The sea bottom samples were taken by cylindrical dredges, Van-Veen grab and 1.2 Ton gravity corer (Fig.12).
Rocks and sediments collected by dredging were described on board, logged, sub-sampled and stored away as archive and working samples. Some rocks were cut and polished for further analyses (thin-sections, microscopic observations, etc.). The sediment from the five grab sampling stations were described, logged, sub-sampled for bulk mineralogy, bulk biology, clay mineralogy, petrographic analysis and sedimentology. Sediment colour, based on the Munsell Rock Chart was predominantly 7.5 YR 7/3 Pink and occasionally 10 YR 6/1 Gray. The PVC-liner of the gravity core was subsequently cut into 1 meter sections and labelled. The core liners will be split for detalied analysis at the shore-based laboratories. Detailed sedimentological and geochemical studies will be carried-out at the Saudi Geological Survey, Saudi Arabia and at the Istituto Di Scienze Marina, Bologna, Italy.
The sample locations are shown in Figg.6 and 7.
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