The campaign is part of a wider oceanography research programme led by the experts Robert Ballard - renowned for discovering the remains of the Titanic - and Katherine Croff Bell, and will focus on the detailed study of the geology and marine ecosystems of the Mediterranean basin, using an array of advanced tools including two remotely-operated vehicles. The ROVs Argus and Hercules are designed to operate at depths of up to 6,000 and 4,000 metres, respectively, and carry cameras and a range of data collection and sampling instruments.
Exploring the depths of the Mediterranean
The Nautilus set sail from Alicante on 29 September and will take researchers to deepwater areas that have never been studied with remotely-operated vehicles. Professor Miquel Canals explains: “In the first phase, we will study the area known as the Mazarrón Escarpment, between the coast of Murcia and the Balearic Islands, which reaches depths of over 2,000 metres.”
“Another region we will work in is the eastern Alboran Sea, which is the area comprising the Cabo de Gata point, the Almeria Canyon, the close-lying submarine mountains and the deep depressions to the north of Alboran. Specifically, we will look at the principal channel for dense water flow from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, which is a strait located between the island of Alboran and a line of submarine mountains to the north, whose depth ranges between 300 and 2,400 metres.” In this area, the ROVs will be submerged to study the topography of the Almeria Canyon and the Carboneras Fault Zone, which is the most tectonically active area in the Iberian system. The fault, which extends inland, belongs to a highly dynamic system of fractures which can be related to the most recent earthquakes in Murcia.
The Nautilus campaign is supported by the University of Barcelona, the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC), the Argo Maris Foundation and the University of Girona.
The Mediterranean: a violent geological history
The relief of the Nautilus NA016-Leg study area is highly irregular, combining submarine mountains and scarps with drops of up to 2,000 metres. As professor Canals explains, “The relief of the sea floor in this area is the result of a highly complex geological evolution, linked to the very existence of what we now know as the western Mediterranean. It is also linked to the large Azores-Gibraltar fracture zone, forming a very active geodynamic system of great interest to scientists and with a direct impact on society, as this type of system can generate earthquakes, tsunamis and so on.” Canals also explains: “The region forms part of the geodynamic system created by the first tsunami in Europe, the famous Lisbon earthquake of 1755, which caused catastrophic damage.”
The findings of the Nautilus campaign, which will end on 8 October in Malaga, will be integrated into one of the wider existing research areas of the UBʼs Marine Geosciences Research Group, which during the summer carried out the PROMARES oceanographic campaign to study the submarine valleys of Catalonia. More recently, the group has carried out a habitat mapping project in the protected marine area of the Columbretes Islands, in collaboration with the UBʼs Department of Ecology and with the invaluable support of the Argo Maris Foundation.
Nautilus Live: follow the progress of the oceanography campaign in real time
The Nautilus NA016-Leg 1 can be tracked in real time at the Nautilus Live portal (
www.nautiluslive.org), an initiative launched by Rhode Island University and National Geographic to bring the daily research activities of the
Nautilus crew to the international public.
The campaign is supported by a range of prestigious organizations such as National Geographic, the Ocean Exploration Trust and the Inner Space Center (directed by the expert Dwight Coleman) at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography, Narragansett (United States).
