The Future of Continental Scientific Drilling U.S
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Terrestrial Impact Structures Provide the Only Ground Truth Against Which Computational and Experimental Results Can Be Com Pared
Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 1987. 15:245-70 Copyright([;; /987 by Annual Reviews Inc. All rights reserved TERRESTRIAL IMI!ACT STRUCTURES ··- Richard A. F. Grieve Geophysics Division, Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario KIA OY3, Canada INTRODUCTION Impact structures are the dominant landform on planets that have retained portions of their earliest crust. The present surface of the Earth, however, has comparatively few recognized impact structures. This is due to its relative youthfulness and the dynamic nature of the terrestrial geosphere, both of which serve to obscure and remove the impact record. Although not generally viewed as an important terrestrial (as opposed to planetary) geologic process, the role of impact in Earth evolution is now receiving mounting consideration. For example, large-scale impact events may hav~~ been responsible for such phenomena as the formation of the Earth's moon and certain mass extinctions in the biologic record. The importance of the terrestrial impact record is greater than the relatively small number of known structures would indicate. Impact is a highly transient, high-energy event. It is inherently difficult to study through experimentation because of the problem of scale. In addition, sophisticated finite-element code calculations of impact cratering are gen erally limited to relatively early-time phenomena as a result of high com putational costs. Terrestrial impact structures provide the only ground truth against which computational and experimental results can be com pared. These structures provide information on aspects of the third dimen sion, the pre- and postimpact distribution of target lithologies, and the nature of the lithologic and mineralogic changes produced by the passage of a shock wave. -
Deglacial and Postglacial Evolution of the Pingualuit Crater Lake Basin, Northern Québec (Canada)
Geomorphology 248 (2015) 327–343 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Geomorphology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph Deglacial and postglacial evolution of the Pingualuit Crater Lake basin, northern Québec (Canada) Pierre-Arnaud Desiage a,b,⁎, Patrick Lajeunesse b,c, Guillaume St-Onge a,b, Alexandre Normandeau b, Grégoire Ledoux c,HervéGuyarda,b,d, Reinhard Pienitz c a Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski (ISMER), Canada Research Chair in Marine Geology, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Rimouski, Canada b GEOTOP Research Center, Canada c Centre d'études Nordiques (CEN) & Département de Géographie, Université Laval, Québec, Canada d Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Université Paris Diderot, UMR CNRS 7154, Paris, France article info abstract Article history: The Pingualuit Crater, located in the Ungava Peninsula (northern Québec, Canada) is a 1.4-Ma-old impact crater Received 15 January 2015 hosting a ~245-m-deep lake. The lake has a great potential to preserve unique paleoclimatic and paleoecological Received in revised form 9 July 2015 sedimentary records of the last glacial/interglacial cycles in the terrestrial Canadian Arctic. In order to investigate Accepted 10 July 2015 the stratigraphy in the lake and the late Quaternary glacial history of the Pingualuit Crater, this study compiles Available online 29 July 2015 data from three expeditions carried out in May 2007 (~9-m-long sediment core), in August 2010 (~50 km of seismic lines), and in September 2012 (high-resolution terrestrial LiDAR topography of the inner slopes). Despite Keywords: fi lake levels the weak penetration (~10 m) of the 3.5-kHz subbottom pro ling caused by the presence of boulders in the Mass movements sedimentary column, seismic data coupled with the stratigraphy established from the sediment core enabled Laurentide Ice Sheet the identification of two glaciolacustrine units deposited during the final stages of the Laurentide Ice Sheet Sedimentological processes (LIS) retreat in the crater. -
IODP Deep Biosphere Research Workshop Report – a Synthesis of Recent Investigations, and Discussion of New Research Questions and Drilling Targets
Workshop White Papers Sci. Dril., 17, 61–66, 2014 www.sci-dril.net/17/61/2014/ doi:10.5194/sd-17-61-2014 Scientific Drilling © Author(s) 2014. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Open Access IODP Deep Biosphere Research Workshop report – a synthesis of recent investigations, and discussion of new research questions and drilling targets B. N. Orcutt1, D. E. LaRowe2, K. G. Lloyd3, H. Mills4, W. Orsi5, B. K. Reese6, J. Sauvage7, J. A. Huber8, and J. Amend2 1Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, ME 04544, USA 2University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA 3University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA 4University of Houston–Clear Lake, Houston, TX 77058, USA 5Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA 6University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA 7Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragensett, RI 02882, USA 8Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA Correspondence to: B. N. Orcutt ([email protected]) Received: 5 November 2013 – Revised: 30 December 2013 – Accepted: 7 February 2014 – Published: 29 April 2014 Abstract. During the past decade, the IODP (International Ocean Discovery Program) has fostered a sig- nificant increase in deep biosphere investigations in the marine sedimentary and crustal environments, and scientists are well-poised to continue this momentum into the next phase of the IODP. The goals of this work- shop were to evaluate recent findings in a global context, synthesize available biogeochemical data to foster thermodynamic and metabolic activity modeling and measurements, identify regional targets for future tar- geted sampling and dedicated expeditions, foster collaborations, and highlight the accomplishments of deep biosphere research within IODP. -
Supportive Comment On: “Morphology and Population of Binary Asteroid
*Manuscript Click here to view linked References 1 Supportive comment on: “Morphology and population of binary asteroid 2 impact craters” , by K. Miljković , G. S. Collins, S. Mannick and P. A. 3 Bland [Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 363 (2013) 121 –132] – An updated 4 assessment 5 6 Martin Schmieder 1,2 , Mario Trieloff 3, Winfried H. Schwarz 3, Elmar Buchner 4 and Fred Jourdan 2 7 1School of Earth and Environment, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia 8 2Western Australian Argon Isotope Facility, Department of Applied Geology and JdL Centre, Curtin University, GPO Box 9 U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia 10 3Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 234-236, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany 11 4HNU-Neu-Ulm University, Edisonallee 5, D-89231 Neu-Ulm, Germany 12 13 In their recent paper, Miljković et al. (2013) assess the appar ent contradiction that the near-Earth asteroid population 14 consists of 15% binaries, while the terrestrial (and Martian) impact crater populations have only 2-4% of observable 15 doublet craters. The authors suggest that only a small fraction of sufficiently well separated binary asteroids yield 16 recognizable doublets. We generally agree with the conclusions by Miljković et al. (2013) and acknowledge the high 17 quality and relevance of the study. However, we would like to bring into focus additional geochronologic constraints 18 that are critical when evaluating terrestrial impact crater doublets. Miljković et al. (2013) appraised five potential 19 terrestrial doublets using the Earth Impact Database (EID; as of 2010). We hereby warn against the indiscriminate 20 usage of impact ages compiled in this database without an assessment based on solid isotopic and stratigraphic 21 constraints and comment on the geological, geochronological, and geochemical evidence for doublet impact craters 22 on Earth. -
Multivariate Statistic and Time Series Analyses of Grain-Size Data in Quaternary Sediments of Lake El’Gygytgyn, NE Russia
Clim. Past, 9, 2459–2470, 2013 Open Access www.clim-past.net/9/2459/2013/ Climate doi:10.5194/cp-9-2459-2013 © Author(s) 2013. CC Attribution 3.0 License. of the Past Multivariate statistic and time series analyses of grain-size data in quaternary sediments of Lake El’gygytgyn, NE Russia A. Francke1, V. Wennrich1, M. Sauerbrey1, O. Juschus2, M. Melles1, and J. Brigham-Grette3 1University of Cologne, Institute for Geology and Mineralogy, Cologne, Germany 2Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Eberswalde, Germany 3University of Massachusetts, Department of Geosciences, Amherst, USA Correspondence to: A. Francke ([email protected]) Received: 14 December 2012 – Published in Clim. Past Discuss.: 14 January 2013 Revised: 20 September 2013 – Accepted: 3 October 2013 – Published: 5 November 2013 Abstract. Lake El’gygytgyn, located in the Far East Rus- glacial–interglacial variations (eccentricity, obliquity), and sian Arctic, was formed by a meteorite impact about 3.58 Ma local insolation forcing and/or latitudinal teleconnections ago. In 2009, the International Continental Scientific Drilling (precession), respectively. Program (ICDP) at Lake El’gygytgyn obtained a continu- ous sediment sequence of the lacustrine deposits and the up- per part of the impact breccia. Here, we present grain-size data of the past 2.6 Ma. General downcore grain-size varia- 1 Introduction tions yield coarser sediments during warm periods and finer The polar regions are known to play a crucial but not ones during cold periods. According to principal component yet well understood role within the global climate system analysis (PCA), the climate-dependent variations in grain- (Washington and Meehl, 1996; Johannessen et al., 2004), in- size distributions mainly occur in the coarse silt and very fluencing both the oceanic and the atmospheric circulation. -
The Thrill to Drill
INTERNATIONAL CONTINENTAL SCIENTIFIC DRILLING PROGRAM The Thrill to Drill After more than two decades of International Continental Scientific Drilling: A prospect for the future As most of the Earth under our feet is inaccessible, drilling is the only ground truth to correct our models and ideas about our planet's interior. Drilling does not necessarily have to be done from the surface. Here, researchers follow the drilling progress while drilling boreholes in the Moab Khotsong gold mine (South Africa) in 3 kilometers depth. The project drilled several boreholes into and around seismogenic zones to study the rupture details and scaling of small and larger earthquakes. 2 The International Continental Scientific Drilling Program – an introduction For most people, drilling into the Earth means laying the foundation for extracting natural resources from under our feet. Indeed the vast majority of all drill rigs in the world are used either for establishing water wells or for the discovery and exploitation of mineral resources or hydrocarbons like oil and gas. There is, however, another aspect of drill- ing into the Earth’s crust of which only very few people are aware. Poking a hole into the skin of our planet can help sci- entists solve some of the many mysteries which remain hidden in its vast interior. During the past one and a half centu- ries geoscientists have made enormous strides in exploring the interior of the Earth indirectly by analyzing the chem- ical composition of lava from hundreds of volcanoes or by modeling the physical conditions at depth based on the inter- pretation of seismic waves. -
Central Ring Structure Identified in One of the World's Best-Preserved Impact
Central ring structure identi®ed in one of the world's best-preserved impact craters A.C. Gebhardt F. Niessen Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstraûe, 27568 Bremerhaven, Germany C. Kopsch Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Telegrafenberg A43, 14473 Potsdam, Germany ABSTRACT Seismic refraction and re¯ection data were acquired in 2000 and 2003 to study the morphology and sedimentary ®ll of the remote El'gygytgyn crater (Chukotka, northeast- ern Siberia; diameter 18 km). These data allow a ®rst insight into the deeper structure of this unique impact crater. Wide-angle data from sonobuoys reveal a ®ve-layer model: a water layer, two lacustrine sedimentary units that ®ll a bowl-shaped apparent crater mor- phology consisting of an upper layer of fallback breccia with P-wave velocities of ;3000 m/s, and a lower layer of brecciated bedrock (velocities .3600 m/s). The lowermost layer shows a distinct anticline structure that, by analogy with other terrestrial and lunar cra- ters of similar size, can be interpreted as a central ring structure. The El'gygytgyn crater exhibits a well-expressed morphology that is typical of craters formed in crystalline target rocks. Keywords: impact crater, El'gygytgyn, lakes, seismic refraction, seismic re¯ection. INTRODUCTION (Belyi, 1998; Gurov et al., 1979a, 1979b). The Grette, 2006; Nolan et al., 2002) formed in- The El'gygytgyn crater, located in the Rus- Anadyr Mountains are part of the Okhotsk- side the crater (the crater and crater lake are sian Arctic, is one of the world's best- Chukotka Volcanic Belt, composed of Late not concentric; see Fig. -
Pages: the Amount and Form of Carbon and Ground Ice Stored in the Geoenvironment/Pace/31.PACE21 Programme.Htm
FROZEN GROUND The News Bulletin of the International Permafrost Association Number 28, December 2004 Frozen Ground INTERNATIONAL PERMAFROST ASSOCIATION The International Permafrost Association, founded in 1983, has as its objectives to foster the dissemination of knowledge concerning permafrost and to promote cooperation among persons and national or international organisations engaged in scientific investigation and engineering work on permafrost. Membership is through adhering national or multinational organisations or as individuals in countries where no Adhering Body exists. The IPA is governed by its officers and a Council consisting of representatives from 24 Adhering Bodies having interests in some aspect of theoretical, basic and applied frozen ground research, including permafrost, seasonal frost, artificial freezing and periglacial phenomena. Committees, Working Groups, and Task Forces organise and coordinate research activities and special projects. The IPA became an Affiliated Organisation of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) in July 1989. Beginning in 1995 the IPA and the International Geographical Union (IGU) developed an Agreement of Cooperation, thus making IPA an affiliate of the IGU. The Association’s primary responsibilities are convening International Permafrost Conferences, undertaking special projects such as preparing databases, maps, bibliographies, and glossaries, and coordinating international field programmes and networks. Conferences were held in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A., 1963; in Yakutsk, Siberia, 1973; in Edmonton, Canada, 1978; in Fairbanks, Alaska, 1983; in Trondheim, Norway, 1988; in Beijing, China, 1993; in Yellowknife, Canada, 1998, and in Zurich, Switzerland, 2003. The ninth conference will be in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2008. Field excursions are an integral part of each Conference, and are organised by the host country. -
Global Geodynamic Cycles and Earth Evolution
Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) DOI 10.1007/s00531-014-1073-y ORIGINAL PAPER Drilling the solid earth: global geodynamic cycles and earth evolution John W. Shervais · Nicholas Arndt · Kathryn M. Goodenough Received: 17 March 2014 / Accepted: 24 August 2014 © The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract The physical and chemical evolution of the study global geodynamic processes, review past successes Earth is driven by geodynamic cycles that are global in in this realm that were sponsored in part by ICDP, and sug- scale, operating over 4.57 Ga of Earth’s history. Some pro- gest potential new targets for drilling campaigns that focus cesses are truly cyclic, e.g., the Wilson Cycle, while oth- on solid earth evolution. This paper builds on discussions at ers are irreversible (e.g., core formation). Heat and mass the 2013 ICDP Science Meeting on the future of continen- transfer between the lowermost mantle (e.g., core-mantle tal scientific drilling, held in Potsdam in November 2013. boundary) and the surface drives these global geodynamic processes. Subduction of lithospheric plates transfers cool Keywords Global geodynamics · Plate tectonics · fractionated material into the lower mantle and leads indi- Continental scientific drilling · Heat and mass transfer rectly to the formation of new oceanic lithosphere, while the rise of thermochemical plumes recycles the remnants of these plates back to the surface, driven by heat transfer Introduction across the core–mantle boundary. These global geodynamic cycles are responsible for hotspot volcanism, the formation The geodynamic evolution of Earth began shortly after of continental crust, collisional orogenies, continental rift- accretion at 4.57 Ga and continues today. -
Junichiro KURODA (Univ. Tokyo) & Yuki MORONO (KCC, JAMSTEC)
Junichiro KURODA (Univ. Tokyo) & Yuki MORONO (KCC, JAMSTEC) Participants • Total ~150 participants Climate & Earth in Ocean • 1/4 was graduated students Motion Changes • Rep: JRFB, ESSAC, ANZIC, SEP 46 37 Biosphere frontiers Earth 20 Connections 42 Steering CoMMittee steering committee TheMe Name Institution Junichiro Kuroda AORI / Univ. Tokyo Azumi KuroyanaGi Tohoku Univ. Climate and Ocean Change Yusuke Okazaki Kyushu Univ. Tsuyoshi NakaGawa Ritsumeikan Univ. MeGumi Saito Nat. Museum Nature Sci. Yuki Morono KCC / JAMSTEC Natsuko Hamamura Kyushu Univ. Yohei Suzuki Univ. Tokyo Biosphere Frontiers Masanori Kaneko AIST / GSJ Fumito Shiraishi Hiroshima Univ. Yoshinori Takano JAMSTEC Kotaro Ujiie Tsukuba Univ. Asuka YamaGuchi AORI / Univ. Tokyo Earth in Motion Saeko Kita BRI BuildinG Research Institute Osamu Fujiwara AIST / GSJ Tomoaki Morishita Kanazawa Univ. ShiGeaki Ono JAMSTEC Earth Connections Katsuyoshi Michibayashi NaGoya Univ, Norikatsu Akizawa AORI / Univ. Tokyo Satoko Ishimaru Kumamoto Univ. Administration Nobu EGuchi Secretary Kae Takahashi JAMSTEC / CDEX Yumi Ebashi Schedule Day 1: Tue. 2 April Day 2: Wed. 3 April Key Questions discussed 1. Do you think the framework of IODP necessary beyond 2023? and why? What is your motivation to participate in IODP/ICDP? What are the benefits of participating in IODP/ICDP? What is the reason why IODP/ICDP should continue? 2. Whatʼs your idea on achievements in challenges of ISP? Is it necessary to be supplemented/modified beyond 2023? How? What new scientific themes/challenges should be formulated in the next program, in addition or replace to the current themes/challenges? 3. What is the science(s) only be achieved by IODP beyond 2023? What is necessary to accomplish the goal (ship, International collaboration, Onboard opportunity, etc.) 4. -
Special Regions’’: Findings of the Second MEPAG Special Regions Science Analysis Group (SR-SAG2)
ASTROBIOLOGY Volume 14, Number 11, 2014 News & Views ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089/ast.2014.1227 A New Analysis of Mars ‘‘Special Regions’’: Findings of the Second MEPAG Special Regions Science Analysis Group (SR-SAG2) John D. Rummel,1 David W. Beaty,2 Melissa A. Jones,2 Corien Bakermans,3 Nadine G. Barlow,4 Penelope J. Boston,5 Vincent F. Chevrier,6 Benton C. Clark,7 Jean-Pierre P. de Vera,8 Raina V. Gough,9 John E. Hallsworth,10 James W. Head,11 Victoria J. Hipkin,12 Thomas L. Kieft,5 Alfred S. McEwen,13 Michael T. Mellon,14 Jill A. Mikucki,15 Wayne L. Nicholson,16 Christopher R. Omelon,17 Ronald Peterson,18 Eric E. Roden,19 Barbara Sherwood Lollar,20 Kenneth L. Tanaka,21 Donna Viola,13 and James J. Wray22 Abstract A committee of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) has reviewed and updated the description of Special Regions on Mars as places where terrestrial organisms might replicate (per the COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy). This review and update was conducted by an international team (SR-SAG2) drawn from both the biological science and Mars exploration communities, focused on understanding when and where Special Regions could occur. The study applied recently available data about martian environments and about terrestrial organisms, building on a previous analysis of Mars Special Regions (2006) undertaken by a similar team. Since then, a new body of highly relevant information has been generated from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (launched in 2005) and Phoenix (2007) and data from Mars Express and the twin Mars Exploration Rovers (all 2003). -
Reports on Deep Earth Sampling and Monitoring
ISSN 1816-8957 , December 2014 18 No. Scientific Drilling Reports on Deep Earth Sampling and Monitoring Corganiser: a web-based software tool for planning time-sensitive sampling of whole rounds during scientific drilling 1 Probing reservoir-triggered earthquakes in Koyna, India, through scientific deep drilling 5 A way forward to discover Antarctica’s past 11 Early Cenozoic tropical climate: report from the Tanzania Onshore Paleogene Integrated Coring (TOPIC) workshop 13 Drilling to investigate processes in active tectonics and magmatism 19 Investigating ultra high-enthalpy geothermal systems: a collaborative initiative to promote scientific opportunities 35 The Open Access ICDP and IODP Program Journal • www.scientific-drilling.net Editorial Preface Dear Reader, Aims & Scope The Lima Climate Change Conference puts the world on track to a new climate agreement to reduce the output of greenhouse Scientific Drilling (SD) is a multidisciplinary gases. There is urgent need for action towards the “stabilization journal focused on bringing the latest science of greenhouse gas atmosphere at a level that would prevent and news from the scientific drilling and related dangerous anthropogenic interferences with the climate system programs to the geosciences community. Sci- …”, and Scientific Drilling contributes to improve our understanding entific Drilling delivers peer-reviewed science of past and recent climatic and environmental change and offers reports from recently completed and ongo- solutions to provide clean, emission-free energy. ing international scientific drilling projects. The journal also includes reports on Eng-ineering Improving the output of geothermal energy was the goal of a Developments, Technical Developments, Work- workshop in southern California (p. 34–42) to discuss the science shops, Progress Reports, and news and updates and technology involved in developing high-enthalpy geothermal from the community.