Abigail and Manuela on IODP expedition to the Mariana Trench

Abigail Barker and Manuela Bordiga are on IODP expedition #350 in the Pacific Ocean to collect core samples from the deapest trench on Earth, the Mariana Trench. Follow their voyage on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The expedition will contribute to the understanding of how oceanic arcs form and evolve and how continental crust forms by drilling in the IBM rear arc to examine three phenomena:

1. Why crust that develops in the rear arc is very similar to continental crust in composition but it contains different minerals

2. Why the rocks at the volcanic front are so different to those in the rear arc when they appear to come from the same parent rock

3. Why there is more crust beneath the rear arc than beneath the volcanic front (how does the rock expand so much?)