LAB OFFICER REPORT

Roy Davis

General Leg Information

Expedition 360, SW Indian Ridge Lower Crust and Moho commenced on November 1, 2015 at Colombo, Sri Lanka with the boarding of the marine specialists at 13:45 hrs. The science party boarded the following day. The vessel sailed at 20:18 on November 5, 2015 for Site U1473. ON December 30 the vessel began a 5.4 day round trip transit to medevac an individual by helicopter near Mauritius. The vessel got underway for Port Louis, Mauritius on January 27 at 08:30 with an ETA of 07:00 January 30. 2016.
Expedition 360 had 1 Site with 1 hole, which produced 87 cores and 469.15 meters of core recovery. A video survey was made of the proposed drilling site and a spot chosen to set drill.. Instead of a hard rock guidebase a new system was used to start the hole. A mud motor and under reamer were used to set a section of casing and then a guide horn was dropped onto the drilled in assembly. The expedition experienced several fishing trips for lost drill bit cones and a retaining sleeve from mechanical bit release (MBR) with retrieval of 2 out 4 lost cones. The retaining sleeve was not retrieved and remains at the bottom of the hole.
A HEPA filtered positive airflow enclosure was constructed for use by the biologists. It was set up in the biology coldroom. Perfluoromethyldecalin (PFMD) tracers were run on selected cores.

Port Call Activities Overview

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Loading of

• 2 ea IODP containers of D-Tubes and misc. science supplies
• 1 ea IODP Flat with drilling equipment
• 6 ea 40' Flat with295 jts of 5" DP
• Regular air freight and Haz/Mat A/F

Offloading of

• 11 ea 40' flats for return DP, 273 jts of 5" and 216 jts of 5.5 " DP
• 2 ea reefer containers of core and gas bottles
• Air freight
• Trash

Port Louis, Mauritius

Offloading of

• World Courier
  • (4 Frozen, 4 Refrigerated to EDGECOMB; and 2 Refrigerated to SYLVAN)
• SURF –
  • One Container:12 gas bottle racks, 6 pallets core, 2 K-box misc. equipment, coreliner box hardware,
  • One Flat of drilling equipment
• RAF
  • one k box of Miscellaneous/sample boxes, 1 x Schlumberger tool, 1 x Scientist Instrument
• FAF
  • Samples/data boxes, Expedited box, plus RMA instrument sent by John Van Hyfte to Norway

ASSISTANT LAB OFFICERS REPORT

Heather Barnes, Chieh Peng

SUMMARY

EXP360 was a lower crust/Moho hard rock expedition. The goal was to reach 1300-1500 mbsf. Due to drilling difficulties and a medical evacuation we reached 789.2 mbsf at the time this report was due. The scheduled curator was unable to sail (last minute). Chieh Peng agreed to step in as the shipboard curator with help of Heather Barnes. No program aids sailed. Mid way through the cruise, we had a medical evacuation of one of the technical staff, leaving the technical staff two persons short.

CORE LAB

• A second Whole Round Image Track (WRIL) for 360 degree whole round scanning was installed during the 10 day transit to Site U1473A. Unfortunately, due to insufficient lighting the image quality from new 360 imager was not as good as the SHIL's 360 images. Thus it was decided to use the SHIL for 360 degree imaging. Note: The SHIL has three pairs of lights, while the new WRIL has only two. In addition, one pair of lights on the WRIL died during the transit to the first Site.
• A large diameter core, 18.5cm (7.5") was recovered during a Junk Basket run. The forward MK303 saw was modified to accommodate the 14" lapidary saw blade. The movable tray was removed and replaced with a wood board and guide to accommodate splitting and sampling of the large core.
• The forward rock saw (MK303) is installed with a 10" x 0.04" x 5/8" lapidary continuous rim blade. It is a little thin for the rock material we are cutting. The blade consistently veered to one side making it very difficult to maintain a straight cut. We continued to use this blade for smaller pieces and sampling only because we did not have any other options. To install an 8" blade involve changing the platform of the saw and we did not see it as necessary. Toward the end of the expedition we did replace the blade with a thicker notched blade. All agreed it was much better for maintaining a straight line, although it does grind away more material, and is not as suitable for sample cutting.
• The gabbro material was very hard and chewed through our blades quickly. For future Gabbro expeditions we should consider ordering more blades.
• Parallel saw stopped working on Jan 23 while cutting a shipboard pmag cubes due to the belt being loose. Roy Davis and Zenon Metao tighten the belt by pushing the motor back in place. The saw has been operating very well since.
• For Tie-Up we recommend a total overhaul/cleaning/general maintenance of all saws be completed.
• Towards the end of the expedition we found that the Super saw is cutting long pieces of rock in a skewed fashion. It begins with an even thickness between W/A however by the end of cutting, one side is almost less than 1/3 of the other. We are still investigating the issue. Add to the list for Tie-up projects – the whole saw may need to be lifted and the tracks adjusted.

AMS/INVENTORY

• Physical Counts were conducted during the 10 day transit to Site.
• Update to printing shipping documents in AMS:

Different Ports require different documentation – we are now able to select the type of document to print see instructions below:
1. CARGO Declaration - Report Name can be changed based on "Report Name" drop-down list report parameter.

• drop-down list values
  a. SHIPPING DECLARATION (default)
  b. COMMERCIAL INVOICE
  c. Both (SHIPPING DECLARATION / COMMERCIAL INVOICE)
  2. "Print Declaration" button text has been changed to "Print Shipping Declaration".
  3. Packing List - Origin/Destination Port can be changed based on "Origin/Destination Port" drop-down list report parameter.
• drop-down list values (Example : 361)
  a. Port Louis, Mauritius - 01/30/2016 (Shore default)
  b. Cape Town, South Africa - 03/31/2016 (Ship default)
  Example : Exp : 361 Port : Port Louis, Mauritius Date : 1/30/2016
  4. Menu name change - "Packing List" and "Declaration Report" menu name has been changed to "Shipping Documents".
  
  

• Gas rack/bottle inventory was conducted.

Instructions to change a bottle in a rack was provided by Lisa Crowder and Saved in V:\ALO Folder\logistics\Gas Bottle_Rack:
Note: There are two places where the bottle number needs to be changed.
1. Inventory/Item Master
Go to Item Master and enter the GR number. Edit the description to include the 8 GBs on the rack.
2. Administrator/Logistics/Gas Bottles screen
Go to the Gas Bottle Screen.
Enter the GR number at the top and click the square button. This will show you below which GBs are associated with that GR.
2a. To Delete a GB from that rack, click the blue triangle of that GB then click Delete.
2b. To Add a GB, refresh the Gas Bottles screen to start fresh.
Enter the GB# you want to add in the middle section. Click the square button. The GB should show up in Gas Bottle List.
Click the blue triangle, click Edit.
Enter the GR# you want to add the GB to and use the looking glass to show it. Click Save.

SPECIAL PROJECTS

• NONE

Shipment

• 1 x Core 20ft Container with Core to Kochi, 6 pallets
• 1 x Flat
• 1 x 40ft surface
• RAF – one kbox of Miscellaneous/sampleboxes, 1 x Schlumberger tool, 1 x Scientist Instrument
• FA – usual samples/data boxes, Expedited box, plus RMA instrument sent by John Van Hyfte to Norway (Red Metal Box in LO Office)
• World Courier (4 Frozen, 4 Refrigerated to EDGECOMB; and 2 Refrigerated to SYLVAN)

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

j. Adam Bogus

Summary

Expedition 360 saw issues with the Imaging Tracks (Section Half Image Logger and Whole Round Image Logger) and the Velocity Gantry, and utilized the 10-day transit to Site U1473 to resolve most issues. The Whole Round Multi-Sensor Logger, Moisture and Density and pycnometer, Natural Gamma Radiation detector and Section Half Multi-Sensor Logger performed well for the duration of the expedition, with no major issues. The Special Task Multi-Sensor Logger was not used and the end of its track moved to make room for the new dedicated Whole Round Image Logger; which ultimately was also not used. The P-Wave logger on WRMSL was disabled for the duration of the expedition, due to only running hard rock core sections.
Measurement Counts as of 1/24/2016:

Individual Measurement Systems

velocity gantry

The Velocity Gantry system was used to measure the X, Y, and Z axis velocities of discreet sample cubes. Physical properties and PMAG shared cubes for the first half of the expedition, and took separate cubes for the second half. Changes to both the hardware and the software were needed to satisfy the expedition's needs.

Problems

Expedition 360 scientists required the ability to keep the calipers closed in between measurements in order to analyze possible drift in the system, and to minimize change or deformation from repeated compression of the sample. This was accomplished by switching from the existing Velocity 4.1 version to Velocity 5, created on the expedition by the developers. Velocity 4.1 is still available on the local computer and can be rolled back if necessary. The only difference between version 4.1 and 5 is the ability to either keep the calipers clamped on the sample in between measurements, or move them back to Home position. The "briefly Open/stays Closed" option is available by toggling the button at the bottom of the Results window (Fig. 1). This feature was formerly available in an older version of the Velocity program. Additionally, the stack maximum was increased from 1000 to 5000 and stack level increased to 5, in order to get better constraint and means. These adjustments increased the constraint of the standard velocities from 2720-2780 (m/s) to 2735-2765 (m/s), and the error of the calibration slope went from +/- 25 (m/s) to +/- 10 (m/s).
-Fig. 1 ("briefly Open/stays Closed" button in Results window)

Examples of data gathered before and after adjustments to the Gantry are displayed in Figures 2-3. There appears to be no significant difference between keeping the calipers closed or opening between measurements, however measurements were taken with keeping the calipers closed for the duration of the expedition.
-Fig. 2 (34.99mm Acrylic STND before software/hardware adjustments)


-Fig. 3 (34.99mm Acrylic STND after software/hardware adjustments)

The calipers were misaligned at the beginning of the expedition, preventing an accurate zero position. Upon opening the software, the calipers close and find the "Zero" distance, which is crucial for a distance measurement. In order to make better contact, the bottom aluminum cap was slightly sanded and rotated to account for the misalignment, and the zero switch was adjusted to trip just after the calipers made contact.
Quite often during the expedition the wrong axis was chosen on the "Axis Selection window" (shown in Figure 4), or the sample cube was placed on the wrong axis. This led to periodic editing of the data, which was processed by the PP scientists and edited by developers. Another problem arose when it was revealed one of the operators misinterpreted the "X" and "Z" axis for the duration of the expedition, and subsequently 934 velocities had to be changed. After reviewing the physical log sheets and exporting the Velocity data from LIMS to Excel, Test numbers were used to change the data to the correct axis.

recommendations

One suggestion to increase the efficiency of gathering data and reduce the chance for operator error is to automatically repeat the velocity measurement when the "Repeat Measurement" button is chosen. When "Repeat Measurement" is selected, the program returns all the way to the Axis Selection window. The user must confirm the axis, then click OK before the program moves to the Signal Monitoring window (Figure 5). At the Signal Monitoring window, the user must click Continue before the actual measurement is made at the Acquisition window (Figure 6). Instead of returning to the Axis Selection window, "Repeat Measurement" should take the user straight to the Acquisition window and automatically make another velocity measurement on the same axis.
-Fig. 4 (Axis Selection window)
¿
-Fig. 5 (Signal Monitoring window)

-Fig. 6 (Acquisition window)

The calibration process appears to convert the dimensions of the standard acrylic cylinders from millimeters to meters, and during this process the length is rounded. For example, after scanning the 34.99mm acrylic standard, its length in the program becomes .035m, and subsequently 35.000mm in the calibration window described in Figure 7. Whether or not the software used this rounded figure could not be determined during the expedition. If the rounded length is being used, possible solutions could be to increase the decimal limit of the software, make the standard unit millimeters instead of meters, or use standards that are even numbers, such as 20.000mm.
-Fig. 7 (Calibration screen showing rounded standard lengths)

Another recommendation for the calibration process would be to use standards that better represent the sample material and dimensions than the acrylic standards. For the hard rock samples run on this expedition, velocities averaged around 7000 m/s for the 20mm cubes. Standards that are higher in velocity and smaller in size would create a better calibration curve for discreet hard rock samples, which have velocities much higher than the 2750 m/s acrylic standards.

Technical Service

The Gantry calipers were disassembled, cleaned, and lubricated at the beginning of the expedition; the X and Y bayonets were not used during the expedition.

moisture and density (MAD)

The MAD station ran without issue until the final day of processing samples. The last day saw the MADMax program continually fail with an internal error. The Developers and PP Technician condensed the MadMax spreadsheet, removing unused and outdated standards and consolidating double entries of the Sphere_10 standards into one entry per sphere.

Problems

On the last day of running samples, the MADMax program crashed with LabView errors and due to errors communicating with the server. The program failed when clicking "Accept" volume in the pycnometer cell window, as well as when taking a dry mass. Figures 8 and 9 are screen shots of these errors. At the time of the crashes, all of the previous samples from the expedition were still shown in the MADMax spreadsheet. By unchecking the "Include Completed MAD Tests" option and checking the "Done" box next to completed samples, the size of the spreadsheet was greatly reduced. Scientists were then able to run the rest of the samples, but further testing was not conducted due to the end of the expedition.
-Fig. 8

-Fig. 9

Technical Service

Cleaning and calibration were performed throughout the expedition. The standard Sphere_10 was measured as a sample throughout the expedition, and an Excel sheet was saved on the desktop of the MAD computer station to check the calibration of the pycnometer and track any drift within the cells.

shear strength station

The AVS system was not used during the expedition.

Special track multisensor logger (stmsl)

The STMSL was not run for the duration of the expedition. The end of the track was removed to make room for installation of the new, dedicated WRIL. The track was stored underneath the NGR.

Whole Round MultiSensor Logger (WRMSl)

The WRMSL ran successfully for the duration of the expedition. The P-wave caliper was not used due to only receiving hard rock, and the Gantry was used to gather velocity data. Calibration was performed for Gamma Ray Attentuation as necessary and checked after each core with the DI water standard.

Section half image logger (shil)

The SHIL was used to image both section halves and whole round sections. Extensive work was conducted during transit to make the new dedicated Whole Round Image Logger (WRIL) functional, but the science party decided to use the original SHIL after comparing images from both machines (see WRIL section of report).

Problems

The SHIL IMS consistently crashed during the expedition (average once per shift). In addition to IMS crashing, the new version of MUT (13.2), also crashed, but the cause of both crash issues was not linked to the interaction between programs. After running trace problems to collect data on the crashes and switching out SHIL A and SHIL B towers, the root of the problem has been identified somewhere within the coding of Lab View IMS. Developers are still looking into the issue, and restarting the program returned to the software to a functioning state and allowed the operator to take the images. See Developer Tech Report for more information.
The spare Advanced Illumination LED lights for the SHIL were examined, and while being tested one spare failed. Currently, there is only one spare is aboard, and this is an older model, not as powerful, and lacks the proper mount to be used on the SHIL. Effectively there are no spare lights are aboard, and questions about acquiring the correct spare lights should be directed towards Imaging Specialist Bill Crawford, as he knows the specific make, model, and specifications needed.

Technical Service

The whole round imaging mount was disassembled, lubricated, and cleaned multiple times throughout the expedition. The need for consistent cleaning and lubrication is an effect of debris falling in between the ribs and mount, as well as aluminum on aluminum scraping while rotating the core. It is recommended for future use of the whole round mount to add slip strips (same ones used on the CryoMag), in order to prevent the metal on metal scraping.

Whole Round image logger (WRIL)

The dedicated WRIL was shipped to Colombo because whole round images of core sections were needed. The imaging track was unpacked and assembled during port call, and testing began during transit to Site U1473.

Problems

The new WRIL was assembled by the ETs and installed at the end of the STMSL track. Initial tests resulted in problems with consistently finding home, start, and load positions. With the help of the developers, the errors regarding motion were discovered to be dependent on the position of the carriage when opening the IMS program, the position of the carriage when initializing the system, and the physical position of the home and CW limit switches. When IMS is first opened, the program initializes the system and finds home based upon the first physical limit switch it trips. If the carriage was on the CCW side of the "Home" switch, it would successfully record home as 0. If the carriage was on the CW side of the "Home" switch, it would move until it tripped the CW limit switch and Home/0 would be incorrect.
When testing and calibrating the lights and camera (working with Image Specialist Bill Crawford) more issues arose. Initial scans revealed that the two banks of lights (middle and outside positions) were of significantly different color temperature, so two single lights were switched to blend the beams. However, certain areas of a whole round core are only illuminated by a single light source. Therefore it is not possible to create a uniform color temperature across the entire core through blending. This color difference was deemed workable, but the lack of illumination on the edges and depressions on the surface of the core caused the WRIL to be deemed unusable. We scanned the first 7 cores on both the original SHIL and new WRIL, and after comparing the photos, the science party decided to scan both the whole round and section half images on the original SHIL. Figures 10 and 11 show example images from both machines, and Figures 12 and 13 are enlarged examples of a problem area.




-Fig. 10 (Original SHIL) -Fig. 11 (New WRIL)


-Fig. 12 (Original SHIL) -Fig. 13 (New WRIL)

section half multisensor logger (SHMSL)

The SHMSL ran successfully throughout the expedition, with MS point and color spectrometry measurements taken on archive section halves. The halogen light sources were not changed, due to them being unused for long stretches of time when not processing core.

Natural Gamma Radiation (NGR)

The NGR ran with no major problems, and a full shutdown and cleaning of the electronics cabinet was conducted during transit to site U1473.

Problems

Occasionally (once every other week) data for a section of core would fail to upload, due to the Text and Label ID not parsing correctly. To rectify this, and avoid having to rescan core (scientists ran each section at 900s per position), one would have to manually correct the Text ID, .zip file name, and .xls file name within the .summary file. The file names of each .spe file (16 in total, one per detector per position) would also have to be manually changed in the C:/data/ng/archive/Exp360 folder. It was determined that scanning the section before hitting the "Scan" button in the NGR Core Analyzer software would allow the operator to continue, and open the same window as if "Scan" had been clicked.

Technical Service

A full shutdown was performed during transit to site U1473, in order to switch out the substitute Logic Fan In/Out Board, which replaced the burnt out Model 758 board from Expedition 356. A temperature probe was also installed in the new 758 Board. During the full shutdown, all of the boards (Logic, Fan, Amplifier boards, etc.) in the electronics cabinet were removed, cleaned, and replaced. The counts on the Quad Scaler Preset Counter Timer took ~24 hours to return to normal range, after which the counts were all normal for the rest of the expedition. The older UPSs were replaced by a new, double conversion UPS (installed Dec 6, 2015).

Thermal conductivity

Therm Con ran successfully for the entire expedition. Two different full size pucks were used to make measurements (H11027 and H11028). The H11027 puck's thermistor corroded after ~3 weeks of consistent use, most likely due to inadequate cleansing with DI water after use. After the thermistor corroded, H11028 was used the rest of the expedition.

Problems

The only issue during the expedition was a known bug, where upon entering text into the "Root Name" field in the measuring configuration, inconsistencies arose in replicate file names. Sometimes the "Root Name" information was added to the first replicate's file name, other times it was added to all the replicates' file names but the first. This caused errors during the upload process, and not all the data was successfully uploaded. Through software changes this was finally rectified, and core/section information was entered into the "Root Name" for the all of the tests.

General

• The water tank for the peristaltic pump for the P-wave logger on WRMSL should be change as needed, with a very small amount (one capful) of bleach added to discourage bacteria growth.
• Make sure to wash each Therm Con puck with fresh water after every sample, as this will deter corrosion of the thermistor.

Shipment

To Shore

Air Freight

1. Substitute NGR Logic Fan In/Out Board (LeCroy Research Systems manuf.)

PALEOMAGNETICS LAB

Edwin Garrett
Scientists: Julie A. Bowles, Maurice A. Tivey, Antony Morris

Summary

The paleomagnetics lab was used extensively for the analysis of hard rock sample. The SRM functioned fairly well and there were few technical difficulties. The thermal demagnetizer was used extensively and had some initial problems. Also liquid nitrogen was used to demagnetize some discrete samples. Over 200 cubes were taken for shipboard analysis, and all sections with oriented pieces were measured in the SRM with multiple demagnetization levels. Core sections brought aboard from site 1105 were remeasured. Several surveys were made of the magnetic field strength inside the instruments during the transit, and saved to the Paleomag folder on Uservol.

Issues

• The D-Tech AF demagnetizer functioned without problems. However, after measurements of the ambient field inside the Dtech showed it was higher than desired (75nT), some Mu metal tape was put across the front of the instrument to reduce it somewhat (40nT).
• Kappabridge functioned without incident.
• No orientation tools were used this expedition.
• There was an issue with the new JR6 MUT upload program and the way the scientists planned to record and process their data. They needed a naming scheme that directly related to the sample location, and the way they planned to put everything into single files that would change often made the use of the unique but arbitrary SHLF number difficult, and also there could be long delays between measurements since samples were being shared with PP, and this would create confusion in tracking what was uploaded/finished or was still in progress. Tony indicated that at the end of the expedition it would be easy for him to convert their JR6 data files to the IODP upload format using a sample report and a macro/program he would write. So that is the current plan.
• During the leg both JR6A was heavily used and performed well, but about midway an inconsistency in the measurement was noticed. Tony discovered that the JR6 door did not close securely. The door closed using a clasp on a metal flange. The metal flange had developed a small stress fracture over time from opening and closing, so it moved too easily. We had no spares, so the flange was taken from the spare JR6. We could not find the flange listed in the Agico spare parts list. Shore was notified and a photo sent so another could be purchased/made. Some samples were placed in a liquid nitrogen filled 100 ml plastic beaker and placed in the Mu metal container for several hours (until the liquid nitrogen evaporated) to demagnetize the sample. This worked with no significant issues.
• The SRM functioned well. There were no noticeable problems with flux jumps. At the beginning of the leg, the field inside the SRM was measured (see Figure 1). The Fluxgate was attached to the boat, and using the Galil Tools command box, the boat was moved inside the SRM in 1 cm increments and the readings were manually recorded. The highest field was at the join between the main SRM unit and the degaussing coils unit. This was a repeat of the same measurement done several years ago. This time the field was slightly less, however, due to the physical location of the joint, efforts to reduce it with Mu metal tape did not succeed. Also, early measurement showed that there was an offset between the recorded position of the sample and the observed measurement peak (see Figure 2). Subsequent tests confirmed this, and the location of the squid sensors in the configuration files was increased by one cm. Normally one cm would not make a difference relative to variations in curation, but it did matter when trying to correlate intensity with susceptibility values from the point susceptibility measurement logger. When measuring sections, non-oriented pieces were removed and the position of the oriented pieces was manually noted. Also, small oriented but non-contiguous pieces next to larger oriented pieces were removed because they caused an edge effect with the values of the larger piece. Cores from site 1105 that were sent to the ship were remeasured. Originally demagnetized to 20mT, they were additionally demagnetized to 50mT.
• The thermal demagnetizer was used extensively. There were technical problems at the start of the leg. The unit would turn on and allow for programming the temperature run, but the oven would not turn on. Initially we thought that there was some programming that needed to be reset, and playing with the buttons eventually turned the oven on, but the problem did not go away. Finally it was determined that the oven power switch was faulty. The ETs made a temporary repair (using an unused circuit of the switch) and a new switch and a spare was ordered. Scientists also made a survey of the field inside the thermal demagnetizer (see Figure 3, units in nT and cm). This data was used to position samples.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Cryomag readings

CORE DESCRIPTION AND MICROPALEONTOLOGY PREPARATION LABORATORY

Zenon R. P. Mateo and Aaron de Loach

Summary

Expedition 360 is a high-recovery hard rock (gabbro) leg at one site (U1473) planned to be a legacy hole that will eventually reach down to the Mohorovicic Discontinuity. Three teams were involved in describing cores and thin sections: Igneous Petrologists, Metamorphic Petrologists and Structural Geologists. Instead of the normal two shifts, all members of each team were on the same shift and each member is assigned a particular task in order to allow better discussion and consistency of description. During the transit to the site, the scientists also described some legacy holes from sites 735B and 1105A, which were also cored from the same region, the Atlantis Bank. The macroscopic description for these holes were entered using a different DESClogik template (360_macroscopic_1105); the main template for U1473A being 360_macroscopic. For thin section description, 360_microsopic template was used all throughout, with minor modifications in between. Data for 255 thin sections were reported following the established workflow. Several developmental work was made on the Report Builder in order to address some bugs that were encountered.
The latest version of DESClogik (14) was rolled out in some workstations. This version has a more efficient way to displaying interval data (i.e., data from a segment of the hole only). More details can be found in the Developer's report.
The SEM was used to image some of the thin sections (433 images in total). The Micropaleontology Laboratory was used entirely used, except for laying out cores during sampling party and conducting some PMAG anslysis.

DEVELOPMENTS

1. New components

The following components were added to better capture structural geology data:
a. cohesion – qualitatively defines the cohesiveness or sticking together of rock fragments. In structural geology, it is often used to describe fault rocks or fragments within a fault zone. This component is similar to lithification or induration.
b. quality – used to describe the degree of confidence on a particular observation, especially subjective components such as intensity or abundance (especially in micropaleontology, although a temporary cell comment is often enough in such cases).
c. quality_rank – numerical equivalent of values used under component "quality" for later data QAQC or filtering.

2. Thin Section Report

Development of the Thin Section (TS) Report Builder and Writer continued during this expedition. Two reports were created from clones of previous reports and from scratch by Peter Blum and Aaron de Loach to identify issues and functionality improvements. These were added to the existing spreadsheet tracking the TS Builder and Writer issues, located in the following folder;
V:\IODP_Share\ALL things DESClogik\TS Rpt Bldr – Writer
The developers were tasked with solving several high priority problems and to make improvements as time permitted. This process should continue onshore and during the next expedition.
Improvements include an expansion of the edit table row screen, double click edit feature added in the same window, a hierarchical sorting of reports by name to better separate reports by expedition, coloring of the "cancel report" and "cancel version" buttons, bug fixes and others.
Peter Blum also created an Excel TS report specification spreadsheet by hand. The spec. sheet contains the all the necessary information to build a new reports with consistency on the next hard rock leg. It includes specification of block types, Use me flags, fonts, positioning, etc.…
Peter Blum also has been creating a User Guide and Quick Start Guide for the report builder. The draft of the document may be available at the end of this expedition, though time may not allow. If so, both documents will be in the IODP official folder as well as the All things DESCLogik folder.

3. Uservol description information folder

At the request of the Co-Chiefs a single folder on Uservol called "_descriptive_information" was used to better share the varying types of data with the entire science party. The folder included frequently updated macroscopic and microscopic excel workbooks, VCDs, and thin section reports. Updates were made almost daily, or when significant changes were made to existing sample descriptions. A readme file was included to guide users.

4. Data Manipulation

In preparation for data plotting, analysis, interpretation, descriptive (and even non-descriptive) data often need to be re-formatted. A case example are two separate DESClogik tabs/Excel worksheets that contain the higher resolution grain size data and the lithology data. In order to identify what lithology a set of grain size data is associated with, a table join has to be made. This is with the ultimate goal of determining the downhole trend or average grain size by lithology and mineral. Another case example are two large tables (about 6000 rows each) of ICP data on different minerals from thin sections where replicate analysis (rows) also exist on either table.
Some combination of Excel functions can be used to perform the above formatting (e.g., VLOOKUP, MATCH, SUMPRODUCT, INDEX). Alternatively, under D. Fackler's tutelage, one can also use the MS Query module that is already embedded in Excel. Below is a very quick guide:
JOINING TABLES IN EXCEL MS QUERY

1. Create separate files of the tables to be joined. Ideally, the filenames should be short (about 9 char or so). Save them under the same folder
2. In excel: DATA > From Other Sources (in "Get External Data" group). In the dropdown menu, select "From Microsoft Query"
3. In the default Database tab of the pop-out window, double-click <New Data Source>
4. The "Create New Data Source" window will appear:
   1. provide a name,
   2. select the driver (english version of the files to be joined, such as .csv)
   3. click the Connect button to bring out the ODBC Text Setup window
5. Uncheck "Use Current directory" box
6. Click "Select Directory" and browse to the folder containing the files
7. Click OK
8. Select from the dropdown list the default file.
9. Click OK Back in the Choose data source window, your new data source will now be in the list. Click OK or double-click
10. In the Wizard window that appears, click Cancel. Select Yes when prompted to continue editing in MS Query
11. Add all tables to be joined, one by one, then click Close. Below the toolbar, the tables will be represented by boxes with a list of column names. Asterisk implies all columns
12. Table > Joins
    1. Select the columns to be used, including the operator.
    2. Click Add and then Close
13. In the table boxes (#7) below the toolbar, click and drag the asterisk into the table panel below. Do the same for the other table box.
    1. To remove duplicates, click on the SQL button and add, after the word SELECT, the word "distinct" (without the quotations)
14. Click "Return Data" and select "New Worksheet" in the pop-out window. Excel will automatically open a worksheet with the joined table.

To edit the SQL query, simply click on the SQL button and insert the other criteria. Due to the small window, it is also good to copy, paste and edit the code in Notepad. Below is the query statement for the first case defined above.
SELECT DISTINCT lithology.`Top Depth (m)`, lithology.`Bottom Depth (m)`, lithology.`Complete lithology name`, grain_size.`Top Depth (m)`, grain_size.`Bottom Depth (m)`, grain_size.Midpoint, grain_size.`SPL size MAX (mm)`, grain_size.`SPL size MODE (mm)`, grain_size.`OL size MAX (mm)`, grain_size.`OL size MODE (mm)`, grain_size.`PL size MAX (mm)`, grain_size.`PL size MODE (mm)`, grain_size.`CPX size MAX (mm)`, grain_size.`CPX size MODE (mm)`, grain_size.`OPX size MAX (mm)`, grain_size.`OPX size MODE (mm)`, grain_size.`AMPH size MAX (mm)`, grain_size.`AMPH size MODE (mm)`, grain_size.`OX size MAX (mm)`, grain_size.`OX size MODE (mm)`, grain_size.`QTZ size MAX (mm)`, grain_size.`QTZ size MODE (mm)`, grain_size.`SULF size MAX (mm)`, grain_size.`SULF size MODE (mm)`
FROM `C:\Users\daq\Documents_Mateo\360\join tables`\grain_size.csv grain_size, `C:\Users\daq\Documents_Mateo\360\join tables`\lithology.csv lithology
WHERE grain_size.`Top Depth (m)` >= lithology.`Top Depth (m)` AND grain_size.`Bottom Depth (m)` <= lithology.`Bottom Depth (m)` OR (((grain_size.[Top Depth (m)]-lithology.[Top Depth (m)])>=-0.05 And (grain_size.[Top Depth (m)]-lithology.[Top Depth (m)])<=0.05) AND ((grain_size.[Bottom Depth (m)]-lithology.[Bottom Depth (m)])>=-0.05 And (grain_size.[Bottom Depth (m)]-lithology.[Bottom Depth (m)])<=0.05))
Often, a pop-out message will appear about SQL Query not being able to graphically represent the set of criteria. It simply means that the set of criteria cannot be drawn in the table and criteria panels. Just acknowledge this and the process will still continue.

ISSUES AND SUGGESTIONS

1. Data download

At the beginning of the expedition, downloading microscopy data for a particular thin section returned nothing. However, selecting the parent or any sample higher up in the hierarchy returned the results. This was caused by the thin section sample not inheriting the actual sample depth from its parent. To solve this, D. Fackler manually entered in oracle the x_sca_depth_top and bottom values from the TS billet to the TS sample.

2. Slow editing of comment text box

It takes a while (enough to annoy the user) to edit a comment entry, and DESClogik may even go to a "Not Responding" state before the text box would appear. A quick solution is to use F3, and then (1) type straight away to replace entry, or (2) press the right or left arrow depending on whether one needs to edit close to the beginning or end of the entry. The only downside is that for paragraph entries: the text is not visible all at once.

3. Old issue: persistent export status bar

After exporting a populated DESClogik template, the status bar stays. The user then has to confirm that the output file exists and to verify content, before manually closing the status bar.

4. Excel export: Farpoint issue

Downloaded about 800 rows of data for alteration tab in 360_macroscopic, and on export to excel, this error message appeared, together with a bad gateway error message.

5. Stack overflow

An apparently known issue is when a column is set to a default value list that is very long. When downloading data, especially for the entire hole, a stack overflow error happens (System.StackOverflowException ) that forces DESClogik to close down. In this expedition, it happened when the vein color column was left to the default list instead of the custom sublist. (However, this happened only at a particular point when probably, more data has been stored in the database?). Below is an explanation from D. Fackler:
"A call is being made to a cell-change handler. Far down that call-chain, after many conditional statements, another call is made to the same handler. When the path through that logic is just right, the call stack doesn't unwind fast enough in relation to the number of cells being processed. This occurs repeatedly for data in the Vein color column. The process runs out of local memory area (the stack)."

Suggestions

1. Filter function per column.
2. In cases of collaborative work where a single but long tab is used by multiple users, e.g. veins and halos described by alteration and structure groups and sub-groups, explore the possibility of storing sub-versions of the global template per user. The entered values will still be flagged with the global template name and restrictions on copying and pasting data across columns should be lifted.

6. Template changes not updating for non-admin users

When new versions of the template were saved to the generic name (e.g. 360_macroscopic) those changes did not always appear in the non-admin work screens, even after DESC quit and restart. The problem persisted after making sure all versions of DESCLogik were the same (13.2.0.0) .
The workaround was to delete the old generic template then save the new one.
In addition, a generic scientist level user account was created for testing changes to templates. The username and password are "desctest".

7. Macroscopic downloads

Towards the middle of the expedition, downloads of the macroscopic data became increasing slow (~20min) and eventually would fail to complete giving a timeout error. The ultimate cause is likely the large amount of detail logged against a single hole. Several work arounds were deployed by David Fackler.
A newer version of DESCLogik (14.0.0) was being tested by admins and the publications technician at the time this report was written. The all tabs download feature quit working. Currently the feature will work, but with only smaller intervals than the entire hole.

8. Value Lists

The value lists are in need of a thorough cleaning. We have a number of unreferenced values, or expedition specific values, which need to have a proper reference or not be used again. There are a number of duplicate values as well. This would be a time consuming project perhaps best done during tie up.
A potentially useful idea may be to create "shopping lists" of terms and values we could present to the scientists to select from when they are creating their template subsists.

9. THE USual User errors to watchout for

A number of duplicate data rows were created by not downloading uploaded data when updating or editing sample descriptions. Duplicates were also common when users would paste data in from excel sheets.
When editing cell entries, uploads would not function properly if the user deleted a value instead of canceling it. DESC would show an error message. After clicking O.K., all changes, deleted or other, would remain on the screen but re-uploading would give the message "no data to changes upload." However, changes were not saved and would be lost if a copy was not exported.
With multiple groups describing the same thin sections (TS) summary descriptions had to be split into separate columns to be sure each group contributed the pertinent information. Multiple groups also contributed to duplicate rows and in some cases conflicting descriptions of similar material.

suggestions

These issues are persistent and well documented. Reminders and poop sheets are a useful way to
avoid large amounts of editing.

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

Chieh Peng

SUMMARY

Samples

As this report is due, a total of 468.65m of hard rock (mostly gabrro) was recovered after core 89R with 63% average recovery. A total of 3763 samples were taken for Expedition 360. This included 1414 shipboard samples (up to 89R), and 2349 personal samples (up to core 70R).
From core 57R (around 519mbsf) on, the average percentage recovery is over 90%

Cores

Approximately 6 pallets of ??? core boxes from EXP 360 along with legacy cores from Leg118 and Leg179 will be shipped from Port Louise Mauritius EXP360 to KCC, Japan.

Legacy cores

Leg118, site 735B and Leg179 site 1105A archive cores and TS were sent from KCC
735B cores were laid out for over a week, scientists practice with SHIL, SHMSL, and description.
1105A cores were laid out in batches, every 24 hours.

Residues

ICP residues were split among several scientists. Ignited powders were sent directly to the scientists while the regular powder were split in aliquot.

Thin Sections

314 thin sections were prepared by Aaron Mechler on Expedition 360.
The thin section inventory is being sent via email with this report.
There was a high demand of the TSB. I have resolved the issues with following option in order of priority.

• Cut a new billet underneath the TSB, if material available
• Split the original TSB if reasonable.
• Send the original TSB to a requester under the condition that they will return the TSB to KCC after they made another thick section within a year time.

Core Preservation

All core sections both Archive and Working were shrinkwrapped.

CURATION AND SAMPLING

Curation for U1473A Junk Basket

6 Junk Baskets were run in U1473A
Run #8 and #9 were done from 0 – 410.2 mbsf
Run #12, #13, and #15 were done from 0 – 469.49 mbsf
Run #10 was also done from 0 – 410.2 mbsf came back with solid core material at the bottom of Junk Basket. We had drilled into new depth. A decision was made to add a Core Type "J" as junk basket. This was later changed to M (miscellaneous). This decision was made during a LWG on shore, as Junk Basket was not intended as a coring tool. We hope we will not use it as a coring tool in the future.
The diameter of the junk basket core is 18.5cm (7.5"). We have to modify one of the rock saw to cut these 2 pieces of rock (see photos attached). This material is logged under 45J and treated as regular core material. All pieces were split. One of the rock saw was modified to accommodate the large diameter "core". Piece 1-6 are divided into W/A. However, piece 7, 8, 9, and 10 are too big to fit in split liner, they will be stored separately. Piece labels were adhesive to each piece.


All JB material was logged as "samples" directly under U1473A, which was very difficult to log any samples taken from these junk basket.
We ended up enter any samples taken from these junk basket also under the hole, and then use LIME to re-parent them under the JB. However, by doing so, there is no way to find these samples again in Sample Master, except using parameter search. As the JB has no core/section/section half, they do not show up in hierarchy tab.
I recommend for future purpose, it might be better to log the junk basket as "Ghost" core, so that not only they can be part of the core sequence for operation purpose (so we know when it was done), we can also log and look for samples under them.
Each JB material were divided into 2 split liner and marked as archive and working base on co-chief's request. They are stored in d-tubes and will be boxes along with regular cores. The large diameter material are stored in medium size boxes, and will be send to KCC along other residue.

CATWALK SAMPLING

MBIO whole round samples were taken on almost every core.
Core material were carried into split room, and immediately "shaken" out into temporary liners. Both microbiologists and co-chief on shift discussed and decided which piece is to be taken for MBIO.
Once the piece is decided, a photo is taken with a core ID, gray card and a ruler for inventory purpose. A foam is then placed in where the whole round was.
The MBIO samples were entered in Sample Master as catwalk whole round sample once the final interval and piece # is determined.
3 KEND samples were taken for scientist Kendrich for his inert gas study.

Sample Table Sampling

Shipboard Analysis (Working Half)
Shipboard samples were taken place on a daily basis. Due to space restriction, average of 2-4 cores were laid out on sample table, auxiliary table in the splitting room, and the mobile tables.

• PMAG
• 8cc cube
• From core 2R – 44R, Pmag and PP shared the same cube.
• From 45M on, Pmag and PP took separate cubes
• ICP
• Large volume of ICP samples were taken due to core material are mostly coarser grain. Sample volume range from 10cc to 50cc (7cm QRND) were taken.
• No more than 12 samples were taken a day

• XRD
• XRD samples were taken using Dremel tool to scrap off small amount of material
• Sample frequency vary from 1 sample to 8 a day

• TSB (10 and 50cc cc billet)
• Average of 12 TSB samples were taken on a daily basis

Personal Samples (Working half)

3 major personal sample parties are held.
First one was held during the transit to and back from Mauritius during the medical evacuation. All working halves were laid out, 182 sections. We could lay out 10 more sections.
Scientists had 24 hours to put stickers on, another 24 hours to draw lines and filled out forms.
However it was not cleared the size of samples they were requesting. Some requested over 7cm QRND and or entire vein material. After reviewed with co-chiefs, we put a maximum limit to 7cm QRND (50cc) and ¾ of vein material. Total of 1062 samples were verified/cut/entered/bagged during 3 days (6 shifts).
Second party was held during a 2 day logging period. Core 46R – 70R (total of 107 sections) were laid out in Paleo lab and Downhole lab.
Third party is a continuous flowing party.
After we finish one room (Paleo Lab) from party 2, we laid out another 50+ sections. From Jan 25 noon-Jan 26 noon, Scientists will sticker, resolve conflict with SAC, draw cut lines, and submit their sample request form. During this period, we will finish cutting, bagging and put away cores from DHL. Another 50+ sections will be laid out in DHL for another round of sampling (from Jan 26 noon to Jan 27 noon), and so on.
As this report is due, we are in the middle of logging. There will be one more bit coring period, approximately 36 hours pending on how long and well of the logging operations.
The plan is to finish putting away all cores and samples by noon Jan 29^th.
We are able to display
Paleo lab 52 sections, with 10 sections on after counter, 2 x 11 section on forward counter, and 2 x 10 sections on each conference room table
Downhole Lab 54 sections, with 3 x 10 sections on port side counter and 2 x 12 sections on middle counter
Core lab, aft axillary table 6 sections in addition to the descriptions tables and sample table
Spliting room, 7 sections on the forward auxiliary table, 2 x 6 sections on the super saw counter, in addition to the mobile table.
The following table is a list of scientists with their corresponding request numbers and codes.

The strike through rows are scientists who did not taken any samples

ACTION ITEMS

Thin Sections – A request list will be collected and forward to KCC for TSS request
Thin Section Billet – A pretty high number of requests were submitted for shipboard TSB. As described in the summary, either a new billet will be cut, or the original billet will be split, or the original TSB will be sent to the request. A summary list will be compiled and submitted to KCC
LIME privileges change
DeLoach – add Image
Mateo – add all SEM
Bogus – reassign PP tech and add Imaged tech
Bin (piece) length are created for both 735B and 1105A cores

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED

TS from 735B and 1105A have red mark id, had to be remove for PICAT
Janus to LIMS migration had some problems

1. Created and curation length didn't migrated properly, all 1105A cores were wrong, was corrected and depth re-calculated
2. T/S didn't migrate at all, all were manually created again in Sample Master

computer software

Sample Master 10.2 had issue of wrong column heads (started with letters like D, E, F….) before the actual column heading. So the software was confused. Rolled back to version 10
Sample Master was having issue of updating catwalk recovery in the Core summary tab. Fackler found and fixed the issue.

computer HARDWARE

Core Entry Zebra Printer (Model ZT410-203dpi)
The labels spooling seem very sluggish, and when print multiple labels, the sluggish eventually affected the alignment. MCS cleaned both core entry and sample table printers. And the problem seems went away. However, it came back after some usage. We notice the "darkness" were set at 16 on both printers. These setting were used when the weber ribbons were installed. It was necessary to increase the darkness in order to print the label dark enough to see. Once we installed the Genuine Zebra ribbon, we changed the "darkness" setting back to around 10. The issues went away completely. There are still the occasional black smear on the label, but not enough to interfere with barcode reading, nor pulling the labels out of alignment.

miscelaneous

Dirty end caps, all 3 color, were found mixed in with the new ones in the end caps boxes. I took them all out and wash them all. And I found trash, cardboards and bucket of sand/pebbles, hidden away in the big yellow trash can. In the future, please ask the techs to wash down all dirty end caps and leave them outside, do NOT mix them back in the new box.
The placement of dividers are reversed from routine practice. We will place the divider with the rim and tab facing upward, so that the top of the next rock piece is flush up against the flat side of the divider

OTHER CORE LAB DUTIES

IMAGING LAB and MICROSCOPES

William Crawford

Still Cameras

The Canon EOS IDS, Hasselblad, and both Canon EOS 5D cameras as well as the Nikon and a variety of lenses were employed with no issues to report.

Video Camera

Video equipment was used to capture the activities of the Christmas Day conference room gathering. The equipment is in good shape with no issues to report. This holds true for the video editing computer suite as well

Epson printer

The printer performed well with only two head cleanings required. No issues with head clogging this time around. The new printer continues to impress with its little use of ink as compared to the previous printer. This printer produces outstanding quality even with the standard supplied ICC Profiles provided by Epson for its different paper types.

Close-up Imaging

The Close-up Station performed well with the exception of the failure of the strobe power supply. The spare was deployed and a replacement is being sent from shore. A few changes were made to the ruler/scale holder and specimen holders. 1 cm was machined off of the bottom of these tools to bring the height of the ruler more in line with the height of the average specimen. Doing so increases the sharpness the camera is allowed to record the ruler.
During my previous cruise, the acrylic box, which the samples are placed upon, was aligned to the camera center and attached to the table via removable pins. This allows the quick alignment of the specimen and the ruler, which is faster but also, produces a more professional aligned and centered look.

Petrographic Image Capture and Archiving Tool (PICAT)

The PICAT system worked without requiring additional attention. To date 256 Thin Section slides have been produced by Aaron Mechler within the on-board Thin Section Lab.

Challenges

The biggest challenge to this expedition for me has been the Whole Round Line Scan Image Composites.
A new scanner was developed and assembled on shore and shipped out with the intention of relieving some of the Product Mix currently been required by a single line scan camera system. Having too many products produced by a single machine can produce a heavy workload and bottle neck to the work flow.
However the system was shipped with only a single bank of two lights. This was done knowing there existed another pair of lights.
A full lighting system uses 3 pairs of lights. At 100 mm of distance away from the object the light is illuminating cast a beam 100mm in width and only 5mm wide. Six lights are required to cover the 35 or so mm of depth the split core can require.
I was not asked to participate in the building of the new scanner. I was told about the two lights being shipped and knowing there were two more lights waiting and also knowing we were to image a curved but limited depth surface, I did not protest.
I want to say my appreciation of our newest Tech, Adam Bogus and chemistry lab tech, Vinny Percuoco for the excellent job of assembly and trouble shooting the hardware and software leaving me to only calibrate and align the system.
What we found was two banks of lights would not cover the area adequately plus the color temperature of the two types of generations/manufacture dates of lights was striking.
The result of not supplying the correct number of lights rendered the system unusable. This forced the techs to fall back on the original scanner, which lighted the uncut whole rounds perfectly.
Images were provided from both machines calibrated as best they could and given to the Co-chiefs, staff scientist and Lab officer to determine whether the new system could be utilized.
No being able to utilize the new scanner produced an unneeded burden on the techs which were then required to modify the scanner each time a whole core needed imaging.
The whole round imaging adapter holder also needs some fine-tuning. The base of the holder is aluminum as well is the fingers of the holder. The finger pass underneath but on top of and in contact with the base each time one of the 4 images required for a complete set of section images is taken.
The techs were noticing aluminum powder being produced from the similar metal frictional erosion.
The base needs to be shipped back to shore and nylon or other type material inserts be fixed to the base to elevate slightly the fingers and prevent this metal to metal friction from occurring.
Despite this issue the whole round adapter worked without flaw. Adam did clean and lubricate the adapter.
The images ( 4 per section) are downloaded in the Imaging lab and prepared by hand aligning each, and then producing Tiff and Jpg files.
The Whole Round line Scan Composite up loader created to up load these images to Lims simply did not work. The Imaging lab has only Mac but even so the loader could not be made to work even in the hands of a programmer.
The images were prepared as before and given to Application Developer David Fackler for uploading to the data base.
1577 Images of "Quadrants" had to be handled by the Imaging specialist to hand piece together the Whole Round Composite.
I created the system. I made my bed and I will lay in it, however I did under estimate the amount of time needing to do such a task.
Keeping records, I found that when I was fresh, I could assemble one section ( not core) in 5 minutes. After a time this grew to 7 and then to ten. At that point I found myself starring at the keyboard and had to get up or change task.
I did finally make Photoshop "Action" to relieve some of them mundane parts of the process. This helped very much. Never the less the task is painfully repetitive, daunting and boring. My best guess is that I have spent and estimated 42 hours so far and I am not finished as yet.
I feel the process can be automated but this is beyond my scope of knowledge.
As many know we had a medical emergency. During this period of time, I was called in by Dr. Gene to photograph the patience eye using our macro lenses and high resolution cameras. The images were sent to specialist to determine treatment. The photographs were done twice per day for a period of several days.
Also we had the Equator crossing ceremony where 55 were transformed from Pollywog to shellback. I printed their certificates and cards. The parchment paper supplied from Newman Printing in Bryan, worked very well without much adjustment to the printing process.

Shipped to Shore

No items were shipped to shore from the Imaging Specialist.

Image Summary

LSIMG 412 Core Sections
Close-up 379
Micrographs 1661
Thin Section 633 images from 267 thin sections ( at this time)
Still Images 128 Gb (63 Gb Raw)
Video 62 Gb Raw
SEM 23 uploaded

Microscopes

The microscopes were all set up for petrology. All 4 stereoscopes were brought into play and one configured for cross pol but only two were used. The scope requested to be set up for cross pol was never turned on.
There were little problems with the microscopes once the operators understood the camera functions and the microscope controls.
One scope just recently (at the day of this writing) sustained impact damage one of the rotational stages. The stage lock was bent and removal of the stage lock freed the mechanism enough to be used. This stage belongs to an Zeiss Axioplan, which is one of our older microscopes. This is one item we should look at during Serco Services annual microscope service call, which will happen in South Africa upcoming.
One of the new lamp houses needed attention. This is the same issue with the lamp drawer coming unlatched. No repair was necessary and we have plenty of spares.
A member of the science staff on shore contacted me about our phase contrast capability on the ship. Although we have plenty of microscope condensers, which support phase 1,2, and 3, we seriously lack the objectives and the rotational stages to supply components for only 1. What follows is a list of the phase objectives we have on the ship.
1x 100x
1*63x
2*40x
1*20x
2*20x
The new microscope phase condenser is unique to those style of microscopes and we only have one on the ship.
Unlike the older scopes, the newer Zeiss phase condensers do not have an auxiliary condenser lens to be flipped into place to accommodate objectives at the ends of the range of power.
The following is objectives, which would work using the new microscopes and the phase condenser.
20x-ok
10x-ok
5x-ok
2.5x- limited illumination of field of view
50x-not useable ( to my surprise)

X-RAY DIFFRACTION, ICP PREPARATION AND MICROBIOLOGY

Susan Boehm

Summary

A high recovery hard rock expedition with mostly large grain gabbro material. XRD was used mainly to identify material in veins and alterations and "speed method" glycolation was done upon request to identify clay minerals. ICP prep was made difficult and time consuming due to the large sample sizes requested by the scientests. The large shatterbox container was used for the majority of samples as the three smaller ones could not hold one samples worth of material. Scientists found LOI values were lower than expected after CHNS analysis was done on the same powders. Received additional bottles of XRD standard powders and stored in thin section lab.

Total Samples

XRD: 101
ICP: 236

X-ray Diffractometer

A full QAQC at the beginning of the expedition showed no need for adjustment. Subsequent runs of the NIST1976 throughout the expedition also showed no need for any adjustment. Water flow rate from the Haskris began at 6.23 l/min and at the end of the expedition was 6.12 L/min.
X-ray tube conditioning should still be recorded and monitored for any changes.
After starting the freeze dryer the vacuum never reached its target value. After an oil change got rid of some very brown and dirty oil the pump still never reached its target however it maintains enough of a vacuum and gets down to temperature enough to dry out the samples and was only used a couple of times. The ET department suggests completely replacing the pump when it can no longer sufficiently dry samples.
Manually picking out tiny amounts of material from veins and separating colors of material that the scientists wanted was tedious and a better method using the dremmel tool in the core lab was much easier. We used the dremmel (usually used for engraving core liner) to scrape off the desired materials onto a sheet of paper and then put this into a sample bag or a vial if the sample was very small so as to not lose any of it. Even just a tiny dusting of material is enough for the minerals to be identified when using the smear method. The powder from the dremmel was usually dry enough on its own at that point and did not need to go in the freeze dryer, or I would simply set it in the dessicator during my shift.
When certain samples required glycolation it proved sufficient to use the "speed method" where instead of setting the samples in the glycolator in the oven overnight, I put a few drops of ethylene glycol directly onto the sample using a glass rod and once it is evenly soaked up it can be run.
My recommendation for tie up is to inspect the x-ray tube and cooling water hoses and backflush the system to clean it and sonicate and clean the spray nozzle and filter head in the tube housing.

ICP Prep

The sizes of the ICP samples ranged from 2g-114g with the majority of samples being around 60 grams. The large tungsten carbide container was used heavily.
Shatterbox- The containers were not sitting snuggly on the pins in the base so a doubled up layer of the rubber pads/"friction discs" helped a lot. I used the aerosol spray adhesive underneath the sink to stick them in place. I also replaced the rubber pads under the base and on the lid.
One of the hinges on the lid broke off and the shatterbox was unusable for a day. The ET's fixed it. Multiple buttons were becoming disconnected and even falling off with so much use. A piece of tape over the control buttons has been keeping them from falling off.
The three small containers appear to have some very tiny chips around the lids.
The large container has a few scratches but the o-ring is nearly unusable. There is one more spare large o-ring.
Xpress- Worked well but another tie up project recommendation is to replace/refill the hydraulic fluid. It works fine still but it looks like small amounts are leaking. The material was extremely hard and had to be cracked in the xpress often multiple times.
LOI was done with 5grams of powder and set in the muffle furnace at 1025C for 6 hours. We tried 4 hours at first but the LOI values appeared lower than expected so I increased the time to 6 hours but this didn't seem to make a difference. There was minimal flaking and normal discoloration of the quartz crucibles. I can't find the ceramic crucible trays from the old furnace so I just handled each one individually and as an extra measure to prevent them from tipping over I placed upside down alundum crucibles in rows next to the samples and this worked fine to keep them stable in moderate weather. Repeat LOI of 19 samples were done as a check of our method and the duplicates showed values very close to the originals, within the normal error of the balances. It was always advised that we not weigh samples during transit or in rough weather but the scientists did not want take our advice so I increased the counts on the balance. Bead making was duplicated for about 6 samples and the second run was much better so there must have been an issue with weighing the sample into the flux or the beads sticking to produce bad data in the first run.
Mettler Balance- The unknown balance now regularly stops working and displays the error "Program memory defect. Contact Service Technician" at least once a day.
All platinum crucibles were polished at the beginning of the expedition. At first the old crucibles were working as well as the new ones but after a few sets of beads the old crucibles were definitely sticking a lot more.

THIN SECTION LAB

Aaron Mechler

Summary

1. There were a Total of 321 thin sections requests gabbro and mylonite.

special Projects

None

problems encountered

Drain pipe from pm5 polisher to sediment trap had become detached sometime prior. Noticed the problem when there was suddenly a big puddle on the floor. Had the ETs seal it back in place when I could afford to go a day without using the polisher. The drain pipe is fixed back in place and there is no more leaking.
Wg2 polishing head was starting to get stuck and not rotate. ETs took out the gears and cleaned them. That fixed the problem but the wg2 still seemed to rotate a little slower than before. The motor may also need some maintenance and cleaning at this point but overall the wg2 is working fine again.
Took apart lapping jigs and reassembled. Experienced no more sticking with the jigs but found that the face of 2 of them was uneven after reassembling. One of them wasn't uneven by much and I was able to lap the face down to an even surface. The other was much worse and even after many hours lapping was still far from getting to an even surface. I didn't get around to finishing that so it still needs more work to get the face flattened.

Miscellaneous

Routine equipment maintenance and cleaning was done as needed.
I had 4 dreams about thin sections.

ELECTRONIC TECHNICIANS REPORT

Jurie Kotze, Etienne Claassen

Labs

Chem lab

We built a new clean working area in the micro bio lab for the scientist, an aluminum frame was made from T-slot and plexi-class sides and top, the ships air ducting was extended and we installed a Hepa filter to supply high purity air to the enclosure. We used vinyl at the back and sides for clean air confinement in the work space.

Core laB

ASC Thermal specimen Demagnetizer

The Instrument presented with the problem that it will heat up the three heating elements to a certain (different temperatures each time) temperature and just stop heating with the result that it will cool down till the timer runs out and cooling cycle starts.
After some investigation we found that the "Leviton 40amp" switch feeding the heater elements had a burnt contact. We do not have similar spare switches in store and replaced it with a standard 25 amp switch which did not last. Fortunately the Leviton had a spare set of contacts and we paralleled the two sets of contacts and it worked fine so far, we ordered two new switches to be hand carried to Mauritius port call.
Fixing and repair was done on the Agico billet plastic gimbal holders. It did a lot of work and needed some fixing now and then.

NGR

The NGR was given a proper service and cleaning after the failure it had during our previous expedition and emergency repairs that was done at the time. New spares were ordered for a major fix up & overhaul.
The new Sentry 3 Kva UPS and extra battery pack was connected in place and 25A mains receptacle installed by SIEM electrician. It replaces the previous 2,2Kva which was removed and will be send back to C/S as redundant together with 5 other old redundant UPS's as well.
All the NGR electronic boards were removed and cabinets inside were cleaned and blown out properly. Multiple components were replaced after an inspection of every board and all "out of spec" components were replaced with new ones. The boards were cleaned and all suspect dry solder joints were re-worked as well and the damaged board (from previous exp. incident) were properly cleaned, burn spots were re-worked and sealed and all bad components replaced as well on it. Even the just "weathered look" but still working components were replaced as well.
All assembled again and started up. Initial wide band scintillating counts were at 250. It should be anything between 100 and 1000 free running. After a 48hr warm up and stabilizing period it settled at 530 (+/- 10 counts) counts which is perfect.
The 2 new low noise high performance infra-cool fan racks seems to be working great. The inside enclosure stays around 25 Degrees C. We were a bit concerned about the core temperature at the component board surface level and we installed a type JK thermocouple right (on board 758 where the burning happened) between the components with a measuring unit on the outside, the core temperature stays around 40 deg C, this is the recommended temperature by the manufacturer. The core temperature measuring thermocouple unit will stay there for future reference.
The spare "758 equivalent" board received in Freemantle will be send back to Greg Subrayan. The refurbished 758 board is in better working condition than the received spare now.

WRMSL

A plexi-glass window was installed in the wooden cover box front, it's installed over the scintillating counter radioactive source as safety precaution, and this is just for close visual inspection as the core liner moves through the source counter.

Splitter room

The supper saw tripped once, probably the very hard core and it needed a bit slower cutting speed.
The techs complained about the parallel saw, it was cutting the billets to big, and as a result they had to sand the material down to fit in the Agico spinner, we removed the blades and the spacer and measured the width. The cutting width was 20.50 mm. We need it closer to 19.5 mm. Blades was found to be worn down and caused the blades to cut slightly bigger billets,(the space between blades increases as it wears down on the sides) we showed the Techs to apply enough cooling water as the blades build up temperature very quickly with insufficient cooling water. All you need with this hard rock is just a second or two of dry cut to destruct the blade's cutting surface.
New set of blades were installed on the 19^th January 2016.
Two of the Brady's printers were printing with missing letters, we opened them and in both cases the problem was dirty rollers, after cleaning the rollers and they were stripped and cleaned properly inside as well.

Saw modified for 7 inch core we recovered. Cutting core

Close up station image

Close up station strobe light for camera stop working after a loud noise, we looked at it and found that the capacitors leaked over a long period and made the one capacitor to explode, we do not keep these capacitors in stock and it was suggested to send it back for repairs.
The capacitors are a high voltage capacitors that only the manufacturer have, as these are capacitors that is specifically made for this equipment.

X-RAY LAB

The X ray lap prep area had a problem with the shaker, the hinges were shaken loose due to the vibration and all of them had to be removed for repairs, we removed the lid as well and re-tapped the threads, and replaced one of the bolts.
One of the switches also rattled loose by the shacking action, while we had the lid removed we replaced the switch as well.
The buttons on the front panel became undone too and had to be re- installed and one had to be shop manufactured as replacement.

Thin section lab

The multi-headed lapping machine's gearbox became sticky and eventually got stuck. We stripped it and cleaned the shafts and gears and repacked it with lubrication and it was back in service.

Fantail

We opened the electrical panel cover on the winch level winder to set the electrical set point, it had a bit of over and under run error, the set point were of by 1.2 volts, it is was recalibrated and working again , We set the mechanical T-Bar position detector to zero as well.
The cross travel beam was given a good coating of soft grease as well as it was getting pretty corroded. The cross drive worm gear is still well lubricated. Please keep an eye open for this!
A new electrical calibration instruction sheet was written and saved to ET docs and a printed version placed inside the drive space as well. The original instructions are there as well but it is a very long procedure, the new shorter version makes it a lot quicker to get calibrated.

Entertainment

Movie room

The Pioneer amplifier in the movie room got damaged and is stuck in protection mode, this happened during a dance party and we suspect that the amp overheated due to high volume and over temperature, the output transistor bank (14 units) have a couple of power transistors shorted out. This is a pretty common happening with these type of components as they work very hard at these high levels. It needs some extra cooling. Not sure why the fans were removed. We will refit them again.
The amp was removed to be repaired by Pioneer as they use "house numbered" components and not available for self-reparations, it will need a proper factory setup again before it can be put back in service, we suggested the amp be send for repairs at College Station or where the Vendor is situated if they are still prepared to do it. A new one is on order.
We used the amp located in the upper tween workshop and modified it to work with the HDMI projector, and popcorn hour with RCA connectors, it is working but only with the popcorn hour, the DVD at this time is not in use, but is working. It can't be used with this amp as it does not have analogue audio outputs.

Gym

The Schwinn training bike bottom bracket started making a noise, out of experience we know that it means the BB are having problems and have to be replaced.
We ordered two BB's and the tools to remove it, together with the crank remover and the BB socket, it will be in port and have to be replaced.
A new console were ordered for the Schwinn bike and upon installation we noticed that it is the wrong console, we did re-order the console and it will be in port, the wrong console will be send back to the office.

Rigwatch

Draw works encoder were giving wrong data, it was replaced. The counter still had a problems on rigwatch, without drilling the bit depth showed we advanced 560m in 6 hrs, we checked the cables and connectors and the junction box behind the driller console and did not find anything wrong, after some more investigation it was found that the problem was coming from a faulty MRU that makes out part of the data calculation. The MRU will be send back for factory repairs.

GENERAL

Liquid Nitrogen generator

We received complains about the generator causing water dripping water condensate and we planned to install a ventilating fan preventing condensation around cooling water pipes and valve. We ran the machine continuously throughout the expedition and observed the area around it to confirm this, as we suspected it was caused by the adjacent -86C Freezer and it was confirmed that it is the freezer every time the scientists use the freezer for a period of time it would drop enough ice to start puddles which runs around the area but none from the generator itself, so we did not install the fan as it makes no sense if it stays dry. The cooling water shut off valve seems to be in good working order as well as it was suspect for the previous ET's but nothing wrong there as well.

SHILL

The temporary SHILL 2 was installed in port sharing the working surface with the whole round track. The Techs and photographer did the initializing tests and what are planned for it for the near future we are not sure but we think a new set of lights will be brought to ship as the older spare ones we have on the ship has one light source faulty, it has 2 high intensity LED's units dead and a third on its way out on the light strip.

VIT camera cable tension sensor

We had some issues with the VIT camera cable tension sensor. The roughnecks tend to pull on the sensor block's electrical cable instead of the rigging steel cables and causes connections inside the sensor block to get pulled out of the unit's cable connector. We opened the connection box and found water in the connection box, we replace the connection block, four cables were broken off in the connection box, and later we found five cables broken off in the cable connector. We will have to come up with a solution. Maybe some red paint or flags of some sort to catch the attention to prevent this.

Lights

During the transit to the site from Colombo, 18 LED lights was replaced, we remove the old LED lights and replace them with the new LED ones we received in port, we also removed some of the florescent lights and replace them with new LED panels.
Chem lab received and fitted: six 2x2 and five 1x2 lights.
X ray lab: installed four 2x2's.
Thin section: installed three 2x2 lights.
We still have to replace lights in the thin section/x ray prep lab, three 2x2, and six 2x2 and four 1x2, we had to stop as we ran out of time for first core on deck and spaces needed clean up.

UPS

All redundant UPS's standing around in the labs were stripped of their batteries and packed and documented to be shipped back to College Station. One loose battery pack that gave extra capacity to the NGR UPS was kept on the side to be disposed of in port, it cannot be shipped back as it only consists of a tin case filled with batteries which must be disposed of and not shipped back. It does not have an asset no. as it is a consumable item with a year or two's shelf life.
All UPS information was updated in the ET data folder as well as the info for the redundant ones. We still have a spare 1500vA Liebert that serves as a standby and in good working order.
The 6 new Sentry double conversion UPS's are all installed and functioning well, we are waiting for permission to have them on the ships network where all of them can be monitored from a central point with various parameters that can be kept under check and battery maintenance could be done via the network with no interruption to anybody. They all were given commissioning tests and recordings done during Ex360. All normal.
The List of New UPS's are:
52900 3000VA...... NGR
52991 2000VA...... SHMSL/SHILL/GANTRY
52992 2000VA...... SRA (Chem Lab)
52993 1500VA...... PMAG
52907 1000VA...... THERMCON
52908 2000VA...... SEM (Electron Microscope)
Below a screen capture of a UPS Under deep cycle battery test and maintenance.

The normal daily tasks were taken care of in the run, like cleaning and aligning pipe counter LEDS and reflectors, Water sprayer fixing, Tracer pump monitoring etc.

ENGINEERING REPORT

John Van Hyfte

Reentry Systems and Remote Viewing

SubC DVR

The DVR and overlay performed without incident over the 20+ reentries during Exp 360. Only one repeat issue occurred during the reentry phases using the overlay. The depth indicator normally resides on at the upper right position on the display. Refer to figure below.
Depth Indicator
Figure 1. DVR Overlay
During Exp 360, the depth indicator incorrectly displayed "Serial m" instead of the normal depth indication. This was due to a lost input signal from either the Veeder-Root (V-R) roller depth system and/or the Measurement Technologies Northwest (MTNW) tensiometer systems located on the VIT winch. Several remedies were attempted:

1. The DowCOMM data software that feeds the WITS system was restarted as well as having the input (i.e., V-R vs. MTNW input signal) toggled. Neither remedy was successful.
2. MCS Cannon restarted the StarTech serial server in the DP office. This did make a change in the display (see figure below), but the display then froze at 100.6 m depth. A serial server manufactured by BlackBox eventually replaced the StarTech device, however as of the MBR release on 23 Jan 16, the depth indicator is still not updating.

Figure 2. Depth Indicator

VIT / Tensiometer

The Measurement Technology Northwest (MTNW) tensiometer had exhibited several anomalous behaviors during several re-entries at site U1473A.

1. The unit initially output erratic line payout / line speed measurements during the deployment of the VIT frame. After removing the unit following a deployment, opening the electronics junction box (j-box), we found a substantial volume of seawater in the j-box.

Electronics J-boxMulti-pin Signal Connector
Figure 3. Tensiometer J-box and signal connector
It was determined that the main power/signal connector was not secure at the j-box's multi-pin connector, and the terminal strip it contained exhibited moderate corrosion, along with several damaged power/signal wires. The volume of water in the j-box was sufficient enough to short circuit the signal lines. The IODP ET replaced the terminal strip and repaired the wiring, and installed a replacement terminal strip into the j-box. Further, the ET secured the connector onto the j-box connection, and applied Denso tape to the circumference of the j-box.

1. The weight indicator was showing varying output on the display. We tared the unit following the MTNW procedure in the user's manual. Once tared, the tare function was left in the "ON" position. Following this event, the line tension measurement did not exhibit any significant deviation or swing range other than that due to vessel heave. The opinion is to leave the weight indicator tare function in the "ON" position, unless otherwise indicated.
2. The drill crew were also observed pulling on the cable during setup of the tensiometer. The Toolpusher informed the drill crew in a colorful manner that pulling on the cable is not desired. A more permanent strain gauge method shall be implemented (i.e., cable ties, mechanical strain relief, etc.).

VIT Telemetry Pod Laptop

I have submitted a requisition for IT to replace the field laptop notebook that currently is being stored in the subsea shack. MCS Cannon has requested a Dell ruggedized notebook for delivery to the ship during tie up in Cape Town. My recommendation is to store the replacement unit in the IODP ET shop and issued out by the IODP ET's when required for VIT testing.

VIT FAILURE

During the VIT deployment on 18 Dec 15 at approximately 1500 local, the VIT video system shut down unexpectedly. We recovered the VIT system, and after a short troubleshooting session, consisting of a power cycle, connector inspection, and water ingress inspection, we replaced the telemetry pod with the spare unit, incurring about two hours of downtime. During the restart of the spare unit, we observed a moderate wait for the video subsystem with the VIT on the deck. We theorized that we did not allow sufficient time during the first power cycle action to allow the video server to restart, and we exchanged the telemetry pods back to the original units. Given sufficient power cycling time, the video system is back on line and functioning nominally through twenty-one reentries.

HD Camera Focus Issues

The HD camera continually lost focus during VIT deployment. The operations manual for the camera states focus is a programmable function that is addressable. As both cameras are on a planned upgrade path, this might be a way to alleviate the problem in the future.

DHML

TPFit Executable revision change on dhml computer

Dean Ferrell sent a new version of the TPFit application executable to the ship, which has now been installed onto the DHML desktop computer (Asset Number RF 52698). I tested the new executable using sample data and compared to the previously installed version, and appears to be functioning correctly.

Rig instrumentation System (RIS)

rigwatch / Rig instrumentation System (RIS)

Drawworks Encoder - Early in the expedition, the Dynapar drawworks encoder began to incorrectly displaying block height. The spare encoder was installed, and appeared to be functioning correctly. However, after further trouble, we (IODP ET Claassen and I) determined the discrepancy was being caused by incorrect measurements from the Kongsberg motion reference unit (MRU, serial number 578) located in the subsea shack. The MRU signals are used in the calculation of block height in the RIS. The Dynapar encoder has been packed and readied for shipment for the manufacturer to ensure it is within calibration
Motion Reference Unit (MRU) – Testing of the MRU data versus the DP units showed inconsistencies. After testing unit 578, it was determined that factory recalibration is necessary. The unit has been packaged and readied for shipment.
.
Several side notes in reference to the Kongsberg MRU units:

1. The other spare MRU (Serial number 578) currently stored in Siem ET shop was not able to connect to the diagnostic and set up software (MRC) from Kongsberg.
2. The latest version of the software was sent to the ship from the manufacturer and installed on the notebook computer being stored in the Subsea shack. This new software was not able to communicate with S/N 503 MRU, however, S/N 578 did successfully connect with the software.
3. Kongsberg user manuals for these MRU systems recommend a 2-year calibration cycle.
4. A new communication cable has been ordered from Kongsberg for use with MRU S/N 503

Engineering Office – The Engineering RigWatch system (while in remote mode) is not displaying the correct pipe counter, while the Ops Master system is displaying the current correct pipe count during bit tripping.

Downhole Tooling

Hydraulic Release Tool (HRT) operations

HRT assembly and testing procedure was developed, reviewed and released for drilling and core tech crew. The HRT release body was assembled on 12 Dec 15 and extensive photos of each section were taken for inclusion into the procedure.
Some possible improvements that were noted:

1. Use of the NC-70 threaded ends as the alignment mechanism for the internal latch components, including shifting sleeve and latch dogs.
2. Or, alternatively, improved alignment or registration marks on the body to ensure quick, proper alignment of the shifting sleeve during assembly.
3. Modify Rock skirt design to accommodate the bulls-eye target integration.
4. As of 1500 12 Dec 15, the HRT body is ready for service, overall assembly time was between 1.5-2 hr.
5. CT Wayne stated the HRT seal flange was a tight fit to install, and suggested a bevel on the rubber seal body. The free seal distance (i.e., the distance between the edge of the seal flange and the ID of the casing is to be verified. We may need to extend the overall OD of the seal support flange components (OJ5212 and -13), to allow for a smaller exposed seal surface, design a double seal design (i.e., labyrinth seal), or move to a packer-type seal. UPDATE: We need to look at a better sealing method between the lower casing pup joint and the latch body. We observed a cutting plume during the initial hole spudding once the release body was close to the sea floor (see images).
6. Open finned guide ID (OJ5205) by 0.004" to make install easier
7. Finished tool and drill string assembly approx. 0230 local 18Dec15, pipe tripped and the hole was spudded at 0545 local.
8. Make sure in the procedure to specify the poly packs need to be inserted in opposite directions with the seal facing outwards. The lower seal in the initial deployment was installed backwards, allowing water to be pumped into the latch dog area.
9. Make sure that all small threaded fasteners (i.e., plugs, set screws, etc.) are tightened with thread lock compound.
10. A review of the bolts included with the Freefall funnel needs to be made. The supplied bolts delivered were about an inch short. The field fix was to substitute the bolts with longer bolts and welding the funnel together.
11. A weld bead indicator line for the location of the funnel head would make for easier assembly.
12. The bullseye level was lost due to angular rotation while starting the hole. Need to revise the method of securing the level to the rock skirt frame, possibly with a wraparound frame. Alternatively, the use of threadlock compound and locking fasteners might alleviate the problem.
13. DP Callie suggested the use of a directional indicator on the rock skirt frame to assist direction finding when standing off during POOH operations. A positive outcome from losing the bullseye indicator was the shape of the support frame. Seen in the figure below, this remaining support frame provided the DP operators good directional references when moving off station during POOH ops.

Bullseye Support Frame
Figure 4. Directional Assist Referential Indicator

1. Free fall funnel deployed at 2115 18Dec15. VIT deployed immediately after to verify successful landing of the funnel. Funnel landing verified at approximately 2145. Go-Devil deployed after a slight delay going through top drive BOP system. Pumps were started and BHA and funnel verified released approximately 2200 local.
2. Engineering has initiated revisions to the HRT to accommodate the traditional mud reentry systems.

Mechanical Bit Release (MBR)

Prior to logging U1473, the drill string was pulled out of the hole, the ship was offset, and the bit sub was jettisoned using a mechanical bit release (MBR) unit. Following concluding the logging operations, the drilling crew recovered the drill string and discovered that the sleeve retainer (IODP part number OL1134) was missing from the recovered MBR assembly, and the lock bolt (IODP part number OD6798) had been sheared on both ends (see Figure 5 below).
Top Connector (OL1130)Lock Bolt (OD6798)
Figure 5. Sheared lock bolt (OD6798) head and MBR body
After analyzing the HD video captured during the release, we developed the theory that the lock bolt might have been over torqued during assembly when assembled during the previous expedition. During the forty-hour drilling interval prior to the release, the bolt head experienced a ductile fracture, and the threaded "pin" portion of the bolt experienced a shear failure. These failures allowed the sleeve retainer to loosen and ultimately release into the hole during the logging operation. See video captures below in Figure 6.

Bit Disconnect (OL1191)Lock Bolt (OD6798) headTop Connector (OL1130)
Bit Disconnect (OL1191)Lock Bolt (OD6798) headTop Connector (OL1130)
Figure 6. Video Capture Series showing fractured Lock Bolt head
Follow up action due to this event is to develop a torques specification and possible material change on the lock bolt to minimize recurrence.

Miscellaneous Issues

Engineering Drawing Controls

1. Improvements to storing drawings on server resources shall be implemented. HRT project drawings were not available on the JR and had to be requested from the beach.
2. Alternatively, a "standard" set of drawings should be developed to ensure better visualization of the assembly and deployment of the tools used in the future. The set might include;
   • Overall 1:1 assembled view and cross-sectional stack-up views, including all BHA components
   • Full-color views of the tools and BHA
   • Inclusion of all drillstring components (e.g., mud motors, under reamers, etc.)
   • Models of current accessory components (i.e., fishing tools, various bit subs, etc.) shall be made to ensure timely drillstring updates can be made on the ship.

Core tech Solid Model Review

I discussed the use of the SolidWorks modeling package for all mechanical drawings at the IODP office with CT Wayne and Mark. Their ability pull dimensions and print selectable views were a concern. We have recommended the installation of e-Drawings 2016 on the CT computer to allow the CT's the ability to get dimensions on IODP solid models. Copy of the current e-Drawings 2016 installation package has been saved on the MCS software repository should Siem approve the installation on the CT computer.

PUBLICATIONS SPECIALIST

Alyssa Stephens

Summary

My duties included figure creation, collection of publication materials from the scientists, and generating the visual core descriptions (VCDs). I also ran stores for Expedition 360, and wrote the weekly captions for all Expedition 360 friends and family galleries.
I generated VCDs for two sites (179-1105A, and 360-U1473A). Development of a final VCD template and lithology pattern template by the scientists for the expedition proved to be difficult. Retroactive changes to the template and core descriptions took place multiple times and required total replotting of all VCDs multiple times with the latest major change taking place two weeks before the end of the expedition. At the time of writing this (1/21/16) the template seems to be finalized.
I also generated core recovery figures, hole summary figures, geochemistry and microbiology figures, and provided these to the scientists electronically via the server.
I collected publication materials for both site chapters, as well as the PR/Summary and Methods chapters; I also created a draft of the VCD legend figure for the Methods chapter. Site chapters have been submitted in a timely manner.
When I had free time, I assisted on the catwalk, with splitting and labeling rocks, entering personal samples into Sample Master, and bagging personal samples for the scientists.

Equipment & Software Performance Summary

Software used: Strater 4, Acrobat, Illustrator CS6, Excel, DESC, L2E, LIMS Reports, LimSpeak, Word, Groupwise, FontCreator. For the most part, these programs all performed flawlessly.
However, I did have trouble with DESCLogik towards the end of the expedition. I will go into this further in the next section (Database, Entries, and Data Upload or Download).
The Mac mini computer is a bit slow to work with. I did not find it to be a deterrent from using it, but it was sluggish. This poor performance was reported by Jean on Expedition 360, and I believe it is a valid point.

Database, entries, and data upload or download related

L2E was used to export depth, section, core scale, title, core images, samples, some analysis data, and core composites photos. I experienced no problems with the performance of the L2E software.
DESC export was used for all core descriptive data; at first, there were no problems with the performance of the software. However, toward the last couple weeks of the expedition (as of writing this section at 1/21/16), as the DESC worksheets have more and more data within, I have had trouble performing the download and export of the data. Sometimes, it would take multiple tries to get "all tabs" to populate with data. Sometimes, it simply would not work at all. At these times, I was forced to download sheet by sheet, which did not always work. It was an ok fix, but is not optimal. It was then suggested I try to download the data at only a third or so of the total depth, that way I would get a third of the data at a time, but even this did not result in any data populating. (Apparently this was because DESC 13.0 did not actually get the specified depth, but was still attempting to recover the entire depth.) I believe it is mostly due to the fact that the petrologists are describing at many tiny intervals, and adding a huge amount of data for each interval. Therefore, there is a huge data set in each tab. The templates also have the entirety of the hole data, since we have been drilling the same hole all this time. Again, this was not a problem at all in the first five weeks or so, but has become a problem as more and more data is added to the workbooks.
As of 1/23/16, David was able to fix and deploy DESC 14.0, which did allow for downloading data for only a specified depth. This has been an excellent fix to the problem, and I am now using version 14.0 to get only the last data described that I need. This allows for a consistently working and much faster download.
Lims Reports export was used for some analysis data and there were no problems with the performance of the software.
Please see suggestions below regarding suggested improvements to the software that would increase efficiency and accuracy in VCD production.

Volume Materials

Chapters were collected as they were finished and I kept track of all material using the tracking logs for text, tables, and figures. I have already received most of the Methods and 1105 chapters. As we will be drilling U1473A until we begin transit (which is three days), I anticipate receiving most of that chapter during those last few days. This will be fine, as most everything else is already logged. I also expect the PR to arrive sometime during this transit.
In the beginning, I updated the VCDs once per day, printed hard copies of the VCDs, and provided the scientists with two copies – one on the core deck and one in the Staff Scientist's office. At the request from the scientists, VCDs were updated once per day at the beginning of the shift, a PDF was placed on the DATA 1 server for review, and I removed the binder from the Staff Scientist office. Peter and the co-chiefs preferred this method of delivery to save paper.
Changes to the lithology description process occurred multiple times requiring a total replot of all VCDS, hole summaries, and associated figures each time. The last major change in the core description language took place at the beginning of the last two weeks of the expedition. This change affected all VCDs, hole summaries, and chapter figures produced since the start of the expedition and they all had to be reproduced using the new terminology. In addition, many manual changes to the VCDs were requested from the scientists. Manual changes applied previously were lost in the replot. With the latest replot of VCDs, it will be impossible to apply manual changes before the end of the expedition. These will have to be applied on shore.

General Duties Performed

• Exported data using L2E, DESClogik, and Lims Reports; reviewed data for accuracy; plotted data using Strater software version 4; produced PDFs of the VCDs and hole summaries; and distributed PDFs to the scientists for review.
• Worked with the scientists to ensure accurate data display in the VCDs. Corrected/modified VCDs, Strater schemes, templates, and Methods legend figure as needed.
• Collected, organized, and tracked all publication volume materials including text, figures, and tables in hard copy and electronic files.
• Assisted scientists with figure creation and in the use of the Adobe Illustrator software.
• Provided administrative support to scientists and technical staff as needed, including providing supplies and assisting with travel arrangements.
• Distributed and collected necessary expedition paperwork - IODP communication policy, lab safety certification, photo image release, manuscript and copyright forms, cabin repairs, personal safety equipment, and shipboard network access.
• Worked with the Radio Operator to ensure the science party and technical staff had appropriate documents for arrival in Mauritius and that the information was accurate.
• Ensured that all scientific personnel and technical staff signed the customs declaration forms.
• Arranged movie nights for all
• Assisted with multiple party preparation and activities
• Arranged birthday celebrations for scientists and technicians
• Ran the T-shirt contest
• Ran IODP stores
• Wrote all weekly web photo gallery captions
• Helped in the core lab as specified earlier (splitting, sampling, etc.)

Additional duties

• Assisted on the catwalk as time allowed.
• Communicated with shore staff regularly to provide updates.
• Restocked Publication supply cabinet as needed, and provide science party with supplies per request.

Suggestions

It would be a tremendous benefit to the Publication Specialist if the DESClogik data export included additional depth columns. One depth column should provide the midpoint of the depth interval so that the option exists to plot data in Strater by a specific depth. Currently, only the interval is exported and if we need to plot by a specific depth we have to run an external macro to produce this column of data. The more the data is manipulated outside of the database, the greater the chances for error.
The other depth columns could show CCSF data. (For instance, in site 1105 I had to use CCSF data instead of CSFA. This required me to do the daily DESC download, then go into each tab and run a LOOKUP function in Excel. It was quite time consuming.)
It would also be helpful if DESC entries could ignore capitalization. The Strater software is case sensitive with regards to plotting keywords in the scheme. Sometimes when the scientists type entries into DESC, the caps lock key is engaged and creates an entry with capitals. If the capitalized version is not in the Strater scheme, the data will not plot. I spent a lot of time reviewing the data looking for capitalized entries (and there were some). If DESC could ignore capitalization, it would save time and increase accuracy in the VCD plots.
It would be extremely helpful if the track data could be flagged True or False like the core images are flagged and the data download should be able to exclude any False data (like L2E can exclude False core images). The scientists on this expedition rescanned cores multiple times and all versions of the data were downloaded and plotted on the VCDs. The only way to remove the extraneous data was to manually delete the "bad" data.

SYSTEM MANAGERS REPORT

Mike Cannon and Steven Thomas

Servers (Microsoft):

• We upgraded Avtech Device Manager on Erebus to version 6.3.3. This update adds the ability to directly monitor and control the light tower connected to the Room Alert appliance in the MCS state room.
• We updated Acronis Backup 11.5 on MaunaLoa and Spurr to build 43994. This update improves memory usage by using more efficient deduplication methods as well as many other improvements and bug fixes.
• After updating we noticed we had problems accessing the Acronis management server. We started a support case with Acronis support, case# 02633400. After a remote support session Acronis fixed the problem by clearing the AMS database and repairing faulty registry entries. After completing the procedure we can now access the management console. As a side note, even though we could not log in, our backup scripts still executed as scheduled so we did not lose backup protection.
• When downhole logging started we received a complaint from the driller that Schlumberger winch data was not updating in RigWatch. After we confirmed that Kerry had started the data collection software on his computer we checked RigWatch Master. SLB winch encoder data is read from WITS Device 1 in device config. It should be set to COM6 - Remote 6 to receive data from the computer in the telemetry office. The WITS Device 1 was set correctly. We then "blipped" the setting changing it to a different com port, saving the device config, then changing WITS Device 1 back to COM6 - Remote 6 and saving device config again. After this RigWatch Master began receiving SLB winch encoder data.

Servers (Linux):

• We updated the iPrint appliance with SP3. It should now support Windows 10 and OS X El Capitan.
• AFP continued to crash randomly, causing disruptions in file services for Mac users. We started a service request with Novell and, after sending some log files and a support config to Novell support, they provided us with an AFP patch to apply. We applied the patch and we have not observed any further crashes with AFP.
• We have built a new network services (DHCP and DNS) server platform. This was done in anticipation of the future decommissioning of our current network services platform running on our aging Solaris cluster. The new server is built upon the Novell OES platform and will allow easier management of these services through a GUI-based management console. This server is not in active service at this time and is in standby mode. It will be implemented at the next tie-up.
• We built two (2) new Linux virtual servers called Matterhorn and El Capitan and configured them with tomcat 7 for IODP web applications. These servers will be taking over web service processing from the three physical servers (Rainier, Shasta and Ararat) currently running those services.
• We have made progress setting up an RPM repository on the OEM virtual server but we continue to have problems completing the setup procedure. We were able to fix the previous issues preventing us from even starting the setup procedure but we are experiencing problems downloading certain RPM packages which causes the entire procedure to fail. We have initiated a support case with Oracle, SR# 3-11996317211 to troubleshoot this problem but they have been unable to offer a viable solution. We have requested the oncoming MCS personnel for expedition 361 to bring a replication on our on-shore RPM repository. We believe if we can copy a valid repository from the shore OEM system we can bypass the issues caused by our current inability to download the RPM packages over our limited internet connection.

• We had one instance where the webmail service became unresponsive. After attempting to log in users would receive an error: "[9520] Server memory is too low. New login requests are not allowed. Please contact your System Administrator." The server appeared to have plenty of available memory upon examining the virtual machine statistics in vSphere. After consulting with Cesar we restarted tomcat on the webmail server. Although tomcat restarted fine webmail was still inaccessible. We ultimately ended up restarting the server and restored operation.

Servers (Solaris):

• No issues or changes to report.

Servers (VMware):

• We installed additional memory and riser cards in all three nodes (Vesuvius, Tambora and Kilauea) of our vSphere cluster. This is in anticipation of an expanded virtual environment on board the JR and will also allow a more redundant configuration in the future.
• We attempted to install additional network cards in the vSphere cluster. After receiving the network cards in question we realized that we had received the incorrect cards from Hewlett Packard. We are working with our vendor to get the correct cards sent to the ship and we are returning the incorrect cards to shore.
• The ESXi servers where patched to the latest revision from VMware, version 5.5.0 Build 3142196.

EVA4000 SAN:

• No issues or changes to report.

3PAR SAN:

• No issues or changes to report.

Network:

• We updated NetSight suite and the NAC appliance to version 6.3.0.168. This allows support of Windows 10 and OS X El Capitan operating systems.
• Due to complaints from previous expeditions regarding poor performance copying files from the file servers over Wi-Fi, we conducted several speed tests comparing file copy via Ethernet vs Wi-Fi. The results concluded that Wi-Fi performance is mostly as we expected. It is much slower than a hard wire connection but our calculations indicate the download speeds are consistent with the current Wi-Fi technologies we leverage. Improvements, however, can be realized by future infrastructure upgrades.

PC Workstations:

• Installed PC52500 and renamed it to SHIL2. It was assigned IP address 165.91.72.120. Port 72 (ge.2.24) on the core deck was set to VLAN 10.
• Strater 4 was installed on the logging workstations in the logging office.
• The tensionometer data overlay on the SubC DVR computer has been a constant problem this expedition. While we did have an issue with the serial server involved in providing the tensionometer data stream to the DVR computer (See Other Equipment section below) the problems persisted even after we replaced that unit. The overlay just doesn't update the data like it should. We feel this may be caused by software issues either with the DOWComm software running on the RigWatch master server or with the SubC software on the DVR. The DOWComm software does exhibit problems receiving data from the tensionometer after the VIT frame is first switched on. When it is switched on the DOWComm software does not show tensionometer data in the VIT Overlay 2 tab. You must close and open DOWComm to restore this function. However, once this is working the data is not updating on the DVR overlay with any consistency. We have engaged the Engineering group with this particular problem as the DOWComm software is LabView based and was created by them.

MAC Workstations:

• We setup two 30" monitors for the co-chief scientists to use with their laptops.
• Our Mac computers running Yosemite exhibit an issue where the NAC agent service suffers an instability issue and becomes non-responsive. This can cause the agent to stop responding to the NAC appliance which can cause the NAC appliance to quarantine the end-system. We have initiated a support case with Extreme Networks, GTAC Case# 01180382, to find and correct the cause of this issue. This support case is ongoing as of this moment. To prevent users from experiencing this issue we have temporarily bypassed the NAC agent requirement on the affected computers.

Printers:

• Zebra printers have had some issues with print gradually shifting on the labels over time or while printing many labels at once. Mostly this is due to label rolls that are sticky. We believe some label rolls have possibly gotten too hot during shipment or storage and because of this the adhesive "flows" out from the labels and collects on the backing paper around the labels. You can feel this if you run your thumb down the front of the labels. If you thumb "catches" or "sticks" on the backing paper between the labels, then those labels are exhibiting the issue. When those labels run through the printer the sticky portions of the backing paper stick to the paper path inside the printer and pull the labels out of calibration. You can also see evidence of this because the paper path in the printer will have adhesive residue on it. If you encounter this the only known fix is to find a new roll of labels that is not exhibiting the condition described above. You must also clean the adhesive residue from the paper path as much as possible.
• The Sharp copier exhibited a F1-15 trouble code during this expedition. This code indicates an error with a finisher/paper output tray lift operation. We reset the copier and the error cleared. It appears to be a simple glitch but we will monitor for further errors. If the error continues to occur the copier may require service. That said, at this time the error has not returned.

Satellite/Internet/Phones:

• The new DACs were installed and they mostly work pretty well. We can still remotely access them via the serial servers like the previous DACs. The Ethernet port are connected to the cisco switch and are addressed for RigNet's network so they can remotely access the units.
• We did have ongoing communication issues with the DACs and the PCUs on the pedestals. It seems the inactive DAC would lose communication with the PCU and the only way to correct the condition would be to power cycle the affected pedestal and the DAC. RigNet is assisting us in troubleshooting this condition at the time of writing this document. They believe there might be an incompatibility between the DAC and PCU when using satellite reference mode. This is the mode that allows the modems to put the antennas into search mode if they lose receive lock, even if AGCs on the DACs read high. An example of this condition would be when we encounter sun interference. Before sat. reference the antennas would continue to track the sun after it had passed the space vehicle instead of reacquiring the space vehicle. To test for this incompatibilty we have turned off sat. reference and disconnected the DB15 cable from the Alarms port on the modem. RigNet is monitoring the DACs and we will take the next step after this monitoring period.
• Mid-December RigNet asked us to complete a shift of our upstream carrier to a new frequency. This move was required by the owner of the space vehicle, Intelsat, to coincide with a similar shift with our downstream carrier during expedition 359. We changed the Codan transceiver TX frequency to 6362. We retuned the modem TX frequency to 70.1485. We then adjusted power levels to tune our TX power to contacted levels. We set the Codan transceiver TX attenuation to 7db on the bow system. The aft system was set to 9db. We set the modem TX power to -13db. RigNet checked the spectrum and agreed this was the optimal setting while still maintaining contracted output.

Other Equipment/Projects:

• We have deleted the JR Logging Tech email account. Instead this is now a distribution list that will copy all relevant parties on any traffic sent to jr_loggingtech@ship.iodp.tamu.edu. We feel this is a cleaner solution giving individuals another email account to keep up with.
• We noticed an issue with the light tower in the MCS office. During a maintenance period for the aux. cooler in the data center the light tower activated but only the light illuminated. There was almost no sound from the light tower. It would occasionally emit a small barely-audible peep. We contacted Avtech for their assistance. They requested we swap LTA's to see if that fixed the issue but it did not. Ultimately they said it would have to be replaced and it was out of warranty. We removed the light tower and changed it out with the light tower in the MCS state room. When we connected the bad light tower to the state room unit the light tower audio began functioning and has ever since. We left this tower in the state room.
• We added a switch to shut off the light tower in the MCS state room. This would be for a situation where the off duty MCS is awakened by the tower, they can easily silence it so others are not disturbed by it while they investigate the ongoing alert. The switch is above the test switch and it a simple latching toggle, on/off. We added labels for both the LT on/off switch as well as the test switch.
• We updated the Room Alert appliance firmware in the MCS state room to version 2.0.0. This added functionality to monitor and control the light tower directly from the appliance web console among other improvements.
• The Startech serial server attached to the SubC DVR computer would consistently become unresponsive requiring a power cycle to restore operation. This box provides tensionometer data for the DVR's video overlay. We removed this device from service and installed a Black Box serial server in its place. The Black Box unit is more stable than the Startech unit

SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS TECH REPORT

David Fackler, Rui Wang

Overview

This document highlights changes to the JOIDES Resolution laboratory data management environment during Expedition 360.
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 360 the developers actively participated in development of a Web Service rebuilding. Developers upgraded the Thin Section Report Builder.

Curation and Core Handling

SampleMaster

No change. Operating at release 10.0
SampleMaster 10.2 was briefly released during the first week of Exp 360. Threw exceptions during browsing of samples and entry of pieces for Leg 179 material. Rolled back to 10 and stayed. Copy in AD\DEPLOY appears to have been a pre-release evaluation copy and not the later code that was checked in. SampleMaster 10.4 has been available on shore since Dec 23. Check with Curators. Likely candidate for release during port-call.
Depth recalculation is changed.

• The web-service depth-services is retired. SampleMaster still calls it, but the error is silently ignored.

• Rather than compute depths twice, they are now computed once [from SampleMaster via the resteasy-lims-webservice recalculateDepths web-service call]. The sample table fields are then copied from their newer counterparts via a database trigger LIMS.TRG_X_SCA_DEPTH_UPDATE.

On commit of section catwalk and/or curated lengths

• core recovery and curated length are updated;
• hole recovery, curated length, and cumulative hole penetration are updated

by the database trigger LIMS.MAINTAIN_ORIG_LEN. Core and hole length maintenance code in SampleMaster is superseded by the activity of the database trigger. Recent SampleMaster releases have been revised to peg the external libraries used—without this book-keeping detail rebuild from release is effectively broken.
chem ICP. A new sample format was introduced for chemistry. Use of Code 39 to encode the text ID was overrunning small label edges. The same occurred with long sample names. Applied text field line wrapping for sample name and description. Altered the font so characters would be half their normal width. Revise the barcode to be datamatrix. Can now encode more info, in less space, and the barcode scanner can decode it more quickly.
Outstanding issues.

• Edit tab functionality for core parameters. Edits look like they are being accepted, but do not display after upload. Verified by switching to the View tab and back again to edit.
• Recommendation for future curation of junk basket material—have drilling operations enter a ghost core. Then hang all junk basket entries off that core. Under current curatorial convention—hanging junk basket material off the hole—the material is not visible in the SampleMaster hierarchy browser CORE list. But should be.
• SampleMaster calls an old depth recomputation scheme. Stop doing that.
• SampleMaster has internal calls to update lengths for CORE and HOLE when section catwalk, curated lengths change. These may be removed. They are superseded by a database trigger.

Geology

DESCLogik

No change. Operating with release 13.2 since Exp 359.
DescLogik release 14 is under evaluation in the last week of the expedition by DescLogik admins and the publications specialist, but it is not distributed for general laboratory use. Release 14 is recommended to accompany the next release of resteasy-desclogik-services. This call is left to the on-coming developers. Will assist during port-call.
Release 14 incorporates these changes.

• The operator specified sample and offsets are now honored for both single-tab and all-tabs downloads. Previous version only honored the sample top and bottom depths ignoring any further restrictions on interval.
• For Piece List columns. Now only the whole piece data is retrieved, not the splits. Minor efficiency improvement time the number of pieces looked up.

Depth management changes noted for SampleMaster also affect DescLogik. The depth triggers now in place prevent depth variances between the sample and x_sample_depth tables that led to multiple occurrences of failure to re-retrieve data that was just uploaded.
Release 14 is intended to be distributed with resteasy-desclogik-services 6. The getDescData service was revised for greater efficiency of operation when some types of template and tab based queries are conducted. The combined products are only being vetted for the remaining few days of the expedition and then rolled back.
This expedition has the dubious first distinction to be the first in which so much DescLogik data has been captured that it cannot be reliably downloaded all in one batch. Monitoring software shows that all ~400 MiB of data are returned by Oracle in 3-7 min, but follow-up processing for display of the data fails to complete, leaving the DescLogik spreadsheet blank. To complete daily export tasks Publications and DESC Admins must export data content in smaller segments of the hole. The exact cutoff is not known at this time, but so far up to 600 meters worth of data are reliably retrievable with all-hole, all-tabs filters in place.
Outstanding request. Request that additional depth columns be added to DescLogik for the display of an alternate depth scale. In particular it was desired to display

Virtual core composite GENERATION (aka Virtual Photo Table)

No change. Operating with release 3.0.0.0 since tie-up 349P.
Expedition 360 re-observed and re-described material from Leg 118 and Leg 179. Composites are only generated for the primary Expedition. Work-around. Run the utility from the development environment. Specify the expedition for which line scan images are to be composited.

Stratigraphic Correlation

[ SCORS Data File Download

• When running a batch of 3 cores worth of images likely to receive ORA-12519, TNS:no appropriate service handler found
  • Was able to overwhelm the web-services in production this way.
  • Will have to look at Fiddler ODA record and traffic to see if the same was achieved against newer hardware.
• Relax file naming specs. Allow dash or underscore as separator. The system is already agnostic about letter casing.
• 360 Imaging Composite Processor will not upload unless 3 or 4 quartiles are available. To use the product early in the expedition, had to cancel content from SHILc before we could proceed with upload. Recommend the software be revised to honor the x_display flag as an indicator of which set of images is to be uploaded.
• A revision to the LSIMG display flag editor in LIME to also support the WRLS images would be very helpful.
• The WRIMG utility cannot reliably be run on a 32-bit copy of Firefox. It will crash after the first two upload sets. Noted with Firefox 37 and 41. Was able to upload repeatedly and successfully on Macintosh system with Firefox 37 and 43. Was able to upload repeatedly and successfully on PC systems with 64-bit copies of Firefox 41 and 43.

Geophysics

Whole core systems

Whole-round logger (WRMSL), Special task logger (STMSL)

No change. Operating at MSL software release 6 since Exp 355.
Outstanding request. Retain the graphs of the last measurements until the next run is actually started. The marker of previous work is important for data quality review. The long data is displayed, the more likely someone will catch an error condition, if present.

Natural gamma Radiation (NGR)

No change. Operating with release 4 since Exp 353P.
Outstanding request. Triggering the barcode scanner before Sample Entry has been selected leads to a dialog box that has all the correct information, but jumbled to the wrong fields. This results in data files that will not upload. Correcting the metadata of 32 files takes 15-30 minutes and is error-prone.

Split core systems

Section half image logger (SHIL)

No change. Running IMS 8.4 with Schneider MDrive motors since Exp 359.

Three instrument hosts are discussed here. They will be identified as follows

• SHILa [RF52591]—Cold spare instrument host for the image logger track. Brought into service on Jan 18 for testing purposes and then retained.

• SHILb [RF52515]—Instrument host in-service for line-scan and whole round surface scanning. Taken out of service on Jan 18.

• SHILc—Also known as WRIL. Image logger intended for whole round surface scanning. Abandoned in-place due to lighting quality and no alternate spares. Much effort put in by several technical staff in to make this function.

Images from SHILc are available in LIMS for review. The content was temporarily canceled while uploading composites from the first material cored. Images from SHILc are distinguishable by the red tape at 0 cm on the core barrel; and by the blank region (black) left and right of the image.
Throughout the expedition SHILb and SHILa have been experiencing intermittent LabVIEW crashes.

• The same software crashes in the same way on two identical but distinct sets of hardware.
• The crashes happen roughly once in 24 runs.
• The crash is most often an exception violation.
• The crashes are independent of external programs like MUT, Photoshop and Bridge. The track was run for extended periods without these programs in memory.
• Three types of crash behavior have been observed for both LSIMG and WRLS runs. The crashes occur after a run has been setup and initiated by Take a Picture.
  • Lights turn on. Motion begins. Motion halts, some lights go off. LabVIEW crash dialog appears.
  • Lights turn on. Motion begins. Image grab begins. Imager makes it all the way to the end of the track. Saves the image set. Stops. Lights do not turn off. No motion towards home. LabVIEW crash dialog eventually appears.
  • Lights turn on partially. Motion begins and continues. But image grab never picks up any frames. Then the motion stops at end of core. The LabVIEW crash dialog is displayed.
• The crashes are more often associated with WRLS scanning.
• The crashes are most often associated with transition from LSIMG scanning to WRLS scanning of the next material. Typically dying within the first 3 scans (0, 90, 180)

The LabVIEW Desktop Execution Trace Toolkit was applied to gather more information about the timing and activity of LabVIEW at the time of the crash. These files are stored in r:\ad\support\360 Atlantis Massif\SHIL.
Software change notes.

• SHILa, SHILb, SHILc all had multiple copies of IMS Common. All copies outside of c:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2014\user.lib\IMS Common were removed to avoid any chance of product crosslinking.
• All three machines were upgraded to LabVIEW 2014 14.0.1f3. This was one of the tests for SHILa, SHILb seeing if any of the patches LabVIEW released addressed our particular LabVIEW crashing failure.
• SHIL software on SHILa, SHILb are identical. SHILa installation was copied from SHILb. The MDrive motion control drivers had to be re-installed on SHILa. Instrument host SHILa's original configuration dated back to July of 2015—before MDrive was retained permanently.
• SHILa device aliases were re-applied. They were removed in the process of updating and activating LabVIEW 14.0.1f3. These are configured via NI-MAX.
  • PCIe-8430 serial hydra RS-232 ports 1-3 were aliased respectively as LINE_LIGHT_1, 2, 3.
  • RS-485 devices corresponding the USB shim for the Schneider MDrive is aliased as X-AXIS.
• SHILa was configured with the Desktop Execution Trace Toolkit. It provides detailed information about LabVIEW calls, memory allocation, etc. for a run-time system. Helpful for narrowing down root causes for rare, difficult to repeat software failures.
• SHILc software is different than the other two boxes. Software from this box cannot be run successfully on the SHILa, SHILb nor vice versa. Though the differences are small, the effect is the same. SHILc is different software and slightly different hardware configuration.
• SHILc software was further modified during initial ramp-up and testing to
  • incorporate changes supporting the upload of WRLS image metadata and content to LIMS
  • the crop window, the image grab window were re-sized to fit the smaller monitor at this station
  • the sample information dialog was modified to default to WRLS capture configuration.

Other outstanding issues, not addressed at this time.

• When running multiple tracks providing the same datasets, it is useful to be able to provide an internal name on each system that is carried as metadata into LIMS and stored in the TEST.INSTRUMENT field. Work-around. Manually set this value in the database after upload. Prefer that it be coded properly in the upload file. When multiples of the same instrument are generating data—operators of reporting systems need a way to distinguish which is which—readily.
• The content output to the MUT upload file for WRLS should be modified so that the display flags get set for the current images in this workflow.
• When choosing material from the TEST-UTESTC hole as the scan information. The program will complete LSIMG runs, but will fail to save them, resulting in the IMS Error Dialog. Appears to be a parsing error related to an effort to locally organize files for operator convenience.

• The outputs from a WRLS scan contain data that is no longer intended for upload [by MUT] to the WRLS analysis in LIMS. The data to no longer be used should either be removed, or moved to the do not upload <RAW> section of the output file.

• Newly generated labels for leg 179 material led to malformed text IDs in the resulting output files. A step in the Sample Information label parser fails in such a way as to throw off the remainder of the sample identification process. Work-around. Use the LIMS browser tab to pull material.
• The homing behavior of SHILc is not as reliable as that for SHILa, SHILb. It fails to conduct the startup initialization that sets the effective MDrive home position so that it actually matches with the home switch. See this document https://sites.google.com/a/scientific-ocean-drilling.org/developer-page/applications/labview/image-logger-shil/shil-limit-switch-configurations.
• Attempting to Home any of the tracks from the IMS Motion control menu option fails with an error message.
• SHILc motion control utility does not display distance positions as it is moving. SHILa, b do.
• The behavior of Motion > Utility > Initialize system is different for SHILc than for SHILa, b.
• The SHILc system did no cropping of the image buffer to specified length of material.
• The SHILc full length image buffers caused Bridge | Adobe Photoshop crashes on the photographer Mac. Not repeatable anywhere else. Follow-up to ensure this system can handle an image from the SHILc as its encoding and size seem to be causing usage issues.

Sonic velocity (GANTRY)

Changed. Operating with release 5 since 359.
A toggle switch was added to the Gantry caliper data capture screen. On repeat measurements

• Keep the calipers closed and re-measure.
• Open the calipers and re-measure.

The release is built as an executable from the BuildJR box. Code is checked into trunk and tagged as release 5 of the Gantry product in the JRLV Subversion repository.
Additional changes are in progress toward a release 6—toward addressing these outstanding issues.That error is pegged on branch ^/velocity/branches/df-revise-caliper-seq-x3-toward-rel-6.
Outstanding issues. The kinds of errors indicate the software workflow is a poor fit to how operators actually want to conduct the experiments.

• The number of dialogs required to set sample information, type, and experiment metadata like axis is so onerous, operators sometimes prefer to get to the experiment screen, just open and close the calipers, measure and save sample, and take really good log notes.
• Data cleanup is onerous for axis changes. Renaming a component from e.g. x to y or y to z is not supported in LIME.

Reflectance and susceptibility (SHMSL)

No change. Operating at release IMS 8.4 SHMSL since Exp. 354.
The laser profile is acquired at much higher resolution than is actually written to the data upload file. The science party requests that the unaveraged data be applied to the output file. The data is very useful for filtering other datasets in the physical properties lab.

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.
Repeat issue with TK04 vendor software. Each thermal conductivity run results in a set of files. The entire run is supposed to be named with a common root sample. This is not consistently to the individual file sets occurring, which causes the data upload of Thermcon contentdownstream causing the uploads to fail.The results of a run under some circumstances are not written out in a way that we can repeatably More detail in the Physical Properties report.Continued to have issues at the start of the expedition with result set naming. Some combination of activities at the user interface during operation of the measuring system causes sample identification of fil

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.
Conducted a round of cleanup on multiple sets of sphere standards for the pycnometer. Retained only one set of the standards. Moved all measurements to the appropriate cell. The retained records have text IDs like SPHERE_10(1) – (7).
Outstanding issues.

• MAD validation. Assigning beaker zero works, but the number will not display for the row in the MadMax table, until the first measurement is run. Works, but initially disconcerting. For hardrock, no container assignment is made via SampleMaster. The association is made in MadMax as above.
• MAD will crash when accepting a weight value on MBIO samples every time. The values are recorded. It does not crash when accepting volume measurements. Occurred with 4 SPCM samples. Screen shot of error was captured. Also checking program logs.

Paleomagnetics

JR6A SPINNER MAGNETOMETER

No change. Operating with AMSPIN unchanged since Exp 335.
The magnetometer and acquisition software were unchanged, but the MUT data upload process changed for this instrument. Though not in use generally in the lab, MUT 13.2 is required to conduct the specialized LIMS upload process in use in this lab.

Superconducting magnetometer (SRM section)

No change. Operating with release 318 since Apr 2011.
Observed issue. Do not open the Configure Instrument Panel. It hangs the system, and writes zeros to the instrument.ini configuration file. Configuration file must be restored from backup.

Geochemistry

ICP Analyzer

No change. Operating Coulometer with release 2 since Exp 349.
Outstanding issue.

• Software is not subtracting the signal for the BLANK analysis from the signal for an unknown—as documented in p 35 of the manual.
• The last applied drift correction is wildly negative. Implies that software is applying an incorrect factor.
• Request that calibration plots include dashed 95% confidence lines bracketing the existing calibration lines.

Gas bottle monitoring

No change. Operating with release 1 since Exp 359.
Outstanding issue. Chemists request a larger font for the pressure read-outs—to enable it to be visible across the room. Work-around is to modify the CSS on-the-fly or ctrl-zoom.
Applied Wireshark to capture traffic between the pressure capture device (DI-718B-E) and the Dev desktop computer. No further analysis has been conducted.

Development Tools and Frameworks

SQL Developer

Changed. Operating with version 4.1.2.20.64 since Expedition 360.
Repairs serious bug. When cancelling a failed data import, SQLDeveloper would rollback the changes and drop the table being modified. No longer an issue.

Other

Data Loaders

MegaUploadaTron5001 (MUT)

No change. Operating with release 12 and 13.2 since 359.
Due to issues observed with MUT at the SHIL, release 13.2 of MUT is only distributed to the JR6A and SHIL instrument hosts. All other stations have settled on release 12 until we further vet MUT.
Outstanding issues.

• The PMAG participant had no real desire to apply the MUT uploader at JR6A. They had their own processing software and procedures. Cross-reference the PMAG report.
• On the SHIL, when MUT transitions from uploading LSIMG to loading WRLS images, auto-upload stops working at all or self disables.
• For WRLS images MUT should set the x_display flag for the latest image per quarter.
• For WRLS, MUT should pull the timestamp in the filename and apply that as the TEST.DATE_STARTED time.
• It is desirable for MUT to process files in the order received. Do not introduce randomization in orderly processes unless it is required. The randomization makes it harder to troubleshoot quality control issues. When used appropriately timestamps aid this process. But since MUT ignores timestamps the data tends to jumbled in a not readily useful way.
• MUT 13.2 is not stable. When there is a backlog of 4 images, MUT will frequently die in the midst of processing the 3^rd or 4^th image. This observation is with respect SHIL. MUT was maintained on limited distribution.
• Every time MUT is installed, we lose the station configuration. Station configuration should be permanent across versions of MUT.

Reporting

LORE

Changed. Operating at release 13 since Exp 360.
Many changes. For the most part small and miscellaneous.

• Remove the download tab filter from Hole Summary, Hole Summary List, Core Summary, Section Summary, Carbonates, ICPAES, Gas Elements, Interstitial Water, Core Type Summary. The download table capability is turned on for these reports when the View button is pressed. It is inappropriate to have the feature turned on when the report is selected—there is no data to operate on, and that default behavior attempts to launch the java download. All of these reports enable direct and very immediate CSV file download.
• Added a Thin Section Report that at a glance lists billets, and whether or not a thin section has been made from it. Revised it a second time because the first implementation included changes that broke affine-splice alternate depth scale usage.
• Remove dependency on resteasy-reports. This allowed the resteasy-report content to be retired.
• Repaired a SQL defect that prevented these curatorial reports from running: personal, shipboard, mixed, and unclassified. The reports broke because Janus data was migrated without the leading operator code (1105 rather than U1105).
• Expedition and site lists are sorted in descending order. A convenience for the shipboard order of processing material. The same change affects LIME, Image QAQC, and instrument host consumers of the sample hierarchy browser data feed.
• A revised expanded WRLS report was created. The order of the content on the report made it unusable for quality control checks on WRLS images. The original report is retained. Marked with HOLDORIG as the NAV_APPLICATION.

Thin Section Report Builder

Changed. Operating at release ? since Exp 360.

• Fix a bug that showing up the confirm box after clicking the stop edit button every time, even there is no changes.
• Added a public function clearDMElementArray in Definition manager, call it before createNewReport

This fix the "report is not valid" when creating new report problem.

• Increased item list width on row edit.

Made double click working on row edit.

• Narrow the report list width.
• Rename un-release button to activate.
• Rename un-lock button to open.
• Change the color of cancel version button to light yellow.
• Change the color of cancel report button to red.
• -On FIELD EDIT panel, hide Field name (not for display) field.-On TEXT EDIT panel, hide TEXT name (not for display) field.-On COLUMN EDIT panel, hide Column name (not for display) field.

Thin Section Report Writer

Changed. Added more spaces in the footer string between report information and "Page of X of Y".

WebTabular reports

No change. Operating with Release 7 since Exp 355.
The WTR report drillers report is still used by the Operations Manager, OIM, and photographer.

LIMS Reports

Changed. This report set is retired. Superseded by LIMS Reports III aka LORE. Removed UWQ.war and resteasy-reports.war from production servers.

Libraries

IODPUtils
Changed. Drop servers that are not used from the web servers lists. Bump the library version so no interaction with previous distributions can occur.
LIMS.NET
Changed. Revised GetSamplesBetween service to only obtain whole round PCs when that sample type is specified. Code survey indicates DescLogik is the only consumer of this service. Removed an unused code file (Settings.cs) generated by clicking in the wrong part of a Visual Studio GUI.

Web Services

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

Auther: No change. Operating with Version 1.1 since Expedition 349.
ChangePassword: No change.
OVERVIEW: No change.
UWQ: Retired.
WRIMG: No change. New as of Exp 359.
WTR: No change. Attempted to retire. Still in use.
depth-services: Retired. Expunged on production servers. Remains available in AD/DEPLOY.
resteasy-auther: No change.
resteasy-desclogik-services: Changed. Release 6 under evaluation.
resteasy-drillreport: No change.
resteasy-error-reporting: No change.
resteasy-lime: Changed. Release 3. Expedition and site lists sort in descending order by numeric portion.
resteasy-lims-sync. No change.
resteasy-lims-webservices. No change.
resteasy-lore. Changed. Release 10. Subsumes getExpBySite from resteasy-reports. Adds a Thin Section Report. Repaired query-related bug that caused several curator reports to crash when the site was numeric (e.g. 1105 rather than U1105).
resteasy-monitor. No change.
resteasy-printer. No change.
resteasy-qaqc. No change.
resteasy-reportdef. Changed. Release 6. Revised to make local references to other services. Changed dependencies log4j, resteasy-5. Removes nuisance yap about HTTP GET usage.
resteasy-reports. Retired. Expunged on production servers. Remains available in AD/DEPLOY.
resteasy-reqmgmt. No change.
resteasy-scors. No change.
sampling-services. No change.

Solaris Tomcat Server

Sites. No change.
labnotebookWebDav. No change.
resteasy-asman. See description of change above. Operating at release resteasy-asman-4-PJR-20151017085744-dev since Exp 359. Removed on all SUSE nodes. Service can only be used on the system providing the file backing store: the Solaris cluster.
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.

Developer Resources

Office Space

No change.

Desktops

No change.

Servers

Load Balancing. Rainier is configured to be in the load balancer, but it is by default disabled. Ararat and Shasta carried the entire laboratory data load. Issues only observed when conducting mass 360 composite uploads, or when conducting 3 or more all-hole, all-tab DescLogik downloads.
SHIPT. A ship test environment has been setup over several expeditions. The current ship test environment consists of

• Oracle Data Appliance (ODA).
  • Data from 353, 355, 356, 359, 360 and Janus samples have been loaded on the system. In terms of data queries and data modifications, this system is much faster and more efficient than the production system.
• Olympus 165.91.150.123.
  • A virtual OES SUSE Linux node running Tomcat over a file system with 1 TiB of disk space attached.
  • ASMAN and normal LIMS services have been run end-to-end through this server. A large number of WRLSC image pairs were uploaded to exercise this system.
  • An expedition's worth of LSIMGs was load via MUT through this server.change in Java version. OES was updated to new version during last tie-up.

New production Tomcats. Two virtual servers have been spun up. They are intended to replace Ararat and Rainier. If the next expedition desires, these systems may be put into service immediately. To use these servers with the load balancer, their addresses must be added to that configuration.

• Matterhorn.
• ElCapitan.

BuildJR. Changed. Updated these software packages.

• Java 8u66 JDK
• SQLDeveloper 4.1.2.20.64
• Adobe Flash Player 20.0.0.286
• Microsoft Silverlight 5.1.41212.0
• Adobe Air 13.0.0.83
• Fiddler 4.6.2.0
• Notepad++ 6.8.8
• Mozilla Firefox 43.0.3
• Novell iPrint Client 06.02.00
• LabVIEW 14.0.1f3 patches and driver updates
• Novell GroupWise 14.0.2.120664
• Microsoft Visual C++ distributables for 2008, 2012, 2013 x86, x64 products
• Adobe Reader XI 11.0.08
• WinSCP 5.7.5
• 7-Zip 15.07
• Nexus repository manager 2.11.4-01
• VisualSVN 3.4.2 was updated prior to Thanksgiving. The shipboard copy was revised to run as the DEV user to avoid file permission issues that were preventing logins and checkins.

Environment configurations. Change these server platforms to meet your production, development, and testing needs.

• The BuildJR Tomcat is configured with trunk builds of web-services and applications. These address the production environment (PJR).
• Matterhorn and ElCapitan presently contain web-services and applications built to address the ODA server. This configuration may be scrapped. The boxes are production ready. Snapshot the WAR files from Ararat or Shasta to make these production ready against the existing Solaris database server.
• Olympus. Is configured with trunk builds of web-services and applications. These address the ODA system.
• Olympus carries a tasapps distribution directory. Access it via WinSCP and the directory /opt/tomcat/webapps/ROOT/tasapps. The content there is specifically targeted for use against the SHIPT environment (with the ODA database).
• BuildJR carries a tasapps distribution directory. Test applications targeted to the production environment may be distributed there.
• The Nexus repository manager is configured to proxy the shore repositories necessary for old web-service and new web-service and application builds.
• ODA. The Oracle data appliance carries complete sets of data from several expeditions. It is a great convenience and relief to be able to test some of the more complex issues we see in a completely separate and independent environment. Even a PITALOG instance is present there for new web-services use.

Database modifications.
These changes were applied to the test environment, and later on to the production environment.

• The way depths are handled has been modified. The management of inputs related to depth computation is completed separated from the activities of depth computation. The older depth computation scheme is retired (depth-services + activity from set_sample_depth). Only one depth computation set is run and when stored in x_sample_depth, they are immediately copied over to the sample.x_sca_depth_top, bot fields.
  • Removed LIMS.SET_SAMPLE_DEPTH, LIMS.set_x_curr_len.
  • Removed LIMS.FNC_COMPUTE_DEPTH
  • Removed triggers LIMS.trg_depth_change_ai, LIMS.trg_depth_change_aifer, LIMS.trg_depth_change_before.
  • Removed package LIMS.depth_state_pkg.
  • Added trigger LIMS.maintain_orig_len. Maintains x_orig_len, x_length for COREs based on change to section inputs. Maintains x_orig_len, x_length, x_advancement for HOLEs based on change to core inputs.
  • Added procedurs LIMS.CORE_maint and LIMS.HOLE_maint which implement the rules for maintaining core and hole sample table lengths. No longer maintaining x_curr_len for these sample types.
• Unused column indexes have been remove in all environments.
  • drop index lims.sample_customer45;
  • drop index lims.sample_parentaliq;
  • drop index lims.sample_charge_c591;
  • drop index lims.sample_product6772;
  • drop index lims.sample_project13866;
• Removed these convenience triggers. Current syntax obviates the need for them
  • drop procedure lims.disable_result_triggers;
  • drop procedure lims.disable_test_triggers;
  • drop procedure lims.disable_sample_triggers;
  • drop procedure lims.enable_result_triggers;
  • drop procedure lims.enable_test_triggers;
  • drop procedure lims.enable_sample_triggers;

AD/DEPLOY. The directory structure here is flattened somewhat. Where there are WAR distributions no sub-directories are needed. The distribution scripts have been modified to accompany the change. WAR files must carry at least a version number to distinguish them in the directory.

CHEMISTRY LAB

Erik Moortgat
Hard-rock Expedition (samples analyzed)

(Sun 24Jan2016)
LIMS: repeated attempts were made to get the final results from the scientists but the only data received so far is the coulometer, not including PFMD/PFT. All raw data files are on DATA1.

Ampulator

The ampoule sealer was not used.

Balances

No issues to report for the Cahn & Mettler balances.

Carver Presses

The Carver presses were not used.

Cary Spectrophotometer

The Cary Spectrophotometer was not used.

CHNS

Total nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen and sulphur were measured on the EA. Approximately 50 mg of sample was used (large tin capsule) for analysis. Vanadium pentoxide was added to each sample as a sulphur catalyst.
A BYPASS was run between samples to eliminate any 'carry-over' issues and the run-time was set to 1000 seconds to guarantee good peak separation.
Gabbro MRG was used as the calibration standard, with checks throughout, with additional sulfanilamide checks. Every chromatogram was manually integrated and concentrations calculated offline using peak area counts.

Coulometer

The lamp was replaced (low Cell Set-up values).

Freeze-drier

The vacuum pump oil was changed.

Fume hoods

The fan for hood F3 (clean/HF hood) became inoperable. Parts are on order. The hood can be used as long as no reagents requiring a negative pressure situation are being used.

Gas Lines/manifold

The gas bottle monitoring software was quite a bit more stable this time around with only the occasional crash.

GC3/NGA1

The GCs were not used.

Hydrogen generators

No issues with the hydrogen generators.

IC

The unit's pumps were started weekly to keep everything hydrated. There were no issues to report.

ICP

The following standards were used for calibrations:
BAS206 (basalt) : used as a check
BCR-2 (basalt) : used as a calibrator and drift
BHVO-2 (basalt) : used as a calibrator and drift
DTS-1 (dunite) : good for nickel
BIR-1 (basalt)
JB-2 (basalt)
JG-2 (granite)
JGB-1 (gabbro)
JP-1 (peridotite) : used as an check
MRG-1 (gabbro) : used as an check
blank : 400 mg flux bead
The standards calibrations and checks worked very well.
It was observed that the tube for the air knife appeared to be quite worn so the complete assembly was replaced. During removal it was noticed that the glass assembly for the purge path was chipped where it butts against the air knife. A new glass assembly and air knife assembly was ordered. The welder's glass for the torch chamber also became cracked and a new one was ordered.
A 15% (actual) nitric rinse solution was used, aspirated for three minutes between samples.
Due to various issues, we had to run sequences longer than probably recommended for hard rock. This led to many re-runs due to partial sequence completions because of what appeared to be sample blockage. See the profiles below. The purplish profiles are the first drift and the greenish profiles are the last drift, in the same sequence.
first drift last drift

Note: more elements were analyzed but are not shown in this Salsa window (V, Y, Zn, Zr)
The assumption was made that the nebulizer was becoming clogged due to sample matrix. We had to thus limit our sequences to about twelve samples and were getting two to three sequences per nebulizer. Teledyne-Leeman was contacted and they recommended a different nebulizer for these type of analyses. It is known for being much more robust for applications that clog other nebulizers. This is the Hildebrand grid nebulizer (p/n 120-3028).

Microbiology

Microbiology sampling was focused on exploring evidence for life in the lower crust and hydrated mantle. Focus was on exploring evidence of life using culture-based approaches, molecular analyses and enzyme assays. Efforts were taken to sample only the interior of the cores. Whole round samples (on average 15-20 cm long) were sampled immediately after the sections were taken from the catwalk. Efforts were also taken to sample only the interior of the whole rounds.
All samples were divided into sub-samples for shore-based cell counts, molecular biology (DNA, RNA and lipid extraction), thin section analysis, SEM and Raman analyses, stable isotope (¿¹³C) and shipboard initiation of fungal and prokaryotic enrichment cultures, shipboard measurement of total inorganic carbon and total carbon, ATP and shipboard initiation of enzyme assays.

PFMD

Perfluoromethyldecalin (PFMD) was run as a contamination tracer. Samples were taken in triplicate from four locations on the cores that were drilled with the PFMD tracer in the drilling water. These were (1) the actual drilling water, (2) any small rubble bits located in a single spot in the liner (preferably the core catcher), (3) from the exterior of the MBIO whole-round sample taken from the splitting room and (4) from the inside of the MBIO whole-round sample after it was broken up.
Note : The MBIO whole round was rinsed four times with sterile water, sprayed with 75-95% ethanol, wiped with Kimwipes, sprayed one final time with ethanol and left to air dry for ~ five minutes. Samples (3) and (4) were taken after these steps.
PFMD method : 21dec2015_PFMD

• incubation : 15 min @ 70 °C
• syringe : 2.5 mL @ 70 °C, 2500 µL injection volume, 25 mm penetration, 100 µL/s injection/fill speed
• column : plot Al₂O₃, constant flow
• inlet : 200 °C, 32 psi, splitless
• oven : 50 °C/6 min, ramp @ 15 °C/min to 200 °C, hold for 30 min
• ECD : 200 °C, 20 mL/min nitrogen
• PFMD peak @ ~ 25.5 to 27 minutes (peak shifted during the Exp)

calibration

Calibration: concentration = (5.011e-6*PFMD peak area) – 0.01084 w/ r² = 0.9956

PFT

PFT method : 21jan2016_PFT

• incubation : 15 min @ 70 °C
• syringe : 2.5 mL @ 70 °C, 2500 µL injection volume, 25 mm penetration, 100 µL/s injection/fill speed
• column : plot Al₂O₃, constant flow
• inlet : 200 °C, 45 psi, splitless
• oven : 50 °C/4 min, ramp @ 30 °C/min to 200 °C, hold for 6 min
• ECD : 200 °C, 20 mL/min nitrogen
• PFT peak @ 8.5 minutes

Calibration: concentration = (0.02079*PFT peak area) – 71.85 w/ r² = 0.999
LIMS upload protocol was discussed with Applications Developers but no final protocol was given. I suggested making the analysis "TRACER" with a component "PFMD or PFT" and another the concentration with a comment field.

Sampling

A sterile environment was built specially for the microbiological sampling protocol. A positive pressure chamber was constructed out of Plexiglas and plastic vinyl sheets and had a Hepa air filter connected in the inlet air supply.




Hepa filter w/ connection (bucket) to air flow

salinity

The optical refractometer was not used.

SRA

The SRA was not used.

Pipettors

No issues to report with any of the pipettors.

titrations

alkalinity

The alkalinity titrator was not used.

Chloride

The chloride titrator was used to measure the chlorinity of a Scientist's reagent.

Water system

The RO pre-filter, carbon filter, the nanopure diamond pack and both final filters were changed. The RO outlet valve was also changed due to consistent leaking.

Misc

Almost all of the overhead lights in the lab were changed with the microbio section awaiting until the next maintenance period. Looks great.

Geochemists

Kyungo Cho Department of Environmental Exploration EngineeringPukyong National University, Korea
Jakub Ciazela Institute of GeologyAdam Mickiewicz University, Poland
Mark A. Kendrick Research School of Earth SciencesThe Australian National University, Australia

Microbiologists

Virginia P. EdgcombDepartment of Geology and GeophysicsWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA
Jason B. SylvanDepartment of OceanographyTexas A&M University, USA

WIRELINE LOGGING & DOWNHOLE TOOLS

Zenon R. P. Mateo

Summary

Two logging phases was scheduled for this single-hole expedition: one after cementing the upper 220 m and the second is for the remainder of the 1,500 m target depth. However, because of the pressing need to reach total depth in order for succeeding expeditions to reach the Mohorovicic Discontinuity, the first phase was cancelled.
In terms of instruments, a pair of ultrasonic borehole imagers (UBI) were received for this expedition. Being a hardrock leg, the APCT-3 was obviously not usable.
Wireline logging was conducted between January 23 to 25 with the following tools deployed:

1. Triple combo (MSS/HRLA/HLDS/HNGS/EDTC/LEHMT)
2. FMS/DSI/HNGS/EDTC/LEHMT
3. UBI+centralizers/GPIT/HNGS/EDTC/LEHMT

Freshwater was used to displace the borehole in order to provide a lower resistivity contrast between the fluid and the formation. For the triple combo main pass, a splice was made around 1506.5 mbrf due to power loss.
At the beginning of this expedition, log plots were nonetheless created, printed and posted for 118-735B, 176-735B and 179-1105A downhole logging data in order to facilitate discussion with the logging scientists that included Donna Blackman, Benoit Ildefonse, Natsue Abe, Jeremy Dean and Cris Macleod; Kerry Swain is the Schlumberger Engineer for this expedition.

ISSUES AND SUGGESTIONS

1. Legacy and site survey data download

In the current ship webpage, a prominent button to download logging data is apparently linked to a local database (http://brg.ship.iodp.tamu.edu/) that does not exist anymore. Due to the ship's slow and low-capacity internet connection, it is not possible to download data from the shore-based BRG database. It is therefore useful to (re-)establish this local database to benefit future expeditions where legacy data is an important reference or baseline for analysis or logging operation. The same is true for site survey data such as seismic profiles and bathymetric data that should be easily accessed from the ship.
During this expedition, the work around has been to request Lamont-BRG to send specific files to the Yellowstone server in the ship.

Data Backups

data files for the Expedition 360 were copied to: \\JR1\DATA\data1\27.1 Logging and also at S:\Uservol\Logging

UNDERWAY GEOPHYSICS LAB

Roy Davis

Summary

The magnetometer was on the transits to and from Site 1473 deployed during Expedition 360. Bathymetric data were collected on all transits. All geophysical instruments and equipment ran well during the expedition.

Data Summary

Expedition 360 consisted of 3 transits (4899 nm) and 1 site.
Transits: Colmobo to U1473 (L1T ≈ 2817 nm)
U1473 to Medivac (L2T ≈658 nm)
Medivac to U1473 (L2T≈662 nm)
U1473to Port Louis (L3T ≈ 770 nm)

Site: U1473 A

Event data points were gathered every 60 seconds when underway and every 10 minutes when on-site.

Equipment Performance Summary

WinFrog

WinFrog2 was used entirely for primary navigation acquisition. There were no problems encountered. WinFrog1 was available as a backup.

Trimble GPS

The aft/forward Trimble GPSs were the primary GPSs used for the duration of the expedition. No problems were encountered. A Trimble GPS unit was available as a backup.

WinFrog

WinFrog2 was used entirely for primary navigation acquisition. There were no problems encountered. WinFrog1 was available as a backup.

Bathy 2010

No problems were encountered during the expedition. WinFrog2 was used as primary host during expedition.

Magnetometer

The magnetometer was deployed during the expedition.

G Guns

Not deployed

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

Roy Davis

Summary

Bathymetry and navigation data were routinely collected throughout the expedition.

Special Projects

The gain was adjusted on levelwind on Maggie winch.

Problems Encountered

None

Miscellaneous

Performed routine checks and maintenance to air manifolds and regulators as needed.

PHOTOS

Science Party

IODP Staff

Ship's Staff

Catering Crew

Expedition 360 Group Photo

Expedition 360 TECH Photo