Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program
Volume 401
Mediterranean–Atlantic Gateway Exchange
Phase 1 (offshore sites) of the IMMAGE Land-2-Sea project
Expedition 401 of the R/V JOIDES Resolution
Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Napoli, Italy
Sites U1385 and U1609–U1611
10 December 2023–9 February 2024
Volume authorship
Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., and the Expedition 401 Scientists
Published by
International Ocean Discovery Program
Publisher’s notes
This publication was prepared by the JOIDES Resolution Science Operator (JRSO) at Texas A&M University (TAMU) as an account of work performed under the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP). This material is based upon work supported by the JRSO, which is a major facility funded by the National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement Number OCE1326927. Funding for IODP is provided by the following international partners:
- National Science Foundation (NSF), United States
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan
- European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD)
- Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), People’s Republic of China
- Australia-New Zealand IODP Consortium (ANZIC)
- Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), India
The JRSO is supported by the NSF. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF, the participating agencies, TAMU, or Texas A&M Research Foundation.
The bulk of the shipboard-collected core data from this expedition is accessible at https://zenodo.org/communities/iodp (see list of available data sets). If you cannot access this site or need additional data, please contact Data Librarian, International Ocean Discovery Program JOIDES Resolution Science Operator, Texas A&M University (database@iodp.tamu.edu).
A complete set of the logging data collected during the expedition is available at http://mlp.ldeo.columbia.edu/logdb/scientific_ocean_drilling. If you have problems downloading the data, wish to receive additional logging data, or have questions regarding the data, please contact Database Administrator, Borehole Research Group, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University (logdb@ldeo.columbia.edu).
Supplemental data were provided by the authors and may not conform to IODP publication formats.
JRSO expedition photos are the property of IODP and are public access.
Some core photographs have been tonally enhanced to better illustrate particular features of interest. High-resolution images are available upon request.
Cover photograph shows SEA1 crew member on the derrick at sunset. Photo credit: Patty Standring and IODP JRSO.
Copyright
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction are permitted, provided the original author and source are credited.
Examples of how to cite this volume or part of this volume are available at http://publications.iodp.org/
ISSN
ISBN
Volume DOI
https://doi.org/10.14379/iodp.proc.401.2025
Publication date
Contents
Expedition reports
Chapters
PDF
Figures
Cited byCore descriptions
Visual core descriptions (VCDs) are presented in PDF files for each site.
Thin sections and/or smear slides for each site or hole are presented in tab-separated value (TSV) or PDF format in the CORES directory and in TSV format in GEODESC in Supplementary material. The entire set of core images in PDF is available in the IMAGES directory.
Site U1609: Visual core descriptions · Smear slides · Thin sections · GEODESC files
Site U1610: Visual core descriptions · Smear slides · Thin sections · GEODESC files
Site U1385: Visual core descriptions · Smear slides · GEODESC files
Site U1611: Visual core descriptions · Smear slides · Thin sections · GEODESC files
Supplementary material
Supplementary material for the Volume 401 expedition reports includes age model sedimentation rate calculations in Microsoft Excel and Word format, hand drawn logs in PDF, paleomagnetism data in Microsoft Excel format, and synthetic logs in EPS format. A full list of directories can be found in SUPP_MAT in the volume zip folder or on the Supplementary material for Volume 401 expedition reports web page.
Expedition research results
Data reports
Drilling location maps
A site map showing the drilling locations for this expedition and maps showing the drilling locations of all International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) expeditions, produced using QGIS (http://www.qgis.org), and all Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Ocean Drilling Program (ODP), and Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) expeditions, produced using Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) of Paul Wessel and Walter H.F. Smith (https://www.generic-mapping-tools.org), are available in PDF.
- IODP Expedition 401 site map
- IODP map
- Integrated Ocean Drilling Program map (Expeditions 301–348)
- ODP map (Legs 100–210)
- DSDP map (Legs 1–96)
Acknowledgments
Expedition 401 is the offshore phase of the Investigating Miocene Mediterranean–Atlantic Gateway Exchange (IMMAGE) Land-2-Sea drilling project. It would never have happened without the extensive contributions, support, and encouragement of the original proponents. Onshore International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) drilling will take place in Spain and Morocco in the future; therefore, to help forge the partnerships required to achieve this, JRSO supported the participation during Expedition 401 of the first Moroccan scientist to sail on the R/V JOIDES Resolution.
Expedition 401 benefited from the scrutiny of the Environmental Protection and Safety Panel on four separate occasions before the expedition, as well as consulting them twice during it. The expedition required permission to drill in Portuguese and Spanish waters, which was sought and obtained by the JRSO team. Postcruise support from the teams associated with X-ray fluorescence (XRF) scanning, sampling, curation, and publications has been exemplary, particularly with the added challenges associated with developing and navigating new protocols and processes suitable for Land-2-Sea projects.
Expedition 401 was the antepenultimate IODP expedition before the decommissioning of JOIDES Resolution. Consequently, for almost all the technical team on board and many of the SEA1 crew, this was their last scientific drilling expedition. Despite this, their support for the scientists and enthusiasm for the science was extraordinary. They truly are a remarkable group of people with whom it has been a privilege to work.
An enormous amount of work and expertise goes into turning a drilling proposal into a successful offshore expedition. Much of this happens before the ship ever sets sail and is largely invisible to the science party. Sailing on JOIDES Resolution has been an exceptional opportunity. Thank you to all those that made that possible.
Foreword
The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) represents the latest incarnation of almost five decades of scientific ocean drilling excellence and is generally accepted as the most successful international collaboration in the history of the Earth sciences. IODP builds seamlessly on the accomplishments of previous phases: the Deep Sea Drilling Project, Ocean Drilling Program, and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program. The 2013–2023 IODP Science Plan (Illuminating Earth’s Past, Present, and Future) defines four themes and thirteen challenges for this decade of scientific ocean drilling that are both of fundamental importance in understanding how the Earth works and of significant relevance to society as the Earth changes, at least in part in response to anthropogenic forcing. This phase of IODP represents an intense level of international collaboration in bringing diverse drilling platforms and strategies to increasing our understanding of climate and ocean change, the deep biosphere and evolution of ecosystems, connections between Earth’s deep processes and surface manifestations, and geologically induced hazards on human timeframes.
The Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program presents the scientific and engineering results of IODP drilling projects, expedition by expedition. As in the preceding Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, expeditions in the current IODP phase are conducted by three implementing organizations, each providing a different drilling capability. These are the US Implementing Organization (USIO; through September 2014) and the JOIDES Resolution Science Operator (JRSO; as of October 2014), providing the leased commercial vessel JOIDES Resolution for riserless drilling operations; JAMSTEC’s Institute for Marine-Earth Exploration and Engineering (MarE3), providing the drillship Chikyu for riser and occasional riserless operations; and the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD) Science Operator (ESO), providing "mission-specific" platforms (MSPs) for expeditions that extend the IODP operational range where neither drillship is suitable, for example, in polar environments and in shallow waters. Scheduling decisions for each capability are made by three independent Facility Boards, each of which includes scientists, operators, and platform funding partners: the JOIDES Resolution Facility Board (JRFB), Chikyu IODP Board (CIB), and ECORD Facility Board (EFB). At the beginning of the current IODP, the three Facility Boards agreed to utilize Publication Services at the USIO and now the JRSO for production of all expedition Proceedings volumes and reports.
The current IODP differs from prior scientific ocean drilling programs in that it has neither a central management organization nor commingled funding for program-wide activities. Yet this phase of IODP retains a fundamental integrative structural element: a "bottom-up" evaluation of all proposals for drilling expeditions by a single advisory structure composed of scientists representing all international program partners. International scientists may submit drilling proposals to the Science Support Office; all submitted proposals are then evaluated by a Science Evaluation Panel in the context of the Science Plan.
The current IODP also has an international integrative level for high-level discussion and global consensus-building: the IODP Forum. The Forum is not only charged with assessing program-wide progress toward achieving the current Science Plan, but also with overseeing approaches toward a new bright future of scientific ocean drilling post 2023. At present, IODP involves 22 international funding agencies, including those from the United States, Japan, an Australia/New Zealand consortium (ANZIC), China, India, South Korea, and the 15 members of ECORD (Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom). The IODP membership represents an unparalleled level of international scientific collaboration; one of the greatest and ongoing strengths of scientific ocean drilling.
Henk Brinkhuis
Chair, IODP Forum
Reviewers for this volume
Pending.
International Ocean Discovery Program
JOIDES Resolution Science Operator
Website: http://iodp.tamu.edu
IODP JRSO
International Ocean Discovery Program
Tel: (979) 845-2673; Fax: (979) 845-4857
Email: information@iodp.tamu.edu
IODP JRSO Curation and Laboratories
IODP Gulf Coast Repository (GCR)
Tel: (979) 845-8490; Fax: (979) 845-1303
Email: curator@iodp.tamu.edu
European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling, Science Operator (ESO)
Website: http://www.ecord.org
IODP ESO Coordinator: Science, Logistics, and Operations
Tel: (44) 131-667-1000; Fax: (44) 131-668-4140
Email: eso@bgs.ac.uk
IODP ESO Petrophysics
European Petrophysics Consortium
Tel: (44) 116-252-3611; Fax: (44) 116-252-3918
Email: sjd27@leicester.ac.uk
IODP ESO Curation and Laboratories
IODP Bremen Core Repository (BCR)
Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM)
Tel: (49) 421-218-65560; Fax: (49) 421-218-98-65560
Email: bcr@marum.de
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
Website: http://www.jamstec.go.jp/chikyu/e
IODP Japan Science Operator
Institute for Marine-Earth Exploration and Engineering (MarE3)
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Yokohama Institute for Earth Sciences
Tel: (81) 45-778-5643; Fax: (81) 45-778-5704
Email: mare3-exp@jamstec.go.jp
IODP Japan Curation and Laboratories
IODP Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research (KCC)
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Tel: (81) 88-864-6705; Fax: (81) 88-878-2192
Email: kcc.contact@jamstec.go.jp
Expedition 401 participants*
Expedition 401 scientists
Environnements Paléoenvironnements Océaniques et Continentaux, UMR CNRS 5805
emmanuelle.ducassou@u-bordeaux.fr
International Ocean Discovery Program
Micropaleontologist (planktonic foraminifers)
Micropaleontologist (nannofossils)
Environmental Science Department
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Department of the Geophysical Sciences
Micropaleontologist (nannofossils)
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Micropaleontologist (benthic foraminifers)
Department of Earth Resources Engineering
egawa.kosuke.394@m.kyushu-u.ac.jp
University of Southern California
Royal Holloway University of London
javier.hernandez-molina@rhul.ac.uk
Texas A&M International University
Institute of Geophysics and Geomatics
China University of Geosciences
CENEX, Department of Geology and Geophysics and Museum of Natural Science
Physical Properties Specialist/Downhole Measurements
Università di Corsica Pasquale Paoli
Francisco Javier Rodríguez-Tovar
Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology
Micropaleontologist (planktonic foraminifers)
Physical Properties Specialist
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Marine Core Research Institute
Physical Properties Specialist/Observer
Instituto Dom Luiz, Faculty of Sciences
macteixeira@ciencias.ulisboa.pt
Physical Properties Specialist
Department of Urban Management
xu.xunhui.72x@st.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Physical Properties Specialist
Second Institute of Oceanography
Micropaleontologist (planktonic foraminifers)/Observer
Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines
Outreach
Freelance Science Communicator
Rochester Institute of Technology
*Affiliations at time of expedition, except where updated by participants.
Operational and technical staff
SEA1 Offshore AS officials
Harm Cornelis Theodoor Nienhuis
JRSO shipboard personnel and technical representatives
Marine Instrumentation Specialist
Logging Engineer (Schlumberger)
Marine Instrumentation Specialist
IODP Publication Services staff*
Manager of Publication Services
Expedition-related bibliography*
IODP publications
Scientific Prospectus
Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., and Williams, T., 2023. Expedition 401 Scientific Prospectus: Mediterranean Atlantic Gateway Exchange. International Ocean Discovery Program. https://doi.org/10.14379/iodp.sp.401.2023
Preliminary Report
Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., and the Expedition 401 Scientists, 2024. Expedition 401 Preliminary Report: Mediterranean–Atlantic Gateway Exchange. International Ocean Discovery Program. https://doi.org/10.14379/iodp.pr.401.2024
Proceedings volume
Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., and the Expedition 401 Scientists, 2025. Mediterranean–Atlantic Gateway Exchange. Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program, 401: College Station, TX (International Ocean Discovery Program). https://doi.org/10.14379/iodp.proc.401.2025
Expedition reports
Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., Amarathunga, U., Balestra, B., Berke, M.A., Blättler, C.L., Chin, S., Das, M., Egawa, K., Fabregas, N., Feakins, S.J., George, S.C., Hernández-Molina, F.J., Krijgsman, W., Li, Z., Liu, J., Noto, D., Raad, F., Rodríguez-Tovar, F.J., Sierro, F.J., Standring, P., Stine, J., Tanaka, E., Teixeira, M., Xu, X., Yin, S., and Yousfi, M.Z., 2025. Expedition 401 summary. In Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., and the Expedition 401 Scientists, Mediterranean–Atlantic Gateway Exchange. Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program, 401: College Station, TX (International Ocean Discovery Program). https://doi.org/10.14379/iodp.proc.401.101.2025
Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., Amarathunga, U., Balestra, B., Berke, M.A., Blättler, C.L., Chin, S., Das, M., Egawa, K., Fabregas, N., Feakins, S.J., George, S.C., Hernández-Molina, F.J., Krijgsman, W., Li, Z., Liu, J., Noto, D., Raad, F., Rodríguez-Tovar, F.J., Sierro, F.J., Standring, P., Stine, J., Tanaka, E., Teixeira, M., Xu, X., Yin, S., and Yousfi, M.Z., 2025. Expedition 401 methods. In Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., and the Expedition 401 Scientists, Mediterranean–Atlantic Gateway Exchange. Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program, 401: College Station, TX (International Ocean Discovery Program). https://doi.org/10.14379/iodp.proc.401.102.2025
Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., Amarathunga, U., Balestra, B., Berke, M.A., Blättler, C.L., Chin, S., Das, M., Egawa, K., Fabregas, N., Feakins, S.J., George, S.C., Hernández-Molina, F.J., Krijgsman, W., Li, Z., Liu, J., Noto, D., Raad, F., Rodríguez-Tovar, F.J., Sierro, F.J., Standring, P., Stine, J., Tanaka, E., Teixeira, M., Xu, X., Yin, S., and Yousfi, M.Z., 2025. Site U1609. In Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., and the Expedition 401 Scientists, Mediterranean–Atlantic Gateway Exchange. Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program, 401: College Station, TX (International Ocean Discovery Program). https://doi.org/10.14379/iodp.proc.401.103.2025
Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., Amarathunga, U., Balestra, B., Berke, M.A., Blättler, C.L., Chin, S., Das, M., Egawa, K., Fabregas, N., Feakins, S.J., George, S.C., Hernández-Molina, F.J., Krijgsman, W., Li, Z., Liu, J., Noto, D., Raad, F., Rodríguez-Tovar, F.J., Sierro, F.J., Standring, P., Stine, J., Tanaka, E., Teixeira, M., Xu, X., Yin, S., and Yousfi, M.Z., 2025. Site U1610. In Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., and the Expedition 401 Scientists, Mediterranean–Atlantic Gateway Exchange. Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program, 401: College Station, TX (International Ocean Discovery Program). https://doi.org/10.14379/iodp.proc.401.104.2025
Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., Amarathunga, U., Balestra, B., Berke, M.A., Blättler, C.L., Chin, S., Das, M., Egawa, K., Fabregas, N., Feakins, S.J., George, S.C., Hernández-Molina, F.J., Krijgsman, W., Li, Z., Liu, J., Noto, D., Raad, F., Rodríguez-Tovar, F.J., Sierro, F.J., Standring, P., Stine, J., Tanaka, E., Teixeira, M., Xu, X., Yin, S., and Yousfi, M.Z., 2025. Site U1385. In Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., and the Expedition 401 Scientists, Mediterranean–Atlantic Gateway Exchange. Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program, 401: College Station, TX (International Ocean Discovery Program). https://doi.org/10.14379/iodp.proc.401.105.2025
Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., Amarathunga, U., Balestra, B., Berke, M.A., Blättler, C.L., Chin, S., Das, M., Egawa, K., Fabregas, N., Feakins, S.J., George, S.C., Hernández-Molina, F.J., Krijgsman, W., Li, Z., Liu, J., Noto, D., Raad, F., Rodríguez-Tovar, F.J., Sierro, F.J., Standring, P., Stine, J., Tanaka, E., Teixeira, M., Xu, X., Yin, S., and Yousfi, M.Z., 2025. Site U1611. In Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., and the Expedition 401 Scientists, Mediterranean–Atlantic Gateway Exchange. Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program, 401: College Station, TX (International Ocean Discovery Program). https://doi.org/10.14379/iodp.proc.401.106.2025
Supplementary material
Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., and the Expedition 401 Scientists, 2025. Supplementary material, https://doi.org/10.14379/iodp.proc.401supp.2025. In Flecker, R., Ducassou, E., Williams, T., and the Expedition 401 Scientists, Mediterranean–Atlantic Gateway Exchange. Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program, 401: College Station, TX (International Ocean Discovery Program).
Expedition research results
Pending.
Journals/Books
Pending.
Conferences
Pending.
*The Expedition-related bibliography is continually updated online. Please send updates to PubCrd@iodp.tamu.edu.
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