Geochemistry of sediment cores during SONNE cruises SO242/1 and SO242/2 at the DISCOL area, Peru Basin

This data compilation includes geochemical data on the solid and solute phases of the seafloor sediments in the DISCOL area in the Peru basin (South Pacific). The DISCOL area represents a part of the deep sea that is extensively covered with manganese nodules and represents a unique study area, where in 1989 a circular area with a diameter of about 2 nautical miles was intensely disturbed with a plough-harrow. The presented data was collected during the two legs of the SO242 research cruise in 2015 with the aim to better understand the ecological impacts of deep-sea seafloor disturbances (e.g. through nodule mining operations). Several devices were deployed at each sampling site to retrieve surface and subsurface sediment samples: (i) a Oktopus multiple-corer (MUC), which samples the upper 20 – 40 cm of the sediment including the overlying bottom water; The corer was equipped with a TV-Camera system for precise positioning, e.g. for sampling specific seafloor features like the disturbance tracks; (ii) a ROV-deployed push-corer (PUC) focusing on small-scale topographic features created by the seafloor disturbance; (iii) a box-corer (BC - USNEL Spade Corer) to sample the sediment inclusive macrofauna as well as associated nodules; and (iv) a gravity-corer (GC) extracting sediment up to 10 mbsf.