Voyage report for SS2012V06 Eastern Coral Sea Tectonics (ECOSAT), R/V Southern Surveyor, October-November 2012

ECOSAT (Eastern Coral Sea Tectonics) was a 26 day Cairns to Brisbane voyage conducted on the R/V Southern Surveyor between 26th October and 20th November, 2012. The area surveyed was the eastern Coral Sea, including the undersea features of the Louisiade Plateau, Rennell Island Ridge, Santa Cruz Basin, West Torres Plateau, South Rennell Trough, D’Entrecasteaux Basin, Loyalty Ridge, northern Lord Howe Rise and Fairway Ridge. Activities consisted of rock recovery by dredging at 14 sites and collection of underway bathymetry, gravity and magnetic data. An estimated 1046 kg of igneous and sedimentary rock was dredged off the seabed of which 281 kg was retained for further study and archiving. When dating of rocks is completed and interpretations of bathymetric, gravity and magnetic and rock data are made, the results of the SS2012V06 survey will add to our knowledge of the tectonic evolution of the eastern Coral Sea region.