Geologists Drill into Fossil Magma Chamber Deep under the Ocean
Scientists aboard the research drilling ship JOIDES Resolution have, for the first time, drilled into a fossil magma chamber under intact ocean crust. There, nearly a mile beneath the sea floor, they have recovered samples of gabbro - a hard, black rock that forms when molten magma is trapped beneath Earth's surface and cools slowly.
The scientists, affiliated with the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), an international marine research drilling program dedicated to advancing scientific understanding of the Earth by monitoring and sampling sub-seafloor environments, published their findings on April 20 in Science Express, the online edition of the journal Science.