U.S. Cruise Report For Bie Ii Cruise 1 July 17 - August 23, 1991 R/V Yuzhmorgeologiya

Our primary goals on this Benthic Impact Experiment (BIE) cruise included the following: 1) Selection of a suitable experimental site based on bottom photographs and side-scan sonar records previously collected by our Soviet colleagues; 2) Collection of baseline (pre-disturbance) samples for macrof aunal, meiofaunal, microbiological and nodule-fauna studies (5-8 box core and 5-8 multicore samples); 3) Deployment of a sediment-trap array within the study area following analyses of current data from the current meters deployed on the previous cruise; 4) creation of a large-scale (circa 2 km diameter) redeposition event by towing the Deep Sea Sediment Resuspension System (DSSRS) through a sediment-trap array for approximately 16 days; 5) Resedimentation mapping using the sediment-trap data (using sediment mass and Th-234 and Th-228 inventories), as well as thorium and x-ray analyses of multicore samples collected shortly after towing. Sea Grant No. NA89AA-D-SG063