The study area in the north of Svalbard: Mosselbukta at nearly 80°N (Photo: A. Rüggeberg).

The Department of Geosciences at the University of Fribourg is not only exploring the geological past and fossils of Spitzbergen (see current NHMF exhibition), but is also involved in marine arctic research at 80°N. ‘Ten Years After’ – a long-term settlement and bioerosion experiment in an Arctic rhodolith bed (Mosselbukta, Svalbard), just published in Geobiology (https://doi.org/10.1111/gbi.12469), highlights the scientific outcome of two research cruise with the German research vessel MARIA S. MERIAN from 2006 (MSM 2-3) and 2016 (MSM 55).

During these cruises the manned research submersible JAGO was used to deploy and recover the experimental platforms, which give insights in the carbonate accretion and bioerosion rates at a polar setting. Dr. Andres Rüggeberg, researcher at the Department of Geosciences, joined both research expeditions together with international research teams and recovered the deepest experimental platform at 127 m water depths.
 

Dr. Andres Rüggeberg together with pilot Jürgen Schauer (JAGO Team of GEOMAR, Kiel) inside manned submersible JAGO after the successful research dive (Photo: A. Rüggeberg).
 

Ten Years After’ – the settlement platform has been found in 127 m water depth (Photo: A. Rüggeberg)

Article Info:

Wisshak, M., Meyer, N., Kuklinski, P., Rüggeberg, A., Freiwald, A. (2021) ‘Ten Years After’ – a long-term settlement and bioerosion experiment in an Arctic rhodolith bed (Mosselbukta, Svalbard). Geobiology, https://doi.org/10.1111/gbi.12469.

Further information on the cruise see article in GEO Magazine (in German):
Kiel, V., Zankl, S. (2017) Tauchfahrt ins Archiv der Arktis. GEO 10/2017, 116–129.