\ALKALINITY 4.0

Other

Oracle

No change. Oracle release 11.2.0.2.0g in use since May 2012.

Data Loaders

MegaUploadaTron5001 (MUT)

No change.. Operating at release 8 since Exp 350.

SQL Developer

No change. Operating with version 4.0.1 since Expedition 349.

Reporting Systems

Desc2Word

No change. Not used. Running on version ? since Exp 345.

Thin Section Report

Changed: In testing: Writer: v. 16-BETA. Builder: v. 2. Deployed in limited fashion for specific end user acceptance testing. Not yet for general consumption.

WebTabular reports

No change. Operating with Release 6 since Expedition 349.

LIMS Reports

No change. Operating with release 7 since Expedition 349.

DESCReport

No change. Operating with release 1.3 since 345.

LIMSPeak

No change. Operating with release 2 since Expedition 349.

LIMS2Excel

No change. Operating at release 9 since Expedition 349.

BATCHdOWNLOAD

CHANGED. Signed with license key, and configured each computer who is not connecting internet to skip certification checking .

Drill Report

CHANGED. Operating with release 1.0.0.3 since Exp 341 over resteasy-drillreport 2 since Exp 349.

• Fixed bug that an error will throw if multiple special characters, such as " ' &#", are inside comments field. Not released yet.

Culling Utility

No change. Not Used.

Libraries

IODPUtils:
Modified as part of Rebranding Effort. Is a sub code of DESClogik and SampleMaster. Was modified with those.
LIMS: Purged off obsolete code. No significant changes.

Web Services

SUSE OES Tomcat Servers [Ararat, Rainier, Shasta, BUILD]

Auther: No change. Operating with Version 1.1 since Expedition 349.
ChangePassword: No change. Release 3-PJR-20140115231410-hornbacher during tie-up 349P.
DR: No change. Drill Report release 2--this version not yet used. Production version is still the copy off of tasapps.
RDB: No change. Not used. Report Definition Builder operating with release 2 since Exp 350.
ReportOverview: No change. Operating at release 3.? since Exp 345.
UWQ: No change. Operating at release 7 since Expedition 349.
WTR: No change. Operating at release 6-AGNOSTIC-20140205004809-fackler since Expedition 349.
depth-services: No change. Operating at release 2.5.1.2-PJR-b79-20110902153606-fackler.
lims-log: Changed. Removed from service. Removed from database.
Ops: Changed. Removed from service. Operations does not manage any of its data with this facility. They work over the Novell file system.
resteasy-affinesplice-webservices: No change. Not used. Complete Redesign effort begun on shore.
resteasy-auther: No change. Operating at version 1.1.0-PJR-20140113074315-morgan since tie-up 349P.
resteasy-desclogik-services: No change. Operating at release 2-PJR-20140225223735-fackler since Exp 349; last changed Exp 345.
resteasy-drillreport: No change. Operating at release 2-20140225035032-fackler since Expedition 349
resteasy-error-reporting: No change. Operating at release 2.2.0.2-PJR-20120528164701-hornbacher.
resteasy-lims-sync. No change. Operating at release 0.9.5.2-PJR-b320-20120106055221-bennight.
resteasy-qaqc. Changed. Operating at release 5 since Exp 351. Adds code for LIMS Reports III. Fixes cases where canceled samples were not honored for the Image QAQC report.
resteasy-lime: CHANGED. Operating at version 1.0.8-PJR-20140419043130-zhao since tieup 349P.
resteasy-lims-webservices. No change. Operating at release 11-PJR-20140405175545-morgan since Exp 350.
resteasy-monitor. No change. Operating at release 1.0.0.1-PJR-b13-20110903171554-fackler.
resteasy-printer. No change. Operating at release 3-PJR-20140115230632-morgan since Exp 350.
resteasy-reports. No change. Operating at release 9.2-PJR-20140521232150-zhao_h since Exp 350.
resteasy-reqmgmt. No change. Operating at release 0.2.0.1-PJR-b33-20110905143055-fackler.
resteasy-role-management. Removed from service as a dedicated WAR. Is still embedded in library form as a part of resteasy-desclogik-services.
sampling-services. No change. Operating at release 1.3.0.1-PJR-b9-20110905030644-fackler

Solaris Tomcat Server

Sites. No change.
labnotebookWebDav. No change.
resteasy-asman. No change. Operating at release 2.5.0.1-PJR-b67-20111125070258-blaisdell
resteasy-image-tiling: No change. Operating at release 2.0.0.1-PJR-b12-20110905111358-fackler. Removed on all SUSE nodes. Service can only be used on the system providing the file backing store: the Solaris cluster.
Image tiling is triggered by MUT and Image Capture for the various image sets. Both are hardcoded for a given environment--remember to revise it at build-time.
Important note: when a sufficiently large batch of image tiles (greater than 3-5) is submitted, the Tomcat at Solaris can become non-responsive and starts "flapping". This causes a series of MUT data upload failures throughout a busy labstack. If this keeps recurring, it is Ok to disable the image tiling service until a more quiescent period of operations is reached in the labstack. This has direct impact on image displays in LIMSpeak. Be aware of it. Learn to manage it. Changes are in the works to move image tiling off of the solaris box.

Developer Resources

Office Space

No change.

Desktops

No change.

Servers

Load Balancing. No change.
Tomcat 7 Java 7 SUSE Linux OES. No change in Java version. OES was updated to new version during last tie-up.
Tomcat 7 on Build. Changed. Upgraded to Tomcat 7.0.53. Applied ojdbc7 library from Oracle 12.1.0.1.0.
Subversion code repositories. No change.
Subversion repository replication mechanism. Pending. Add dedicated repository for LabVIEW applications on the shipboard side. It will be replicated to shore triggered by post-commit hooks.
Virtualization. Changed. Build box is now a virtual machine. The physical box became a console for virtual machine service management. Some work has been done toward creating a virtual for housing image tiling off of the Solaris cluster.
Barcode scanner rules. Most of these are in cumulus. Some are on specific workstation desktops. The scanner manual and selected barcodes that we use in programming the scanners are here: r:\AD\DEPLOY\Bar Code Information.

CHEMISTRY LAB

Vincent Percuoco & Erik Moortgat

Ampulator

The ampoule sealer was not used. The awesome ampulator remains on board.

Balances

No issues to report for the Cahn/Mettler balances.

Carver Presses

No issues to report.

Cary Spectrophotometer

The Cary was used to analyze ammonium and phosphate concentrations.
There are no issues to report.

CHNS

Total carbon and nitrogen were measured on the EA.
There were no issues with the unit.

Coulometer

The cell vent line was removed to resolve the issue of the anode compartment filling up.
During port-call, it was suggested by D. Houpt to test the spare unit, as it had not been worked on/tested since it was reported, a couple of Expeditions ago, to exhibit very erractic μg carbon behavior:

It 'appears to stabilize' in the high- range but this doesn't help us as most of our samples lie in the range where the signal is very jumpy, giving erroneous values. We cleaned the photomultiplier, checked the voltage of the lamp, but the behavior still persists. The unit is being sent back to UIC for a check-up.
One of the silver electrodes became faulty and was replaced.

Freeze Drier

There were no issues with the freeze-drier. It had heavy usage.

Gas Lines/manifold

No issues to report.

GC3/NGA1

All headspace samples were analyzed on the GC3.
Calibration was performed on the NGA1 using the autosampler. Still no joy with the macro moving files to the LIMS upload directory. The Application Developers are working on it.

Hydrogen generators

The spare unit was installed, for dedicated SRA use, below the SRA. The line from the GC generators, to the SRA, was removed. There are still two generators dedicated for GC use.

IC

At the beginning of the Expedition, routine PM was performed, changing the ultra-filtration membrane, inline filter papers and H₂O scrubber.
After a couple of sequences, we were still having the same issues with the potassium integration (dip below baseline before the peak) causing poor calibration and results. The cation guard/separation columns and the peristaltic pump tubing (both sets) were both replaced and a new carboy of cation eluent was made. On the next startup of the unit, the cation pump would not come to pressure. The gaskets, seals were replaced, the pistons cleaned, but still no success. It was decided to replace the complete pump-head. This resolved that issue. The next sequence produced the same potassium issues.
Many e-mails were sent to Metrohm about this issue, over a period of months, specifically to Karen Michalski. Responses, if any were poor. Communication was almost impossible. Lisa Brandt, at a Metrohm training class, discussed our issue and was given a few suggestions to try and they were conveyed to us (possible contamination issue). The auto-sampler needle was cleaned with DI water, a new PDCA bottle was opened and a single 1 L batch of cation eluent was prepared, in a clean bottle. During the next sequence, there were no dips prior to the potassium peak, a good calibration was observed and on the two checks, there was a 0 % error.

ICP

ICP was used to analyze porewaters, sediment and hardrock samples. Detailed notes concerning ICP issues and methods are appended at the end of this document.

salinity

The optical refractometer was used, no issues to report.

SRA

Non-Expedition material was analyzed on the SRA. The CO/CO₂ detectors were calibrated, all gas flows adjusted.
Upon turning on the instrument and adjusting gas flows, it was observed that hydrogen was not getting to the FID. We replaced the hydrogen gas flow controller but this had no effect. So in order to operate the machine, we decided to plumb the tubing so it bypassed the controller. Possible board malfunction?
We also observed very erratic behavior with the FID in our initial sequence. It appeared to be a random event that the FID would light. The ETs were called to look at it. It was found that the FID glow plug would not turn on. They checked all the wiring to and from the glow plug and the inline resistor and all were found to be functional. The glow plug was removed and tested and even though the tests passed, it was replaced with a new one from the drawer. This glow plug did not light the FID either.
Back in the ET shop, they made a glow plug and resistor, tested the wiring, and all passed and would turn on/off as needed. They came to the conclusion that the current glow plugs do not switch on at 2.5 V but only switch on at a higher voltage of 3.5 V with the resistor. So they are inadequate for the instrument and we therefore need a 2.5 V glow plug to properly work on our instrument. A request for information has been made to Agilent about plugs such as these. Agilent has responded with the following glow plug P/N to suit our needs: 19231-60680. This is the same plug as for the GC FIDs but with a different connector. The ETs will test to see if this will work for us.
In order to run our samples, the ETs connected an external power supply to the glow plug so we could light the FID by manually turning on/off the glow plug. This worked fine to get our samples run.

Pipettors

No issues reported.

titrations

alkalinity

No issues to report.
The new application was tested but too many issues were encountered to be able to use it in production. Observances were sent to Bill Mills (programmer of the application).

Chloride

No issues to report.

TOC

We tested the lower end of calibration for the TOC and found the detector signal was not returning to the baseline after higher concentration standards were analyzed, likely a result of carryover or contamination. The machine was cleaned internally using OIC methodologies. The gas permeation tube was replaced due to salt deposits at one end. Significant scale build-up in the internal chamber of NDIR detector was evident, as well as corrosion on its outer surfaces. After seeing pictures, OIC recommended we replace the detector (325316-Kit-1030 Linearized SS NDIR Installation, List Price: $4650). It may be best to have the system shipped back to College Station during the next tie-up to be calibrated and returned to OIC's specifications.
Additionally, we are still unable to view any data/results via TOC Reporter. Numerous e-mails were sent to/from OIC but none of the suggestions remedied this on-going problem. We either let someone from OIC remote into the PC/system to look at what is going on or try to get someone other than Mr. Guillermo Jimenez to help us resolve this. Dealing with him has been useless.

Water system

The RO filters were replaced.

Misc

Scientists:
Lorne Loudin (Inorganic)
Department of Earth Sciences
University of New Hampshire, USA
Clara Sena Da Silva (Inorganic/Microbiologist)
Geosciences Department/CESAM Universidade de Aveiro
Campus Universitario Santiago, Portugal
Cees van der Land (Inorganic)
School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
University of Newcastle, UK
Zhaohui Zhang (Organic)
Earth Sciences
Nanjing University, P.R. China
A requisition was made for a new Vortex shaker. The current one is on its last shakes.
In preparation for the TAMU EH&S inspection, almost everything was taken out of the hoods, including bottle dispensers. The dispensers are in the drawer (by titrators).
Also, with the number of high-recovery cruises in the near future, it would be advantageous to purchase a sonicator dedicated to cleaning the stainless-steel piston squeezers.
ICP Issues and Suggested Revisions to ICP-AES Quick Start guide and User Manual: IW Majors Analysis:
Sodium:
Calibration curves for Na 588.995 and Na 589.592 cease to be accurate at values higher than 360-480 mM (75-100% IAPSO) for both first-order and second order calibrations due to a loss in machine sensitivity (Fig. 1). For Na 588.995, 100% IAPSO and greater standard intensities cannot be distinguished from 75% IAPSO. Since sample sodium concentrations are identical to 100% IAPSO close to the sediment-water interface (seawater), the User Guide dilution scheme must be adjusted to so that sample values are bracketed within the linear calibration range.

Calcium:
Calcium is linear throughout the current calibration range of 0-15.8 mM (0-150% IAPSO), however, pore water Ca concentrations in Exp. 351 increased further from the sediment-water interface, reaching a high end of 200 mM. Similar high concentrations seen in Exp. 126 (Site 792, 10-150 mM Ca; Site 793, 10-320 mM Ca), Exp. 195 (Site 1201, 10-280 mM Ca) and Exp. 135 (Site 841, 10-150 mM Ca) indicate the need for an adjustable calcium standard bracketing range which extends well beyond that offered by IAPSO. Using a standard concoction similar to that made up for the minors elemental analysis would address this issue. Majors Standard Preparation:
A discrepancy between the standard dilution schemes of the current versions of the User Guide and Quick Start Guide resulted in an overestimation of major ions by a factor of 2 during one run.
Analysis of standards prepared during Exp. 350 and those made currently in Exp. 351 indicated that the calibration curves varied in no appreciable amount as long as Exp. 350 standards were made with 200 uL STD + 9.8 mL matrix solution (current UG method) and STDs from Exp. 351 were made with 100 uL STD and 9.9 mL matrix solution (a previous UG method/current QSG method).
While both methodologies yielded identical calibration curves, the methodology for Majors standard preparation given on page 32 of the ICP-AES User Guide (current version) has a few shortcomings, which are explained below:

1. Diluting standards with MQ water then diluting further with 4% nitric adds an unnecessary step and provides a source for additional error. Addition of a concentrated nitric spike to the standard during dilution with MQ would be preferential to minimize potential error, and ultimately less time-consuming.

1. Acidification of the 100% and greater STDs is unnecessary as un-acidified IAPSO standard seawater is stable for majors. Note: Acidity of final standards fed to the ICP would be also relatively unaffected as the final dilution with 9.8-9.9 mL 2% nitric matrix solution would only vary in acidity by 1-2% [H+] between 100% IAPSO stored with 2% nitric and 100% IAPSO un-acidified.

1. Changing the repeater pipette setting from 9.9 to 9.8 mL is an additional source of error, time-consuming because the repeater pipette needs to be verified at each setting, and biases the concentration of the Yttrium internal standard by a factor of 1% in samples because of the difference in matrix solution volume added to that of standards. Note: Yttrium concentration is loaded as 10 ppm in ICP-Analyzer for all samples and standards.

Preparing standards with a nitric spike and using 100 uL STD + 9.9 mL matrix solution in the same fashion as sample preparation would address all these concerns. Regardless of the methodology used, however, both the User Guide and Quick Start Guide need to be edited to agreement.
IW Minors Analysis: Need to clearly state in the Leeman Prodigy ICP-AES Quick Start Guide that the drift solutions for minor elements are separate aliquots of the 100% multi-element standard. The way it is currently written it seems that 100% IAPSO is used as the drift solution for both minor and major analysis.
Solids Analysis: Blank
Synthetic seawater is not a representative blank of the solid samples. It may be more pertinent to use 'empty' fused beads diluted in the same fashion as the samples. Additionally, both the Quick Start Guide and the User Guide ambiguously list the blank as "100% SSW," making it unclear if this should be diluted further using 10% nitric matrix solution. Undiluted SSW was observed to extinguish the plasma during one analysis of solids. Furthermore, the presence of Na and Cl in high concentrations interferes with minor element wavelength signals by raising the blank baselines.
Sediment
We found that sediment samples contaminated the system to such a degree that machine functionality could only be returned after replacing the neb, spray chamber, and torch in addition to cycling 10% nitric for 3 hrs. If sediment is to be run for majors it should be diluted further than the 4000x that is standard for hard rock samples according to the User Guide. Also, we found that the machine precision increased significantly by moving the torch slightly closer to the air-knife. We adjusted the torch so that the inner concentric tube (in which the sample is introduced) is only a sliver behind the RFcoil. The result was greater precision and less precipitation on the torch surfaces.
Comparing the alignment images taken during the initial wavelength calibration to one taken in a previous run gives a preliminary indication of system contamination from background radiation (generated from precipitation on the torch, artifacts still in the spray chamber & tubing, etc.). If the same alignment solution is used and the exposure time for an alignment image is the same then there should not be a large deviation in the amount of "snow" between images.
General Remarks:

1. There is an error in the Quick Start Guide for the 100% IAPSO solution prepared as a standard for the Majors analysis (p. 3). 30 mL of 2% nitric should be added instead of 20 mL according to the current User Guide.

1. The manual should specify the length of time a standard can be stored. The final volumes for standards are superfluous for majors (60 mLs) and minors analysis when only 100-200 uL per STD per analysis are to be used for calibration. There is a risk of contamination if they are used to completion.

1. Need to include a metric for determining the validity of individual data points to be used in calibration curves (p. 25, p. 38). The ICP-Analyzer software seems to automatically accept and reject entire element calibration curves based upon the calculated correlation coefficient (r^2) from a least-squares regression. We need to specify an acceptable threshold %RSD for calibration standards in order to determine at which point a standard becomes an outlier, and thus excluded from calibration by the user. Since the standards are not weighted equally, a small drift in high end standards may bias the curve's slope even though the r^2 value may be within acceptable limits and thus accepted in the software.

1. Similarly, what is the metric for accepting normalized drift corrections in ICP-Analyzer (p. 24)?

1. A subsection should be added to the Data Reduction section (p. 34) to explain in what capacity ICP-Analyzer uses the yttrium internal standard to account for instrument drift and sensitivity, if at all. It customarily involves creating a linear calibration curve using the intensity and concentration ratios between an element and internal standard.

MgYconcentration=fMgYintensity
The Geochemistry Methods sections of several IODP reports (Exp. 339-345) indicate yttrium was used as an internal standard, but also conveyed that instrument drift was taken into account solely using linear corrections between occasional drift standards; in these cases yttrium listed as an "internal standard" is unnecessary and misleading.

1. We should make it protocol to run at least three blanks in each analysis as it gives a statistically valid limit of detection for the entire analytical procedure starting from sample preparation to the final machine analysis.

1. A precipitate formed in approximately 20 pore water samples collected in cores of Holes D and E from Exp. 351 Site U1438. The precipitate was indicated to be gypsum after analyzing by XRD. This was further confirmed by comparing the samples' dissolved major ion concentrations obtained initially using IC to the supernatant of acidified samples post-precipitation. In addition to a loss of calcium and sulfate, sodium and chloride concentrations were diminished; major ion loss varied between 10-30%. Sulfate at Site U1438 was relatively high at depth, which was perhaps the root- cause of gypsum precipitation. The degree of precipitation determined visually was much greater in acidified samples than those left un-acidified, perhaps from a salting-out effect due to the addition of concentrated nitric acid and concomitant increase in solution ionic strength. ODP Technical Note 29, which the current ICP-AES method is based upon, indicates that "interstitial waters are stable indefinitely, particularly if they are acidified," (p. 9). This happened to not be the case for Exp. 351 due to the water composition. A note should be included in the User Guide indicating the potential for gypsum precipitation in areas with higher calcium and sulfate concentrations, which can be determined preliminarily using IC.

1. There is a considerable amount of data visualization which can be performed in the Salsa program before exporting to ICP-Analyzer allowing users to compare: element peak profiles, the presence of interferences, precision between multiple peak integrations, duplicate samples and standards, etc. There needs to be a section in the User Guide describing how to use Salsa as a tool, as it gives good indication of system functionality in real-time, and helps immensely with machine troubleshooting.

UNDERWAY GEOPHYSICS LAB

Kevin Werts

Summary

Navigational and bathymetric data were collected for site U1438 and each transit. A VSP survey was performed during logging at site U1438F.

Data Summary

Expedition 351 consisted of three transits (~ 1524 nm) and one site.
Transits: Yokohama to U1438 (L1T ≈ 700 nm)
U1438 to U1438 (L2T ≈ 258 nm)
U1438 to Yokohama (L3T ≈ 566 nm)
The aim of transit U1438 to U1438 was to avoid typhoon Neoguri.
Sites: U1438 (Holes: A, B, C, D, E, F)
Site fixes were performed for each hole.

Equipment Performance Summary

WinFrog

WinFrog1 was used to run WinFrog throughout the expedition. No problems were encountered.

Trimble GPS

The aft/forward Trimble GPSs were the primary GPSs used for the duration of the expedition. No problems were encountered.

Gyro

Mike Cannon adjusted the IP address for the Gyro device so it would communicate with Winfrog. The Gyro device remained connected for most of the expedition, however, the connection would occasionally drop and Mike would have to repair it.

Bathy 2010

Firmware #92 upgrade was a success. The only depth tracking issues encountered were during transit in heavy seas. WinFrog2 was used to run Bathy2010 during the expedition.

Magnetometer

The magnetometer was not deployed.

G. Guns

The G. Guns were assembled in mid-June in preparation for a VSP at U1438C. However, the VSP was cancelled due to logging difficulties with the hole. A VSP was run at U1438F the day before our departure back to Yokohama.

Data Backups

Data files for the Expedition were copied to:
\\JR1\DATA\data1\1.5 Ops Navigation
\\JR1\DATA\data1\1.6 Ops Bathymetry - PDR pulse depth recorder

FANTAIL

Gus

Summary

Bathymetry and navigation data were routinely collected throughout the expedition.

Special Projects

Prepared gun cluster for possible use.

Problems Encountered

None

Miscellaneous

Performed routine checks and maintenance to air manifolds and regulators as needed.
Guns rebuilt following use at last site.

Photos

Science Party

IODP Staff

Ships Staf

Expedition 349 Group Photo