The recent discovery of proximate seafloor methane seeps and deep-sea corals, both associated with carbonate buildups, in the southeastern Mediterranean Sea provides an exceptional opportunity to investigate their underlying environmental mechanisms. During this EUROFLEETS-funded cruise (PI Dr. Andres Rüggeberg, University Fribourg), an international group of sedimentologists, biologists, paleontologists and geochemists intend to carry out, for the first time, methodical comparative sampling and investigation of these features in select sites on the two sides of the Levant Basin: the Israeli continental slope and Eratosthenes Seamount.

The aims are to study: (i) the setting and environmental impact of gas seepages, and particularly their relation to the possible current and past presence of methane hydrates, (ii) the particular environmental conditions allowing the growth of deep-sea corals, and (iii) the relations between the two phenomena in the context of recent global and local environmental changes.

Further information: EUROFLEETS 2

Vessel: RV AEGAEO (GR)