DOSECC Drilling Project in Chicxulub

Nature covered the DOSECC drilling project in Chicxulub in the recent article Geologists Drill into Heart of Dinosaur-Killing Impact (March 31, 2016).  The project successfully completed in May.  The Chicxulub crater is believed to be the result of the asteroid that struck the Earth 66 million years ago and resulted in the mass extinction of over 70% of life on earth, including flightless dinosaurs. 

“All of this happened in the span of several devastating minutes,” says Joanna Morgan, a geophysicist at Imperial College London and the project’s co-chief scientist. “It’s astounding.”  The core sample pulled from 1300 meters below the ocean floor off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico is expected to reveal the event’s impact on Earth’s climate, atmosphere, geography, and life itself. 

“At Chicxulub, researchers will look for evidence to explain how a 14-kilometre-wide asteroid could have punched a hole that pushed rocks from the surface down some 20–30 kilometres. Flowing like liquid, the rocks then rebounded towards the sky — reaching as far as 10 kilometres above the original ground level — and finally splattered down to form a peak ring.

“If the 2-month expedition goes as planned, it will bore 1,500 metres into sea-floor rocks. The drill will first pass through carbonate rocks that make up the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico (see map), and eventually reach the fractured ‘impact breccias’ that represent the obliterating impact.”

Read more about coverage of DOSECC’s work at Chicxulub at http://dosecc.com/

DOSECC Chicxulub Crater Project Recognized Worldwide

With the successful conclusion of the high-profile Chicxulub Crater project last month, the DOSECC team was pleased to see attention from around the world as interest grew in the large crater created by a massive asteroid that struck the earth 55 million years ago and led to the extinction of 70% of the planet. 

The Chicxulub core drilling project pulled a quality core sample from 1300 meters beneath the ocean floor.  The sample is expected to shed light on the cause and effect of the crater left by the asteroid that led to a global mass extinction—what geophysicist and expedition leader Joanna Morgan called "The most important event in the last 100 million years." The drilling was recognized and photographed by journalists and scientists from around the world, the Governor of Yucatan, and even an astronaut orbiting the earth. 

You can read more about the international press coverage of the project at http://dosecc.com/

Understanding the Prehistoric Climate in Kenya

The DOSECC core drilling company continues to support the DeepCHALLA project in conjunction with the ICDP, the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program.  DOSECC is obtaining core samples through open-water drilling on Lake Challa, a volcanic crater lake on the border of Tanzania and Kenya. The water body is fed by groundwater from Mount Kilimanjaro and is surrounded by a 100 metres high crater rim, requiring unique considerations for the design, systems engineering, and staff training necessary to obtain quality core samples.

Climate records obtained through sub-tropical cores are compared to those taken in polar regions to determine climate variations. Climate records previously available required additional data samples from an equatorial region to better map historical global climate patterns.  Lake Challa’s location provided an ideal location due to the convergence of both northern and southern hemisphere monsoon activity and the zone of convection between Atlantic and Indian Ocean moisture sources.

The goal of this project was to drill a quality core sample that would clearly show climate and ecosystem conditions over the past 250,000 years.  This span would encompass two full glacial-interglacial cycles and the entire known existence of modern humans in East Africa. The climate record’s length, in tandem with excellent sediment conditions, creates an unprecedented opportunity to better understand climate variability and record extremes and weather events.

More info at http://dosecc.com/

DOSECC Core Drilling Aids Geological Research on Surtsey Island, Iceland

UNESCO World Heritage site Surtsey Island is a new landmass created by volcanic activity.  The isolated island is located off the south coast of Iceland and has been carefully protected as a globally-recognized environment ideal for investigating processes of rift zone volcanism, hydrothermal alteration and biological colonization of basaltic tephra, and development of industrial resources using palagonitic tuff as a prototype for sustainable, high performance concretes.

In 2016, DOSECC was the core drilling company retained as part of the SUSTAIN drilling program (Surtsey Underwater volcanic System for Thermophiles, Alteration processes and INnovative concretes) to drill two cored holes while protecting the sensitive wildlife and vegetative habitats of the Surtsey Natural Reserve. A clean, 200-meter-deep vertical hole with anodized aluminum casing was used to explore pore water chemistry, microbiota-water- rock interactions, and seawater compositional modifications over time.

After drilling is complete, a Surtsey Subsurface Observatory will be installed in this hole for long term monitoring and in situ experiments. A 300-meter- long angle hole with steel casing inclined west toward the eastern volcanic vent axis will intersect dike intrusions, provide additional information on deep stratigraphy and structure, and investigate higher temperature zones of the hydrothermal system. Read more about this project at http://dosecc.com/

DOSECC Drilling Team and Scientists Declare Chicxulub Crater Core Drill a Success

The high-profile Chicxulub Crater project concluded in May 2016 with unprecedented press coverage.  The DOSECC team of engineers and drillers was proud to be chosen as the drilling company of choice for this important mission which sought to shed light on the crater left by the asteroid that led to a global mass extinction of over 70% of life on earth.

This project studies what geophysicist and expedition leader Joanna Morgan called "The most important event in the last 100 million years."  The project was covered by the BBC, NPR, Nature, Discover Magazine, and Scientific American, among many others. The team worked for six weeks off the coast of the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula and drilled through hundreds of meters of ocean and 600 meters of sediment, ultimately reaching 1300 meters below the ocean floor to pull a quality core sample. 

The sample will be frozen to protect potential DNA samples and shipped to the US for CT scanning and evaluation. Then it will be moved to a laboratory in Germany where it will be evaluated by scientists from around the world.  Read more about press coverage and this project at http://dosecc.com/