Pillow Lava, Killer Seals, and Macaroni Penguins (updated with pix and video)

From Mindy, dated 3 January:

Today we awoke to fairly calm seas, sailing at 13 knots with a 10 knot wind, 2 degrees C air temp, 2.6 C water temp, and 992 on the barometer.

We sailed along the Drygalski Fjord before breakfast and got to see some amazingly impressive basalt lava flows from ancient sea floor spreading (about 100-65 million years ago).

Larsen Pillow (click to enlarge)

Larsen Xenolith (click to enlarge)

Many of the lava flows show indicators of pillow lava (rounded shapes from the way the lava sort of bubbled out of the surface and cooled quickly before flowing).  Pillow lavas are great "way up" indicators so you can tell which direction these rocks originally formed.  Interspersed with the impressive lava flows were nearly vertical dikes (about 1-3 meters wide or more "stripes" in the cliffs where the rock was being pulled apart and lava from below, called diabase, filled in the cracks).

Drygalski Ophiolites
(click to enlarge)

Drygalski Ophiolites
(click to enlarge)

Drygalski Glacier (click to enlarge)

Larsen Harbor (click to enlarge)

All this happened on the ocean flood, and lots of crunching and "smushing" (all these technical terms make my head hurt - Ed.) has happened since then to get these rocks exposed at South Georgia Island.  These lava rocks are what is referred to as ophiolites, and here they are named the Larsen Harbour Igneous Complex.

Larson Ophiolites (click to enlarge)

ALL of the geologists on board were extremely thrilled to see the ophiolites.  And what a treat while we sailed into Drygalski Fjord we saw many small pieces of ice floating all around us (calving off of the glaciers) (being excited about ice in the water is why Mindy is on this trip, and not me - Ed.).  On the north side of the fjord we see the Drygalski Fjord Complex, a group of igneous and metamorphic rocks that were originally at the margin of the Gondwana continental plate.


After breakfast we cruised into Larsen Harbour to see the ophiolites up close and personal.

Fur seals (click to enlarge)

Angry Fur Seal

At the beach we were greeted heartily by some very stubborn fur seals.  We learned that they are aggressive and not to disturb them.  Nearly everyone picked up on the tricks of standing them down when they make a charge at you (their bite is no joke, and is sure to bring infection) (Huh - "rampaging seals" was somehow left out of the trip catalog description I read - Ed.).  After weaving through the fur seals we saw impressive pillow lavas right at the beach.

Esbenson Bay

Larsen hike
(click to enlarge)

Some folks took zodiacs over to a glacier and others hiked up the mountain to see very impressive views of the harbor.  I hiked, and we got to see another bay at the end of our hike (Esbenson Bay) before turning back and repeating the trip.  Throughout the hike I was thinking of a professor of mine from graduate school - Jeff Seitz - and how excited he used to get about ophiolites.  Jeff was certainly with me in spirit today.

Fur seal with heart-shaped nose
(click to enlarge)

Today was also special because we got to have two landings... During lunch the ship sailed to Cooper Bay and we spent the afternoon fending off more fur seals and seeing macaroni penguins.
On the way to Cooper Bay we caught a very rare glimpse of a right whale, and then our first official iceberg! Right whales were first whaled in 1050 and were nearly extinct by the 1600s.  Southern right whales (there are northern ones as well, but obviously not here) have started bouncing back from commercial extinction and there are now about 1000 in existence.




At Cooper Bay some folks went to see a macaroni penguin colony, and others went to try to see rocks from the Cooper Bay Dislocation Zone.  This time I decided to look at the penguins because I knew this would be one of our only chances to get up close, and because I knew Daniel would like the photos of penguins that looked like the characters in the Surf's Up movie (pop culture actually determines many of our family activities. Don't judge - Ed.).

Cooper Bay Macaroni Colony
(click to enlarge)

Cooper Bay (click to enlarge)

It ended up being a good choice for me because the group looking for the rocks were a little disappointed (although they did see some great phyllites, myolinites, and impressive horizontal bedding of shales that were sedimentary rocks formed off the coast of South America and Africa as they broke apart).

Cooper Bay King Penguin
(click to enlarge)

Cooper Bay King Penguin
(click to enlarge)

Cooper Bay Skua (click to enlarge)

Larsen Fur Seal
(click to enlarge)

Larsen Gentoo Penguin

Larsen Elephant Seal
(click to enlarge)

Cooper Bay Macaroni
(click to enlarge)

Cooper Bay Petrel (click to enlarge)

Cooper Bay Albatross
(click to enlarge)

OK, that was a lot of geology... Sorry... But I did fail to mention a very touching event that happened on the ship yesterday (2 Jan).  Several geologists on board gathered to do a quick toast and scatter some rose petals for a dear colleague of theirs who spent his life studying the Scotia Arc.  Peter F. Barker passed away last year, and his friends honored him while sailing over the Scotia Arc.  Ian Dalziel read a loving note from Peter's wife, and they all had a moment of silence on the deck of the ship in his honor.  It made me so proud to associate myself with such a great group of people...  And although I don't know Peter Barker personally, I teared-up thinking of all the great mentors I've had in the past and what an honor it has been to study with them.  I was thinking of Dietz Warnke today and his work he's done on ice-rafted debris (I studied with Dietz at California State Hayward, and he passed away a few years ago).

We have a busy day tomorrow with landings in Fortuna Bay and a chance to do a portion of a Shackleton hike.  More on that tomorrow!