Studierendenbericht Seepraktikum 2024 (UHH), Cruise No. AL621, 30.09.2024 – 11.10.2024, Kiel (Germany) – Kiel (Germany)

The internship cruise AL621 commenced with the loading of the ship on September 30, 2024, at the GEOMAR pier in Kiel. During the rigging of the working deck and laboratories, students received instruction on various measurement instruments, a process that continued to deepen over the following days at sea. The scientific work was initially impacted by stormy weather, particularly during the first and last days at sea. The program began with hydroacoustic measurements in the Flensburger Förde to map the shallow termination of previously identified fault structures. Afterwards, the expedition transitioned to the Bay of Mecklenburg. The primary objective of the seismic measurements in this area was to map faults and potential fluid escape above a salt pillow. In the expedition's second half, the focus shifted to mapping the glacial erosional unconformity and Holocene deposits around Rügen. This erosional base was formed when ice glaciers scraped Cretaceous deposits during the last glacial period, compacting them into glaciotectonic complexes, commonly referred to as the "chalk cliffs of Rügen." By the end of the cruise, the students had gained extensive knowledge in data acquisition, processing, and interpretation, while also gaining firsthand experience of life on a research vessel. The cruise concluded in Kiel on October 11, 2024. (Alkor-Berichte AL621)