Integrated Geological–Geophysical and Oceanographic Research in the South China Sea: Cruise 88 of the R/V “Akademik M.A. Lavrentyev”

Abstract—The paper gives brief results of comprehensive studies in the South China Sea obtained from a joint Russian–Vietnamese expedition in November 2019 (cruise 88 of the R/V “Akademik M.A. Lavrentyev”). The set of methods included acoustics, geophysics, geology, mineralogy,geochemistry, paleogeography, geomicrobiology, hydrooptics and hydrology. The seafloor relief, geophysical and gasgeochemical fields have been refined; new features of the geochemistry and mineralogy of the continental shelf of Vietnam and the adjacent deep-sea basins have been revealed.