Geo Bremen South Atlantic 1997 - Cruise No. M38 - January 25 - April 14, 1997 - Las Palmas (Spain) - Las Palmas (Spain) (English)

With two legs the German Research Vessel METEOR performed its 38th cruise from 25 January to 14 April, 1997 in the South Atlantic Ocean. The cruise started and ended at Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain. Between the legs the harbor of Recife, Brasil, was visited. The expedition continued the long-term geoscientific project Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB) 261 at Bremen University, which is aimed at reconstructing the mass budget and current systems of the South Atlantic during the late Quaternary. Main objectives were the recovery of sample material from the water column and the sea floor for micropaleontological, geochemical, and isotope analyses, the exchange of moorings with current meters and sediment traps at selected positions, and the study of sedimentary structures using geoacustic methods. This cruise report includes a summary of the research objectives, cruise narratives and first preliminary results together with extended tables on all stations occupied during the two legs of the expeditions. The cruise was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Science Foundation).