Thus, the French-side of the international Intraplate Project (called ‘‘VIP’’: for
the initials of Volcanism Intra-Plaque) was headed by Jean-Louis Cheminée.
Jean-Louis, whom I had known for years and with whom I had previously worked
on the FAMOUS project, was very enthusiastic. He was an internationally
renowned volcanologist and was responsible for the volcanological observatory at
the Institut de Physique du Globe (IPG) in Paris. He was used to working in the
field, and had started his career working on the volcanoes of the Afar region in
Ethiopia, however he was also familiar with many oceanic islands. We had
become friends during the FAMOUS diving project and had kept in touch ever
since.
Most of the field exploration necessary for the hotspot project was carried
out using German research vessels, however, three French sea-going expeditions
were also involved. The N.O. JEAN CHARCOT worked in 1986 (when three days
were assigned to the project because the ship was in the area for another reason).
The N.O. LE SUROIT and the diving saucer Cyana were used in 1989 to explore
the Society Hotspot. The French exploration of the Society hotspot continued ten
years later in 1999, with the submersible Nautile and the N.O. L’Atalante. In
addition, during the same cruise with the Nautile and N.O L’Atalante in 1999,
some exploration of the Pitcairn hotspot also took place.
German institutions are well equipped to carry out long periods of oceanographic exploration. They have several outstanding vessels such as the POLARSTERN, an icebreaker, which is equipped to undertake expeditions in the Arctic
and Antarctic regions. The F.S. METEOR is also a comfortable and well-equipped
ocean-going vessel that does most of its work in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. It was named after the first German research vessel,
also called METEOR, which had an outstanding record of scientific data gathering
during the beginning of the Nineteenth century when numerous physical oceanography and sedimentary studies were carried out and gave us important results
that were later published by Georg Wüst and other German scientists. However,
the F.S. SONNE (meaning ‘‘the Sun’’ in English) was the vessel that we used the
most frequently during our project dedicated to Intraplate Volcanism (VIP) in the
Pacific.
I have participated on more than 10 ocean going expeditions on the German
Research Vessels F.S. SONNE and F.S. METEOR. Our VIP cooperation started
with SONNE’s leg 47 in 1987, which was aimed at exploring the Society hotspot
and the Austral volcanic chain, a line of volcanic islands and seamounts extending
for a length of more than 1000 km and a width 500 km between latitude 18°S and
Longitude 140°W. Our bi-national cooperation continued with eight other legs on
the F.S. SONNE, extending exploration to the Pitcairn island area, Easter Island
and the South Pacific-Antarctic spreading ridge segments. This fruitful FrancoGerman collaboration brought us to visit and explore uncharted areas of the Pacific
Ocean and contributed to enhance the study of intraplate volcanism. The project
helped make students more aware of the importance of hotspot volcanism, and
increased our understanding of the volcanic processes taking place within individual oceanic plates, which had once been thought to be rigid and passive. The
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9 Hotspots
the initials of Volcanism Intra-Plaque) was headed by Jean-Louis Cheminée.
Jean-Louis, whom I had known for years and with whom I had previously worked
on the FAMOUS project, was very enthusiastic. He was an internationally
renowned volcanologist and was responsible for the volcanological observatory at
the Institut de Physique du Globe (IPG) in Paris. He was used to working in the
field, and had started his career working on the volcanoes of the Afar region in
Ethiopia, however he was also familiar with many oceanic islands. We had
become friends during the FAMOUS diving project and had kept in touch ever
since.
Most of the field exploration necessary for the hotspot project was carried
out using German research vessels, however, three French sea-going expeditions
were also involved. The N.O. JEAN CHARCOT worked in 1986 (when three days
were assigned to the project because the ship was in the area for another reason).
The N.O. LE SUROIT and the diving saucer Cyana were used in 1989 to explore
the Society Hotspot. The French exploration of the Society hotspot continued ten
years later in 1999, with the submersible Nautile and the N.O. L’Atalante. In
addition, during the same cruise with the Nautile and N.O L’Atalante in 1999,
some exploration of the Pitcairn hotspot also took place.
German institutions are well equipped to carry out long periods of oceanographic exploration. They have several outstanding vessels such as the POLARSTERN, an icebreaker, which is equipped to undertake expeditions in the Arctic
and Antarctic regions. The F.S. METEOR is also a comfortable and well-equipped
ocean-going vessel that does most of its work in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. It was named after the first German research vessel,
also called METEOR, which had an outstanding record of scientific data gathering
during the beginning of the Nineteenth century when numerous physical oceanography and sedimentary studies were carried out and gave us important results
that were later published by Georg Wüst and other German scientists. However,
the F.S. SONNE (meaning ‘‘the Sun’’ in English) was the vessel that we used the
most frequently during our project dedicated to Intraplate Volcanism (VIP) in the
Pacific.
I have participated on more than 10 ocean going expeditions on the German
Research Vessels F.S. SONNE and F.S. METEOR. Our VIP cooperation started
with SONNE’s leg 47 in 1987, which was aimed at exploring the Society hotspot
and the Austral volcanic chain, a line of volcanic islands and seamounts extending
for a length of more than 1000 km and a width 500 km between latitude 18°S and
Longitude 140°W. Our bi-national cooperation continued with eight other legs on
the F.S. SONNE, extending exploration to the Pitcairn island area, Easter Island
and the South Pacific-Antarctic spreading ridge segments. This fruitful FrancoGerman collaboration brought us to visit and explore uncharted areas of the Pacific
Ocean and contributed to enhance the study of intraplate volcanism. The project
helped make students more aware of the importance of hotspot volcanism, and
increased our understanding of the volcanic processes taking place within individual oceanic plates, which had once been thought to be rigid and passive. The
306
9 Hotspots