LAB OFFICER REPORT

Roy Davis

General Leg Information

Expedition 361 P1, Cape Town Tie up commenced on April 31,2016 at Cape Town, South Africa with the boarding of the marine specialists at 14:30 hrs. The vessel remained at dock for the entire 361 P1 tie up period.
During the P1 tie-up various projects were undertaken.

• Counter tops in the core lab and down hole lab were refinished
• The 3 rock saws were completely rebuild
• The splitting room was emptied out and floor patched and covered with a vinyl floor covering
• 4 areas of the floor in the core lab were patched
• 3 core carts were cleaned up
• The Starboard side window by the fast tracks which had water between the double glass panes is now repaired with a new gasket.
• The small scba bottles were sent off for hydro
• Rails on WRMSL and STMSL were turned to good unworn sides
• Power supply below the WRMSL was relocated to allow it's door to be opened, previously it was blocked by the small sink.
• Extensive Chemistry Lab training was given by Eric Moortgat to the techinicians.
• Thin section lab training
• The Rad Van AC unit was checked and filled with an approved gas by Harris Ohlson Eng.
• Three new color printers were installed

Note
Both paleo prep lab hoods are out of operation at this time, April 2, 2016 due to work being done on the deck plate the fans are mounted on.

Port Call Activities Overview

Cape Town, South Africa

Loading of

• 1 ea IODP container of D-Tubes and misc. science supplies
• 4 ea 40' Flat of Casing
• Regular air freight

Offloading of

• 5 ea 40' flats of casing
• 3 ea reefer containers of core, 26 pallets
• 1 ea 40' container of misc. supplies
• World Courier shipment
• Regular air freight
• Schlumberger air freight
• Trash

ASSISTANT LAB OFFICERS REPORT

Heather Barnes

SUMMARY

Tie Up 361P1
Heather Barnes was the only ALO onboard for this tie-up. List of shipments (EXP361 and EXP361P) received or sent are below.

AMS/INVENTORY

• Physical counts were completed on all essential items, the value are updated in AMS and in the Logistics file in the ALO folder.
• HCl bottles in AMS are changed to 500ml for those onboard – please remember to update AMS accordingly once the new HCl bottles arrive in oncoming shipments.
• DTube Webber Labels SO0554 are moved the the HRS
• Oncoming shipments that contain Webber Labels SO0554, SO0555, SO0138 need to be physically counted because there was some confusion back on shore on what was sent.
• New printers were installed and the old printers plus old cartridges are sent back the IODP, updated AMS accordingly.
• New printers - to get AMS to print Date and Page Numbers on AMS check out sheets Unclick the "Choose paper source by PDF page size" and click "Shrink Oversized pages"
• Instructions for adding new item in AMS:

1. Change ship location in Item Master 2. In "Warehouse-->Warehouse Edit" screen, enter the part number and click "Generate" button. 3. Select the "Old Location" blue triangle button and enter the "New Location" in the pop-up.(Note : Qty will be auto populated). 4. Click "Update" button. All the quantities will be moved to new location

Shipment

• 361/ Three refrigerated containers for core off
• 361/ Regular and Foreign Air Freight off
• 361/ World Courier off
• 361/ WRMSL C-137 source off
• 361P/ Surface freight 20ft container off
• 361P/ Schlumberger Air freight off
• 361P/ Surface T361T04s Onboard
• 361P/ Airfreight T361P18a Onboard- stored in upper tween (received and all parcels accounted for)

Special notes

Webber labels for D-tubes were tested (several thousand labels printed) and we found that the 2011 batch of labels are old and degraded causing poor printing and residue build up. The 2014 batch produced good quality printing but residue build up. The 2015 batch labels produced good quality printing and no residue build up. It is suggested that we only buy these labels as needed – NOT in batches at end of year.
Hold Core Reefer Emergency Stop Button is located between elevator and door to stairwell – if something or someone"s (hair) gets caught in the fans hitting this Red Emergency Stop Button will stop all fans in the HCR.
Chemistry Laboratory training took place daily. I recorded the training for personal use (recorded on my IPAD thus quality is not that great but they will be useful for any needed reminders) and will make them available on IODP Share. I am in the process of piecing the videos together for each instrument so we can refer back to these when needed. I am still in the process of going through these so please do not delete from IODP Share.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

J. Adam Bogus & Aaron de Loach
Summary
All tracks and equipment were exercised to maintain functionality, except for the MAD station due to Helium bottles being removed. Several more specific tasked were accomplished. See ET's section for further detail on core lab tables, saws and work spaces.
physical propertties
1. WRMSL and STMSL
Both instrument monitors were removed, as well as the workstation table to accommodate SIEM coordinated repair of the window. Prior to their removal, both tracks were ran and tested for bugs and potential improvements to the new IMS controlled software/user interface. The results are outlined below.

• When a blockage occurs at the "top-of-section laser," the pusher stops until the blockage is removed. Once removed the pusher resumes without prompt from the user. This could be dangerous.
• (Known Bug) When the computers are powered off, the program also shuts off the high voltage supply and it cannot be turned on inside IMS, must be turned on in Maestro.
• Canceling out of the "Instrument Setup" window gives message that the configuration file is being written and saved, although no changes have been made. Although the configuration file hasn't been changed, it is confusing.
• End of sequence water standard should take more than one measurement to monitor drift within the instruments across a core-section. Perhaps 5 measurements would be more thorough.

The high voltage power supply (grey junction box) for the WRMSL was lowered to allow the door to open. The P-Wave caliper was removed and the blocks supporting the bars were adjusted to align the tracks. The sink and blocks were re-sealed with silicone. The P-Wave caliper bottom plate was set further back aft so the calipers are equidistant from the core. The "top-of-section" sensor clogging and lensing issues were assessed, and it is recommended that no changes be made .
2. NGR
A background measurement was taken and analysis of past expedition data is underway. Potential implementation of isotope specific concentrations from standard NGR data is being researched.
The latest NGRL user guide is being reviewed, but since the IODP official version is so out of date, the new one has already been deployed.
3. SHMSL
The new light source was reviewed. Investigation into the effectiveness in discerning the Goethite-Hedenbergite ratio is still on going.

4. Core Lab
All 3 core-dollies were refurbished and the casters serviced, including adding rubber to replace broken braking mechanisms.

Tracks ETC.

Zenon Mateo
List of Activities

1. Whole-Round Multi-Sensor Logger: The IMS and M-drive system was installed during the last expedition (361). A few familiarization runs were made to also assess the performance of the WRMLS.
   1. Edit new IMS-WRMSL Quick Guide from Expedition 361. Re-distributed back to other staff members. Revisions will continue after additional software and hardware tweaks this May.
   2. Put together a LabVIEW code to process the raw waveform manually exported from the IMS-PWL and show a plot of the waveforms representing the various signal filtering steps applied. This figure can be added to the WRMSL Quick Guide to illustrate to users how these filtering steps improve the picking of the time of first arrival. Labview vi and source files are in …\IODP_Share\Zenon\IMS\

1. 1. The Delrin rod railings are significantly worn out after seven years of service. For now, they are countersunk from the bottom and swapped so that the remaining rounded part is used. Complete replacement should be considered for the next tie-up period.
   2. Run WRMSL logger to test new IMS system and collect representative PWL waveforms.
      1. Noticed that in a rare case when 1) only the PWL is ran and both MS and GRA are offline; and 2) the section being measured is less than the offset of the PWL from the TOS sensor, the pusher leaves the section at the "measure top of section" positon (i.e. the section is not pushed beyond the TOS).
      2. Similarly, then the GRA and MS were turned off and the PWL measurement interval was set from 10 cm to 1 cm, the system continued to move every 10 cm and also measured at only 2 points along a 120 cm section.
      3. When the PC is rebooted, the PMT needs to be manually set using Maestro, to a voltage level of 900V. Otherwise, IMS-WRMSL will fail to initialize

1. Thermal Conductivity: A new, larger and shallower insulated container was received to accommodate longer hard-rock pieces. A notch was cut for the probe cable and a short lip was placed on the table to prevent the container from slipping off.

The FLIR camera was also used to image the half-space puck during the data acquisition process in an effort to visually record the heating steps and in the hope of imaging the thermal gradient across the puck. The process is documented in the images below. As expected, the heating is localized mostly within the interface of the puck and Macor disk standard and slightly and just immediately on the surrounding water. No other scientific merit was achieved (yet!).

FLIR thermal images of the TeKa half-space puck during initial (left) and final (right) stages of heating; the puck is in contact with the Macor disk standard underneath and both are in a DI water bath.

1. Graduated from Moogy U. after undergoing the Chemistry Laboratory Cross-training with Prof. Eric Moortgat! ¿

1. Maintenance and logistical activities:
   1. Assist Etienne Claassen in the total overhaul maintenance and cleaning of rock saws:
      1. Sandblast and wire-brush parts of the three rock saws.
      2. Cut additional side slot for the plastic housing for cutting long core pieces.
      3. Replace plastic window of sandblasting cabinet.
   2. Assist in preparing the splitting room for floor repair: remove rock saws, mini-corer and Vidmar cabinets; stabilize counter/sink
   3. Monitor vital signs of the cryogenic magnetometer
   4. Organize books at conference room library.
   5. Using Solidworks, drafted the specifications for fabricating stainless-steel core catcher holders for the new arbor press extruder.
   6. Offloading of Exp. 361 cores; assist in sending and receiving shipments.
   7. Re-surface (sand and varnish or bar-top) some small countertops around the Core Lab.
   8. Assist in replacing the fluorescent lights in the chemistry and thin-section laboratories with LED lights.

X-RAY DIFFRACTION, ICP PREPARATION AND MICROBIOLOGY

Susan Boehm

X-ray Diffractometer

• Drained Haskris chiller water and water lines running to D4. Sonicated and cleaned Haskris filter and spray head filter inside x-ray tube.

• Replaced mylar sleeve and x-ray tube o-rings, looks like something is still leaking tiny amounts of water into x-ray tube housing.

• Full QAQC and calibration procedure done to D4. The calibration needed to be done twice with a Zi correction applied twice. It now is fully aligned and no need for correction.

• Acquisition filed, for Labconco, to order a new gasket for the freeze dryer lid for the freeze dryer in T/S lab.

• Freezer dryer pump finally retired and sent back to shore, had been limping along for the past 2 years. Replaced with a brand new shiny one.

• Contacted Mettler Toledo about repeated error on balance. Electronic touch pad needs to be sent back for repair or replacement. In the meantime the entire "unknown" balance in Xray has been replaced with a new one. Some troubleshooting was needed to get the new scale, which has a newer internal software version, to communicate with the PC. Some unknown error with the commport seemed to be the issue as switching those around resolved the problem. The error does not come up any longer and the balances correctly communicate with Balance Master 5000 and performed internal calibration

• Mut V 15.0 test uploaded the 3 required file types, success.

• Drilled latch into Muffle Furnace door so it won't swing open and close when trying to get crazy hot samples in and out of it.

• To be done: check hydraulic fluid in X-Press. Follow up with beach decision on either buying new Mettler balance displays or repairing the broken ones (one from x-ray, one from chemistry). Create a Mettler Balance data sheet to check for accuracy and consistency while the ship is stationary.

THIN SECTION LAB

Aaron Mechler

Summary

• I have been training Susan in the lab in between the time spent doing training in the chemistry lab. This has been my main focus so far this tie-up.
• The remaining old lights were replaced with the new LED lights.
• The vacuum pump for the freeze dryer in the XRD sample prep area was replaced.
• The abrasive cylinder used with the LP50 had become very dirty. After starting to clean the cylinder, I discovered it was algae that was growing inside of it. Lots of scrubbing with a little help from bleach got the cylinder clean again.
• The motor on the WG2 polished head was serviced by the ETs. Gears were cleaned and greased up.
• Starting work on one of the jigs for the LP50. The chuck face had become very uneven. I will be giving it some maintenance to make sure it's in good working order before working to flatten the chuck face which will likely take a lot of time given how uneven it is.
• Thinking about taking out the raised flooring(not permanently) in order to clean underneath it. That raised flooring prevents and hinders our ability to clean under and near it in some crevices and looks to be a bit disgusting in parts underneath the flooring. Not something that's probably necessary but something that could be good to do.

ELECTRONIC TECHNICIANS REPORT

Jurie Kotze, Etienne Claassen

Labs

Chem lab

All outstanding fluorescent lights were removed and replaced with ten led light panels, the only outstanding florescent lights that have to be replaced are the emergency lights (This will be a SIEM decision to make). One old LED light panel still have to be replaced, we have to build a drop box for this light as the ceiling does not allow the installation of a light with a deep profile as the ones we are installing.

Core lab

Three counter tops were stripped down and repaired where needed, the counter top in core entry lap were removed and a new wider one were manufactured and a ruler was installed into the new raised rim and made flush to prevent techs form cutting it.

The core working half counter were stripped, it was covered with bar top, and it was cleaned and covered again with bar top.

The countertop at that Thermcon were sanded down and covered again.
The counter in the core lab below the TV was removed, old varnish were removed and water damage were repaired and recovered.
A few extra small tops were removed and varnished again.
All three rock saws was removed from splitter room, in preparation for the work that was planned for floor chipping and reparation, while the saws were out we striped all three saws and cleaned and sandblasting where needed, parts were resprayed after the sandblast and cleaning, at the end of the rebuild all parts were resprayed, all nuts and bolts were replaced with stainless steel nuts and bolts.
All bearings were replaced on all motors and frame shafts, and were tested. A new shield were made for the parallel saw.

Before and after photo

Rock sawParallel saw

Thin section

Three florescent lights were remove and replaced with new LED lights.

Under way

The Maggie level wind mechanism had a huge failure (during the previous expedition) and raced through magnetic end stop switches, It was caused by the manual hand control that had a press switch contact that got locked due to corrosion after it was pressed to move to the port side. (The magnetic end stop switch should have stopped it but did not, this was due to an output drive transistor was shorted and making it non controllable by the end stop switch.) They will be replaced, both port and starboard ones. Even if they are still okay it's time for a replacement.
A 30A fuse on the DC motor drive blew and as mentioned a bipolar DC switching semiconductor shorted as well and the reason why the drive kept on running and the end stop micro switch could not stop the motion.
The DC drive circuit and logic drive controller board was removed as well. The spares were ordered by the opposite ET crew already.
The logic board was removed and back plate cleaned and repainted. Components was tested and refitted. A small test circuit was built to quickly test the micro relays for the service ET and makes fault finding much easier. The 5 u-Relays can be quickly pulled out and plugged in for a test on the run. The board was fitted onto an open space on the back plate to be ready for use on the run. A new cross travel manual control box was installed as well, the labels for direction indication is in the ET shop and must be glued onto the box ones the motion directions are confirmed after transistor replacement.
A direction indication sister board was built and is plugged in between the Op amp IC and IC socket, two LEDs will show the IC in operation as it gives the travel instruction through to the DC drive controller. It facilitates the zeroing process as well without having to use a multimeter as it can be followed visually. The sister board can be removed and IC plugged back as normal if wanted but will be handy if it can stay there for observation.
Two LED's indicating the -12V /+12V present on board was also installed for a quick check.
The documentation with images and instruction were placed in the ET Doc folder.
Included: Images and documentation follows below:

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Repairs and additional test and observation circuits made to Maggie level wind cross travel control
                                                                        1. Tester for the five W172DIP u-Relays on winch level winder.
                                                                        Make sure that you are using W172DIP 3 micro relays, they are made with different suffix numbers as W172DIP 4, 7, 11, 23 etc. as well. (They have different relay contact configurations.)
                                                                        Just install 2X 9v batteries and plug in the Relay under test/question, it should present with a blue LED on, by pressing the test switch it should toggle to the red LED. Anything else means the relay is faulty, operate it a couple of times to make sure its smooth under operation.
                                                                        The tester board is fixed with double sided tape onto an open spot on the control card and readily available.
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        2. Visual Zero Calibration without a multimeter to minimize time to work in a difficult location for meter measurements.
                                                                        To make Zero adjustments two LEDS was installed to make a zero observation without using a multimeter but it can still be used if needed, The LEDS provides a quick visual check to see where the Zero position sits at that point.
                                                                        If one or both LEDS are staying on in either position without changing with Zero adjustment, replace the LM 124 Op-amp and check the T bar sensor, either can cause the failure.
                                                                        3. Blue and Red LEDS indicating if both +12V and -12V (fitted now) are present from the power supply after the fuses, if it's lit up it means the fuses and supplies are Okay as well. Keep in mind that the power supply takes about 3 seconds to become available after power on, so the Leds will only light up a couple of seconds later after power on.
                                                                        
                                                                        4. Manual Direction switch.
                                                                        A New watertight water tight control box was installed for hand operation after the previous one got stuck from corrosion inside.
                                                                        

                                                                        Down hole

1. The counter top in down hole were removed repaired and recovered with bar top.
2. The 1 gal. Fisher scientific sonic bath that did not work since we received it was dismantled and the components tested. The two power mosfets driving the ultrasonic transducers was faulty, one was shorted and one open circuit. Replacement mosfets were ordered.

General

The Rad Van air conditioner compressor was serviced and refilled with new carbon friendly gas. A service valve was installed for easier maintenance and gas level check. A new spare 25lb gas cylinder was included in the repair order and received. The port A/C service was done by Olsson Engineering.

SYSTEM MANAGERS REPORT

Steven Thomas

Servers (Microsoft):

• Brought out 2 Domain Controller images and brought them online, these are to be used in conjunction with the Microsoft Exchange (email) server which is being brought online and tested.

Servers (linux):

• No issues to report.

Servers (solaris):

• No issues with the existing Solaris servers to report.

ORACLE DaTABASE APPLIANCES:

• Brought out and applied a major patch to the 2 Oracle Data Appliances, ODIE 1 and ODIE 2

Servers {VMware):

• Brought 3 new virtual machines online, 2 Domain Controllers and Microsoft Exchange Server.

EVA4000 SAN:

• No Issues to report

3PAR SAN:

• No issues to report

NEtwork:

• Upgraded NetSight suite to version 6.3.0.179
• Updated switch firmware with latest releases.
• Updated NAC Appliance to corresponding version of NetSight

PC Workstations:

• No issues to report

MAC workstations:

• No issues to report

printers:

• Deployed and configured 3 new HP 855 Laserjet printers to replace the HP 5550DN printers that were in the Science Office, Core Deck, and User Room, the old printers where almost 9 years old.
• Upgraded the iPrint Appliance, which is our print server to version 2.0

satellite/internet/phones:

• Had several short outages related to the equinox during the early part of the tie up period, we would lose internet capability for approximately 30 minutes each day over the course of approximately 8 days until the equinox was over.
• Had one lengthy outage that lasted approximately 4 hours due to reasons we still aren't exactly sure of, we suspect there may be a faulty DAC on our bow system that could have caused the probems. We are working with RigNet still to narrow down and resolve the issue.

other equipment/projects:

• Upgraded the firmware and software on our NTP Timeserver which is located in Underway.
• Made firewall configuration changes to allow TAMU IT in through the firewall to administer and configure the new Exchange Servers and Domain Controllers.

CHEMISTRY LAB

Erik Moortgat
The primary focus during this tie-up maintenance period was to cross-train the technical staff in the Chemistry Lab, especially Aaron Mechler who is transferring to the laboratory full-time as of Expedition 362. Also attending the sessions were Heather Barnes, Susan Boehm, Adam Bogus, Aaron De Loach and Zenon Mateo. Laboratory protocols and every instrument/applicable software received attention, except for the SRA and OI TOC. Aaron M. may be individually trained on the SRA before I leave.

Ampulator

The Adelphi ampoule sealer was tested. Several "BBQ" style lighters were purchased during port-call

Balances

No issues to report for the Cahn balance.
However, one Mettler (unknown) balance has been showing this error in the display window of the unit.

It is the same error that Susan had been seeing on one of her balances and we swapped out complete units (X-Ray). She contacted Mettler Toledo and they told her that it is because of a faulty display unit and needs to be replaced ASAP. We have thus ordered three display units. One for the unit replaced in X-Ray (in the box above the IC), one for the Mettler in FCL and one as a spare. You can still use the balance, by cycling power, until the error message pops us again, repeat…

Carver Presses

Turned on and tested during the training session.

Cary Spectrophotometer

The new auto-sampler arrived and was installed. Please see the attached document (appendix A).

CHNS

A new combustion column was installed and the unit was tested during the training sessions.

Coulometer

The unit was tested during the training sessions.

Freeze-drier

The unit was not turned on.

Fume hoods

No issues to report.

Gas Lines/manifold

New bottle racks arrived. One helium rack was placed in the middle aisle, where the argons usually uniquely reside. A new helium rack was connected but only one of the new bottle was turned 'on'. The other three in the rack are full and 'off'.

GC3/NGA1

GC3 was tested during the training sessions but there is an issue with the injection protocol. Currently, according to the visual display of the flow-meter, very little of the sample is going into the sample loop. Now that the cross-training is completed, I will take a look at the issue.
The MUT (v.15) is NOT currently working on GC3. This has to be resolved by the Application Developers when they arrive.

Hydrogen generators

No issues with the hydrogen generators.

IC

The IC was turned on and a sequence was run during the training session. No issues to report.

salinity

The optical refractometer was tested during the training session.

SRA

The SRA was re-connected but not used (as of 27 april) in the training sessions.

GC2-pft

The unit was turned on and MPS tested during training. Only a 'blank' was run to demonstrate the procedure.

Pipettors

The three left on board were sufficient for the training sessions.

titrations

alkalinity

The unit was tested during the training sessions and no issues to report.

Chloride

The unit was tested during the training sessions and no issues to report.

Water system

The RO reservoir is currently being re-located. The area will be cleaned up and hopefully we will have a better dispensing area.

Misc

Fridges were defrosted.
Hazardous waste was collected by the Cape Town port waste folks.
Both Fisher Isotemp© hybridization incubators were tested and the bottle clips re-installed.
Requisition was made for more bottle-top dispensers.
Bases were made for the bottle-top dispensers so the Nalgene bottles hopefully won't be as prone to tip over during rougher seas.
Projects upon returning June 12 :

• GC3 injection status
• test new ICP Hildebrand nebulizers (adapters to sample tube from peristaltic pump and their tuning)
• manual updates (Cary, GC, GC-PFT)

APPENDIX A:

Cary Spectrophotometer Auto-Sampler

Agilent Technologies SPS3 (SPS3)

Facilitates sample introduction with minimal operator time.
Connected to PC via RS232 cable to Keyspan USB convertor.

Connected to Cary unit via RSA sample inlet tube

Reservoir peristaltic pump allows DI water to be pumped through the system between samples to flush lines.

Pump speed controlled by dial above pump (fills reservoir but does not change flow into Cary). That is controlled by the Cary's peristaltic pump.
Sample trays allow up to 180 samples to be run. First vial is a "zero" (DI water)

Software setup

Advanced Reads setup Entering sample information

can import sample names (text ID) from a text file
Settings for the RSA (sipper)

SPS3 configuration settings
Click on tray (in cartoon tray1 has turned red). Can now assign a Rack Type.
To assign 'zero' and samples, first click on tube color and then click on
individual tray numbers.


If you click on Custom Racks in the prior cartoon, you can configure your sample racks.
I've configured a simple 60 vial rack.

Running samples

Prepare your samples according to the protocol outlined in the Cary Spectrophotometer User Guide and have let the machine warm-up for a couple of hours at the correct wavelength for the analyte in question.
Click on START in the main Advanced Reads window.
A window will pop-up showing you the samples entered in the prior step. Can click on OK.




Saving the data to a file for later viewing.

Viewing where the samples need to go. Click OK.

Viewing the results in real-time.

Couple of things I still need to figure out.
: Placement of the SPS3 in relation to the Cary 100? Make it more 'user-friendly".