ICDP-UK News

2019

August

Deep drilling in Lake Tanganyika – a workshop report

In June 2019, Melanie Leng (British Geological Survey) attended an ICDP funded workshop in Dar es Saleem, Tanzania, with around 70 other scientists from 10 countries, with the aim to form a plan to obtain a long sediment core from the lake that will contain information on past conditions in Lake Tanganyika and tropical East Africa...

Lake Tanganyika is one of the oldest, largest and deepest freshwater lakes on Earth and has been collecting information in the sediments deposited on the lake bed for an estimated 10 million years. The core provides an outstanding opportunity to study these sediments and transform our understanding of processes controlling for example: changes in the plants and animals in and around the lake; the recent dramatic decline in fish stocks (which has huge implications for the people that live on the lakeshores); and perhaps more importantly if these changes are linked to current and past global climate change or volcanism, and/or if the most recent changes are as a result of human impact due to increasing agriculture, industrialisation and human population growth.

Very deep in Lake Tanganyika there are sediments going back many million years (estimated from seismic reflection profiles) so we can also investigate tropical climate (in the Miocene) to a time when global climate was warmer than the preceding Oligocene and the following Pliocene. Two major ecosystems first appeared in the Miocene, kelp forests in the oceans and major grasslands on the continents. The expansion of grasslands is correlated to a drying of the continents as global climate warned. It is important to understand how our ecosystems respond to climate changes especially warmer worlds.

Drilling into the Lake Tanganyika lake bed and subsequently investigating the core will produce continuous information which will be used as a type section for the tropics. It will be expensive and will require a whole range of expertise not available in one country. The coring requires pooling international funds and expertise and hence we have linked up with the International Continental scientific Drilling Programme (ICDP) to help facilitate the organisation of the drilling. ICDP funded the workshop in Dar es Salaam which enabled us to develop scientific and logistic plans for drilling. More than 70 researchers from 10 countries attended the workshop including colleagues from Tanzania, Burundi and Congo which also allows us to build capacity in these countries. From the UK the following attended and represented a range of international expertise:

Philip Barker (Lancaster), Ellinor Michel (NHM), Helen Roberts (Aberystwyth), Charlotte Spencer–Jones (Durham), Richard Staff (SUERC), Jonathan Todd (NHM), Chris Wollf (Lancaster) as well as Melanie Leng (BGS).

The whole group are now writing applications to our national funders to acquire cofounding for the drilling, the science, and training and outreach activities for the people that live around the lake. It’s a hugely ambitious project and may take several years to come to fruition, but we are all working hard to make sure the research is delivered to answer some of the most pressing questions in the changing East African climate.

July

The ICDP Executive Committee and Assembly of Governors met in Switzerland at the end of May 2019. Three full drilling proposals and two workshop proposals were approved.

The full drilling proposals are:

• Barberton Archaean Surface Environments (BASE)
• The Bushveld Complex Drilling Project (BCDP)
• Drilling Active Faults in Northern Europe (DAFNE) (approved pending an addendum)

Congratulations to Wolfgang Maier and Ake Fagereng, both University of Cardiff, who are PIs on BCDP and DAFNE respectively.

The workshop proposals are:

• Cornell University Deep Geothermal Test Borehole
• Lake Izabal Basin Research Endeavor (LIBRE)

Calls for participation in both workshops are expected soon.

More information

June

The current UK representatives and committee members are:

• Executive Committee and UK convenor – Dr Kathryn Goodenough (BGS)
• Assembly of Governors – Dr Beth House (NERC)
• Science Advisory Group – Prof Tamsin Mather (Oxford)
• UK Convenor – Prof Philip Barker (Lancaster)
• UK Convenor – Prof Joanna Morgan (Imperial)

More information

March

1) The ICDP annual report is now available to download.

2) Panel dates: SAG: March 12–14, 2019 in Muscat, Oman; EC & AOG: May 20–24, 2019 in Switzerland.
More information about the ICDP steering groups/panels.

3) ICDP AT EGU 2019 GENERAL ASSEMBLY (7–12 APRIL, VIENNA); Town Hall Meeting: Tue, 9 Apr, 19:00–20:00, room N2; IODP–ICDP Session: Thu, 11 Apr, 8:30–12:30, room 0.31 (orals), posters 16:15–18:00; ICDP–IODP Town Hall Meeting on Scientific Drilling: Tue, 09 Apr, 19:00–20:00, Room N2.
Please come to our session: SSP1.2/CL1.32/EMRP3.11/GD2.9/GMPV1.7/NH5.12/TS1.4. Achievements and perspectives in scientific ocean and continental drilling: Thursday, 11 Apr, 8:30–12:30 orals (room 0:31), 16:15–18:00 posters.

February

1) LacCore: National Lacustrine Core Facility and the Continental Scientific Drilling Coordination Office (CSDCO) are offering several upcoming training opportunities.

NEW Short Courses

CSDCO/LacCore now offers FREE training courses in coring, core description and processing, core software, and more! Short courses are open to all! Registration is open for courses in February, March, and April.

Learn more about short courses.

Drilling and Coring Summer Institute

This institute is a comprehensive 10–day course for graduate students, postdocs, and early–career researchers. The application deadline is March 8.

Learn more about the summer institute.

Visiting Grad Student Program

Travel grants are provided for graduate students to bring their cores to the CSDCO/LacCore facilities. The application deadline is March 29.

Learn more about the visiting grad student program.

2) Input needed on CORES study

We'd also like to remind our community to provide input to the CORES study. Please see the request below from Dennis Kent, Rutgers:

The National Academies is conducting a study on Catalyzing Opportunities for Research in the Earth Sciences (CORES) for the Division of Earth Sciences at the National Science Foundation and wants to hear from you!

The purpose of the CORES study is to:

1. identify a concise set of high–priority scientific questions for the next decade,
2. assess infrastructure needed to address these questions, and
3. determine opportunities for greater collaboration with other NSF divisions and directorates, federal agencies, and domestic and international partners.

The CORES website provides more detailed information on the study charge, as well as a complete list of committee members.

Please contribute your comments regarding the top Earth science priorities for the next decade.

January

1) The International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, ICDP, kindly invites scientists from upcoming scientific drilling projects to apply for the: ICDP Training Course on Downhole Measurements, to beheld June 24-28th, 2019, in Kuopio/Outokumpu, Finland. This training course will encompass the different technical and scientific aspects of downhole measurements and their analysis in scientific drilling, including borehole logging under various conditions and scientific demands, seismic borehole measurements, downhole hydraulic tests, fluid logging & sampling, and fibre optical methods. The training course is recommended for graduate students, PhD students, Early-Careers and Senior Scientists involved in running or upcoming scientific drilling projects.

Deadline for application is February 15th, 2019. Decisions will be communicated by end of February. Preference will be given to applicants involved in ICDP drilling projects, applicants from ICDP member countries, developing countries, and those from countries considering ICDP membership. For the successful candidates, expenses including those for travelling, visa, meals and accommodation will be covered by ICDP. Applications should include a letter of interest, CV, and at least two letters of support. Please sent your application documents as single PDF file to outreach@gfz-potsdam.de. File size should not exceed 10 Megabytes. More information on ICDP training measures can be found at www.icdp-online.org.

2018

December

1) The International Continental Scientific Drilling Program and the US Continental Scientific Drilling Coordination Office are pleased to invite you to the ICDP-CSDCO Townhall Meeting. Monday, December 10, 7–9 PM, Washington Plaza Hotel, Grand Ballroom, 10 Thomas Circle, Washington DC 20005, 0.6 mile/1 km from the AGU Convention Center.

CSDCO and ICDP representatives and scientists will speak about program updates and future developments, followed by the opportunity to network with your colleagues over refreshments. Please visit also the IODP–ICDP island booth #1048–1050–1150 in the AGU exhibition area.

More information

October

1) IIAS-ISF workshop: Dead Sea Borehole: Jerusalem, Israel, November 25 to 28, 2018. Archive of the late Quaternary environmental history (climate and seismicity) of the Levant.

Download workshop call

2) ICDP workshop on: Probing the Late Paleozoic Icehouse-Greenhouse transition (DeepDust) Norman, Oklahoma, 7-10 March, 2019, Deadline for application submission: January 1, 2019.

Download call to apply

Applications (single PDF) should include a 1–page CV that lists contact details, education and appointments, and selected key publications, and 1–page summary of your interests and intended contribution to the project. Please sent to Lynn Soreghan, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, LSOREG@ou.edu. This ICDP workshop will be held to develop scientific and logistical plans for coring Permian records in Oklahoma and Western Europe. The workshop will include summaries of the tectonic and paleogeographic settings of these sites, presentations on climatic and environmental issues of the Permian, and key questions; articulation of both primary and auxiliary scientific objectives of a deep drilling project; and a discussion of scientific collaboration and responsibilities, potential drill sites, operations, outreach, logistics, funding and permitting.

September

1) ICDP Workshop on Scientific Drilling of Lake Tanganyika, Africa, Exploring the paleoclimatic, tectonic, and evolutionary history of Africa’s oldest lake, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 17–20 June, 2019.

Lake Tanganyika is one of the oldest, largest, and deepest lakes anywhere on Earth and provides an outstanding opportunity to transform our understanding of processes controlling tropical climate, biological diversification, and Earth surface (source–to–sink) processes in continental rift basins. The lake contains an extraordinary tropical sedimentary record that continuously spans the Miocene to present at drillable depths, constitutes a textbook example of an explosive evolutionary radiation, and is a natural laboratory to study rates and processes of extensional deformation and coupled surface processes. Scientific drilling at Lake Tanganyika can therefore provide transformative insights into the climatic, geological, and biologic evolution of this tropical African rift system.

Existing sediment cores from Lake Tanganyika provide benchmark records of tropical environmental change, yet barely scrape the surface of the lake's sedimentary record. An ICDP funded workshop will be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from June 17–20, 2019 to develop scientific and logistical plans for drilling the lake's deeper sediments. The agenda of the workshop will include reviews of existing datasets that address the climatic and environmental evolution of Africa; a summary of the geologic and limnologic setting of Lake Tanganyika and its sediments; the formulation of scientific objectives and goals of a deep drilling project; and a discussion of scientific collaboration and responsibilities, potential drill sites, operations, outreach, logistics, funding and permitting. The principal workshop outcome will be a draft science plan that will form the basis for a proposal on Scientific Drilling in Lake Tanganyika.

The Project Steering Committee invites applications from members of the international community who are interested in scientific drilling of Lake Tanganyika to attend this workshop. Applications should include full contact details, a 2–page CV that summarizes your research experience and expertise, and a 1-page description of your interests and intended contribution to the project in a single PDF file. We welcome applicants from any field but particularly encourage applicants with interests that will complement existing expertise in the project, including geomicrobiology, borehole logging, and genetics. Applicants are requested to contact the workshop organizer before December 1, 2018 (James M. Russell, Brown University, Rhode Island, James_Russell@Brown.edu). Selected participants will be informed in late December, and costs will be covered as far as possible by ICDP funds. Preference will be given to scientists from ICDP member countries, junior scientists, and to scientists whose expertise and interests complement that of current project participants.

July

1) ICDP Training Course on Continental Scientific Drilling to be held from November 18-23, 2018 at the Geocenter KTB in Windischeschenbach (Germany). This training course will touch upon all relevant aspects of continental scientific drilling, including project planning and management, pre-site surveys, drilling engineering, sample handling and storage, on-site studies, downhole logging, data management, and post-drilling measures. The training course is recommended for master students, doctorate students and post-docs involved in scientific drilling. Deadline for application is September 14, 2018. Decisions will be communicated by end of September. Preference will be given to applicants involved in ICDP drilling projects, applicants from ICDP member countries, developing countries, and those from countries considering ICDP membership. For the successful candidates, expenses including those for travelling, visa, meals and accommodation will be covered by ICDP. Applications should include a letter of interest, CV, and at least two letters of support.

Please send your application including the support letters as single pdf file to icdp-outreach(at)gfz-potsdam.de

More information on ICDP training measures can be found at www.icdp-online.org

Call to Apply

June

1) The following workshop proposals with UK involvement were approved by ICDP at the Executive Committee and Assembly of Governors in May 2018:

• Neogene environmental and geological evolution of the Central American bridge between two continents and two oceans (NICA–BRIDGE)
• Lake Tanganyika Drilling: Addressing World–Class Scientific Questions In Paleoclimatology, Tectonics And Evolutionary Ecology In Africa's Oldest Lake
• Colorado Coring Project II and the Junggar Basin Early Jurassic: Low to High Latitude Transect of Environmental, Climatic, and Biotic Evolution
• Deep Dust: Probing Continental Climate of the Late Paleozoic Icehouse–Greenhouse Transition.

2) The following full drilling proposals with UK PIs were approved by ICDP at the Executive Committee and Assembly of Governors in May 2018:

• GRIND: Geological Research through Integrated Neoproterozoic Drilling: The Ediacaran–Cambrian Transition (UK PI's Tony Prave and Cathrine Rose, University of St Andrews).
• IMMAGE: Investigating Miocene Mediterranean–Atlantic Exchange (UK PI's Rachel Flecker, University of Bristol and Mike Rogerson, University of Hull) – pending joint IODP approval.

May

1) Continental Drilling and a visit to China... by Melanie Leng

In early summer each year the International Continental scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) committee meets to assess applications for drilling deep holes in the Earth. This year the meeting was held in Guilin, China. Here Melanie Leng explains a bit about ICDP, the UK’s geoscience ICDP community, and her trip to China as the UK's representative on the ICDP Executive Committee...

More information

March

1) Call for applications to participate in shipboard core logging activities, deadline April 30th 2018

OmanDP Phase 2 coring is now complete! We now have 1700 m of core (100% recovery) making it's way to Japan for detailed core description onboard the Chikyu Research Vessel, which will be berthed in the port of Shimizu for the duration of the core description campaign. Work on the Chikyu will take place from 5th July to 5th September 2018.

The deadline for applications is April 30th 2018 – apply here: (www.omandrilling.ac.uk/application-form). We are looking for a range of expertise in Igneous petrology, Alteration and metamorphism, Structural geology, Geochemistry, Paleomagnetism, Physical properties, and those with data processing capabilities (e.g., X–ray tomography).

More Details

February

1) ICDP commissioned a short video to describe what ICDP does, please take a look on Youtube...

2) ICDP Training Course 2018 on Planning, Management and Execution of Continental Scientific Drilling Projects
ICDP invites Principal Investigators, project managers and leading scientists of upcoming continental scientific drilling projects to apply for this course. Deadline for application: March 15, 2018. The course will be held from May 15–17 at the KTB GeoZentrum at Windischeschenbach, Germany, and will touch upon relevant aspects for managing a scientific drilling project, including Proposal Writing & Multi–Source Fundraising, Drilling Workflow & Terminologies, Health, Safety and Environment, On–Site Management, Sample Handling and Curation, Data Management, and Outreach. Applications should include a letter of interest and a CV. Deadline for application is March 15, 2018; decisions will be communicated by end of March. Preference will be given to applicants involved in ICDP drilling projects, applicants from ICDP member countries, developing countries, and those from countries considering ICDP membership. For the successful candidates, costs including those for travelling, visa, and accommodation will be covered by the ICDP. Please send your application to icdp-outreach@gfz-potsdam.de

3) PhD project available at the University of Plymouth using samples from the ICDP Oman Drilling Project cores.

Project title: Deciphering the signature of fluid/rock reaction in the lower oceanic crust: The Oman ophiolite analogue. Project Supervisors: Dr Michelle Harris, Prof. Antony Morris and Prof. Damon Teagle.

Project Description: Recent studies have highlighted the requirement for hydrothermal circulation at mid ocean ridges to extend into the lower crust

1. How deep these fluids penetrate, how much fluid reaches these depths and what are the fluid pathways are critical questions to answer in order to test the two end member models (gabbro glacier and multiple sills
2. for the accretion of the lower crust. Hydrothermal circulation is recorded by fluid/rock reactions that result in the formation of secondary minerals; rocks from the ocean crust therefore provide a record of this key Earth process
3. Field studies of ophiolites have been critical for the development of our understanding of the ocean crust, but have been limited to samples exposed at the surface. The ICDP Oman Drilling Project (www.omandrilling.ac.uk) has successfully recovered 1200m of cores from the lower crust of the Oman ophiolite, providing a unique set of cores to test these end member models
4. This project will combine high–resolution quantitative core logging along with novel imaging methods (xCT and imaging spectroscopy) with the outcrop scale context, providing an unrivalled opportunity to study the formation of the ocean crust.

Project aims: (1) to determine the characteristics of the lower crustal hydrothermal system both in terms of the fluid and rock, and (2) to test the end member accretion models. The student will be trained in and apply high-resolution core logging, petrology (optical, SEM) and geochemical analysis to a suite of rocks and secondary minerals from the Oman Drilling Project cores.

Deadline to apply: Noon 28th February 2018.

Enquiries to: michelle.harris@plymouth.ac.uk

Eligibility and application details

January

1) Congratulations to Weimu on her paper based on pilot data ahead of MOCHRAS drilling: Xu, W, Ruhl, M, Jenkyns, H C, Leng, M J, Huggett, J M, Minisini, D, Ullmann, C V, Riding, J B, Weijers, J W, Storm, M S, Percival, L M, Tosca, N J, Idiz, E F, Tegelaar, E W, and Hesselbo, S P. 2018. Evolution of the Toarcian (Early Jurassic) carbon–cycle and global climatic controls on local sedimentary processes (Cardigan Bay Basin, UK). Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 484, 396–411.

2) ICDP Workshop on Drilling Investigation of Seismogenic Crust in Oklahoma (DISCO) – 3–5 May 2018 (Norman, Oklahoma).

2017

November

1) ICDP workshop on drilling Lake Nam Co, Tibetian Plateau: 22–24 May 2018 (Beijing, China). A continuous, high–resolution, record for these long time scales from Nam Co can be recovered by drilling to study sediment budget changes under varying climatic and tectonic settings, and contribute to a better understanding of the Quaternary geomagnetic field. Members of the international scientific community interested in the planning of and participating in the research project, are invited to apply for participation in the workshop. It will be held in Beijing, China, from 22–24 May 2018 to further develop the project's scientific goals and to discuss technical and logistic issues for a full proposal to ICDP. Interested parties are requested to submit their application by 15 January 2018 to Torsten Haberzettl (torsten.haberzettl@uni-jena.de) and Liping Zhu (lpzhu@itpcas.ac.cn) with contact details, a summary of research interests and expertise, and a brief description of the intended project contribution.

More information

2) SAG meeting: March 26–28, 2018 in Grand Junction, USA; EC & AOG: May 29 – June 03, 2018 in Guilin, China.

For more information about the ICDP steering groups/panels.

October

1) Dr Lizzie Garratt, NERC Head of Earth & Energy Science, has taken over as the UK representative on the ICDP Assembly of Governors, replacing Prof John Ludden(BGS). Thanks to John for his contribution to ICDP–UK over the last 5 years.

2) The online application form has now re-opened for OmanDP Phase 2 (https://www.omandrilling.ac.uk/application-form). Please note that if you have already applied previously you do not need apply again.The deadline for applications to participate in Phase 2 drill site activities is 17:00 BST Friday 13th October 2017. Please note that we will start staffing the November slots as soon as we receive applications and therefore people who are keen to join at the start should submit their applications asap. Remember that all science party members (those who participate in Phase 2 drill site and/or logging operations) will be eligible to make sample requests within the Phase 2 moratorium period (see the OmanDP Sampling Policy).

3) The ICDP Best Practice Brochure (Primer) – the 3rd Edition of the ICDP Primer (published 09/2017) is now online.

September

1) ICDP science at the GSA annual meeting, October 22–25 2017, Seattle USA T96. Understanding African Environmental History through Continental Scientific Drilling: Past Successes and Future Opportunities This session will discuss results from recent and planned continental scientific drilling projects in Africa, with a focus on understanding the evolution of African climate, environments, and sedimentary systems during the Neogene. P3. IODP–ICDP Expedition 364 to the Chicxulub Impact Crater Sixty–five million years ago, the evolution of Earth was dramatically altered by the Chicxulub impact event. This icon of the impact–mass extinction hypothesis was targeted by IODP–ICDP Expedition 364 to test models of peak–ring formation, impact–generated hydrothermal systems, habitability within those systems, and the recovery of life in the vicinity of the crater. This Pardee Keynote Symposium will reveal first–year studies of a borehole that pierced the PETM, the Paleogene sediments that cover the crater, impact–melt bearing units on the floor of the crater, and the granitic core of a peak-ring that was uplifted ~10 km in a geologic instant.

2) IDDP-2 Video

Check the recently published video on IDDP-2 from the Iceland Deep Drilling Project.

3) ICDP panel dates SAG meeting: March 26–28, 2018 in Grand Junction, USA;EC & AOG: May 29 – June 03, 2018 in Guilin, China.

For more information about the ICDP steering groups/panels.

July

1) The Operational Support Group at the Center for Scientific Drilling, a section of the GFZ Potsdam, Germany, is inviting applications for a Research Scientist in the role of a Staff Scientist for scientific ICDP drilling projects.

More information

Many thanks, Ronald Conze (Scientific Drilling – ICDP/OSG).

June

1) Update on UK ICDP membership...
As most of you know, BGS has paid the ICDP membership fee on behalf of UK ICDP since 2012. The intention in doing this was to demonstrate that breadth and quality of interest in ICDP facilitated science in the UK. The results on drilling proposals, workshop activities and also co-funding from NERC science grants speak for themselves and UK scientists have rapidly taken a leading position in ICDP.

NERC have agreed to fund the ICDP membership fee through 2018 and provide time for NERC to renegotiate with ICDP on continued membership.

BGS will continue to support Melanie Leng (ICDP Executive Committee) and Kathryn Goodenough (Chair of the ICDP Science Advisory Group) in their ICDP-related activities and will provide support for UK-ICDP secretariat. John Ludden will step down at the UK’s representative on the Assembly of Governors – and his position will be replaced by NERC (Beth House/Lizzie Garratt) with immediate effect. BGS will work with GFZ on operational aspects of drilling and will also be championing some projects that fit closely with BGS strategy.

2) Geoblog about the latest ICDP Executive Committee in Kiruna...
In early June each year the International Continental scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) committee meets to assess applications for drilling deep holes in the Earth. This year the meeting was held in Kiruna in northern Sweden. Here Melanie Leng explains a bit about ICDP, the UK’s geoscience ICDP community, and her trip to Kiruna as the UK’s representative on the ICDP Executive Committee...

More information

3) Open call to apply for the ICDP 2017 Training Course on Continental Scientific Drilling – deadline for application is August 18, 2017
The training course will be held from November 5–10, 2017 either at Caernarfon (UK) nearby the ICDP–sponsored JET drilling project or at the Geocenter KTB in Windischeschenbach (Germany) and is recommended for PhD students, post–docs and scientists involved in scientific drilling. For the successful candidates, expenses for travel, visa, meals and accommodation will be covered by ICDP.

Check the ICDP website for more details (http://www.icdp-online.org/).

Applications should include a letter of interest, CV, and at least two letters of support. Please send your application by August 18 to icdp-outreach@gfz-potsdam.de

April

1) Dear colleagues and friends of ICDP attending the EGU General Assembly 2017 in Vienna,You are cordially invited to join the ICDP–IODP Townhall Meeting on Scientific Drilling on Tuesday, April 25, Room G2, 19:00–20:00. ICDP and IODP scientists and program representatives will provide brief updates on current projects and future key research topics. These updates will be followed by an opportunity to get together over refreshments. We furthermore invite you to take part on the joint IODP–ICDP Session: Achievements and perspectives in scientific ocean and continental drilling (SSP1.3), Room 1.85, Thursday, April 27, 13:30–15:00 and 15:30–17:00, Poster attendance: Thursday, April 27, 17:30–19:00. Please take also the opportunity to meet and discuss with us at the IODP/ECORD-ICDP booth #60–63 in the Entrance Hall. We are looking forward meeting you in Vienna! Best regards,Thomas Wiersberg

March

1) Congratulations to a team from the UK (headed by Prof Phil Barker) on a successful NERC Standard Grant as part of DeepCHALLA entitled: Climate change in equatorial Africa: testing the 'megadrought' hypothesis and its implications for human evolution. The project hypothesis is that high orbital eccentricity during the period 130-90 ka BP amplified the 23 ka, precessional insolation changes, and was linked with catastrophic monsoon failure lasting several millennia. Integrated dating methods will be used to produce the first truly high-precision, accurately-dated palaeoenvironmental archive spanning the entirety of these MIS5 African 'mega-droughts'. The project team will reconstruct hydrological conditions over the last 250 ka, using state-of-the-art stable isotope analyses as tracers of drought. Results will facilitate palaeo-hydrological and -climate modelling, generating a step change in our understanding of the causes and nature of these extreme hydrological events, which may have played a major role in the evolution of many species, including humans.

2) Oman Drilling Project update for UK-ICDP
The Oman Drilling Project is an international collaborative project part-funded by the ICDP that will use drill cores to explore the processes that both create and modify the ocean crust and shallow mantle exposed in the Oman ophiolite. Over two phases (December 2016 – March 2017 and October 2017 – March 2018) a series of boreholes from six sites have or will be cored. Rotary drilling will also be undertaken at three sites to facilitate geophysical logging and microbiological and hydrogeological testing. Each drilling phase will be followed by detailed characterisation of cores in the subsequent summer, beginning with Phase 1 cores in July 2017 on board the drilling vessel Chikyu, as part of a collaboration between ICDP and IODP. Phase 1 operations are going extremely well, with 100% core recovery in the three 400 m boreholes in the lower crustal gabbros currently completed. One further borehole is currently being cored at the basal thrust between serpentinised peridotite and the underlying metasediments and metabasalts of the metamorphic sole. Two 400 m rotary boreholes have also been completed during Phase 1 operations. UK scientists from the University of Southampton, Plymouth University and Cardiff University have played crucial roles in the international onsite science team responsible for the initial core curation, imaging and description prior to the cores being shipped to the Chikyu for full description. Applications to participate in Phase 1 core characterisation and Phase 2 activities should be made via the project website. Phase 1 core description on the Chikyu will take place from 15th July to 15th September 2017 (deadline for applications 1st May 2017). Participants will join for one month, with science staff handover on 15th August 2017. Further information about the project can be found at http://www.omandrilling.ac.uk/ and daily updates and photos are being shared via the project twitter and Facebook pages.

A PhD project based on the lower crustal gabbroic cores with Dr Michelle Harris at Plymouth University is currently being advertised, the deadline for applications is April 30th. More details on the project are available here: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/student-life/your-studies/the-graduate-school/postgraduate-research-studentships/deciphering-the-signature-of-fluidrock-reaction-in-the-lower-oceanic-crust-the-oman-ophiolite-analogue

January

1) The ICDP Annual Report 2016 is now online:
http://www.icdp–online.org/.../Annual_ICDP_Report_2016_web.pdf

2) A change in the ICDP Executive Committee Chairman. After six successful years as Chairman of the ICDP Executive Committee, Prof Brian Horsfield will be handing over his position to Prof Axel Liebscher, Head of Section on Geological Storage at GFZ, with effect from April 2017.

2016

December

1) A PhD project using the Oman Drilling Project drill cores is currently being advertised by the University of Southampton with Juerg Matter & Damon Teagle.

2) Don't forget... ICDP accepts proposals of all kinds up to January 15 each year. All proposals will be reviewed by the Science Advisory Group in early spring. Workshop proposals will be decided on by the Executive Committee in early summer, while Full Proposals will be decided on by the Assembly of Governors shortly after the EC meeting.

More information

3) MagellanPlus Workshop at Campi Flegrei. Development of an IODP Drilling Proposal at Campi Flegrei linking to ICDP Drilling. February 25–28, 2017, San Domenico Maggiore Convent, Naples, Italy.

More information

4) Scientific Exploration of Induced SeisMicity and Stress (SEISMS). ICDP–SCEC workshop, March 29–31, 2017, at Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, USA.

Read more... The workshop will focus on the types of earthquake science questions that could be addressed with fault zone boreholes in and around active faults, and will evaluate different strategies for making direct observations of earthquake rupture in the subsurface. To apply to the workshop, send a 2 page CV and a single page statement of interest to seisms@ldeo.columbia.edu. The statement should include your interest in the project and a summary of your expertise. The deadline for travel support application is January 6, 2017.

5) The Oman Drilling Project is underway, with the first drill site science team assembling, check out their Facebook page

October

1) The Biogeosciences second special issue of papers from the SCOPSCO project is now online: "Integrated perspectives on biological and geological dynamics in ancient Lake Ohrid". This volume contains 5 papers with UK authors. Editor(s): B. Wagner, T. Wilke, F. Wagner-Cremer, and J. Middelburg

2) ICDP has a Facebook page: Any news from the UK can be uploaded as a Visitor Post or send content to Melanie Leng who is an administrator.

3) ICDP blog: Linking Geology & Biology in Europe's oldest lake: a 1.3 million–year record of climate change and evolution from Lake Ohrid... by Jack Lacey and Melanie Leng

The Lake Ohrid drilling project has featured regularly on the BGS blog site (Geoblog) over past years, now reaching its final stages Jack Lacey and Melanie Leng travelled to the Netherlands to attend the 6th project workshop in Utrecht. Here they report on the meeting and provide a much overdue update on this ground-breaking interdisciplinary research...

4) Update on the Chicxulub crater project by Prof Joanne Morgan

The UK project lead is Prof Joanna Morgan (Imperial College London) aimed to drill the Chicxulub crater's peak ring – a ring of hills within the impact basin to understand peakact climate, investigate the recovery of life in a sterile zone, examine whether impact craters could have been habitats for ring and large crater formation, the rock weakening mechanism that leads to flat final craters, constrain the post–imp early life, and study an atypical PETM. The drilling was successful and the cores collected include 120 m of limestone sediments deposited between 65.5 million years ago to around 50 million years ago, as well as some 120 m of broken and melted rocks burying a ring of mountains (the peak ring) that surround the center of the crater. There is abundant evidence that a vigorous hydrothermal system existed in the wake of the impact with fluids flowing through the broken and melted rocks that cover the peak ring. The team has also found that microbial life found a foothold in the crater likely taking advantage of the chemistry and porous nature of the broken and melted rocks. Sediments that bury the crater, which were recovered in the Expedition 364 cores, include the critical time intervals when marine life made a recovery at ground zero where ocean conditions may have been toxic for an extended period of time after the impact.

For more information please contact Joanne Morgan.

5) Update on the ICDP Workshop on Deep Drilling of Lake Chad.

Seven UK-based scientists attended the ICDP workshop aimed at preparing a full drilling proposal to recover a 10Ma climate record from Lake Chad. The workshop was held on 21–23 September in Aix–en–Provence in France and brought together an international group including some key governmental and research players from Chad. Discussions focussed on the importance of this unique north African monsoon record as well as the logistical challenges posed by drilling in Chad. The meeting participants agreed to work together to submit a full drilling proposal to ICDP in January 2017 under the leadership of Florence Sylvestre (CEREGE). The large UK team which comprises Simon Armitage (Royal Holloway), Charlie Bristow (Birkbeck), Leon Clarke (MMU), Rachel Flecker (Bristol), Jonathan Holmes (UCL), Ulrich Salzmann (Northumbria) and Ben Tutolo (Oxford) will contribute substantially to all aspects of the drilling and subsequent science.

For more details please contact Rachel Flecker.

August

1) Congratulations to the following UK researchers who have been selected to attend the ICDP Workshop on Deep Drilling of Lake Chad which will take place 21st–23rd September in Aix–en–Provence: Jonathan Holmes (UCL), Charlie Bristow (Birkbeck), Rachel Flecker (Bristol), Simon Armitage (Royal Holloway), Leon Clarke (Manchester Metropolitan), and Benjamin Tutolo (Oxford).

July

1) Congratulations to the following UK researchers who have been selected for the 2016 ICDP "Training Course on Continental Scientific Drilling" to be held in October 2016 at the GFZ Potsdam: Alex Hudson (Imperial College London, University of Exeter), Bartosz Karykowski (Cardiff University), Clemens Ullmann (University of Exeter), Jack Lacey (BGS), Marisa Storm (University of Oxford).

June

1) A blog by Melanie Leng on the recent ICDP executive committee meeting: Continental Drilling and South Korea

2) Dr Rachel Flecker (Bristol), Dr Mike Rogerson (Hull), Dr Javier Hernandez–Molina (Royal Holloway) and Dr Grant Bigg (Sheffield) are the UK members of an amphibious drilling proposal, IMMAGE (Investigating Miocene Mediterranean–Atlantic Gateway Exchange). ICDP has agreed to fund a workshop to develop the full ICDP–IODP proposal. The date of the workshop has yet to be confirmed but it will be held in Morocco probably towards the end of 2016.

For more details please contact Rachel Flecker.

May

1) Some news on the Joint IODP-ICDP drilling of the Chicxulub impact crater, expedition 364, by Jo Morgan.

The expedition kicked off on 5th April 2016 when members of the ECORD Science Operator (ESO), sailed from Progreso on the Liftboat L/B Myrtle, with the ship’s crew, DOSECC drillers, Barcroft film crew, and offshore science party. The liftboat was jacked up in 19 m deep water, and commenced drilling towards the crater's peak ring – a ring of hills within the impact basin several hundred meters beneath the sea–bottom. The first scientific target was the PETM, which was considered to be deeper than 550 m, hence, open–hole drilling without coring was conducted to 500 m depth. For the rest of the hole, core was recovered using mining drilling technology, and core recovery was close to 100%. The top of the peak ring was encountered at ~618 m and several hundred meters of peak–ring rocks were recovered, with the hole terminating at 1334.7 m depth on 25th May.

The peak ring was found to be formed from granitic basement rocks covered by ~130 meters of impactites. A suite of wireline logs and vertical seismic profile (VSP) data were acquired in three separate runs, between the total depth and surface.

The expedition received a lot of media interest, further information will be available soon, or contact Jo Morgan (j.v.morgan@imperial.ac.uk).

April

1) Note the following ICDP calls for participation:

ICDP Workshop on Deep Drilling of Lake Chad (September 21st–23rd 2016 in Aix–en–Provence, France).
ICDP Training Course on Continental Scientific Drilling (October 16th–20th 2016 at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany).

For more information please contact Dr Thomas Wiersberg

2) For those attending the EGU General Assembly 2016 in Vienna, you are cordially invited to the:

3) "Confessions (blogs) of a Newbie Drill Coordinator" by Jez Everest (BGS) regarding the Chicxulub crater drilling project.
Week 1, week , week 3.

• ICDP–IODP Townhall Meeting on Scientific Drilling on Tuesday, April 19, Room G2, 19:00–20:00. ICDP and IODP scientists and program representatives will provide brief updates on current projects and future key research topics
• ICDP–IODP joint session:Achievements and perspectives in scientific ocean and continental drilling (SSP1.3) on Thursday, April 21. Orals are 8:30–12:00 in room M2, poster presentations is 17:30–19:00.
• The ICDP–DCO–EGU Union Symposium:Deep Geofluids: the bringers of change on Thursday, April 21, Room L6, 15:30–19:00.
• IODP/ECORD–ICDP booth #55–58 in the Entrance Hall.

3) "Confessions (blogs) of a Newbie Drill Coordinator" by Jez Everest (BGS) regarding the Chicxulub crater drilling project.

Week 1, week 2, week 3

4) Funding success! NERC have funded a Large Grant application worth £3.7M to support an ICDP project on the Lower Jurassic in Wales/UK: Integrated understanding of the early Jurassic Earth system and Timescale (JET). The overall PI is Stephen Hesselbo (University of Exeter) with UK Co-Is from Oxford, the BGS and Leeds.

The science objectives are to:

• Achieve a high-resolution continuous cyclostratigraphy for the Early Jurassic and associated astronomical time scale leading to insights into solar system resonance, length-of-day and tidal dissipation; the first biostratigraphically-calibrated magnetostratigraphy for the entire 25 Myr long Early Jurassic based on a single section, and; a full synthesis of radio-isotopic and chronostratigraphic scales.
• Provide a multi-proxy isotopic and elemental chemostratigraphy to track supercontinent break-up influence on the global Earth system and, in particular, a record of the end-Triassic and Early Toarcian mass extinctions, and subsequent recoveries of the carbon cycle, biosphere and ocean, and effects from volatile releases from coeval LIPs.
• Deliver insights into Early Jurassic sea-level change and the greenhouse-icehouse transitions; an understanding of interdependencies between primary productivity, nutrient flux, and ocean redox state; and an integrated record of changes in atmospheric and marine composition understood in the context of quantitative whole-Earth system models.

This project has also received US$1.5M from ICDP towards the drilling.

March

1) Read all about the IODP/ICDP funded project to drill into the Chicxulub crater:

Scientists gear up to drill into 'ground zero' of the impact that killed the dinosaurs in Science. The UK project lead is Prof Joanna Morgan (Imperial College London) and the aims are to drill a single 1500-m hole through the crater's peak ring – a ring of hills within the impact basin to understand peak ring and large crater formation, the rock weakening mechanism that leads to flat final craters, constrain the post-impact climate, investigate the recovery of life in a sterile zone, examine whether impact craters could have been habitats for early life, and study an atypical PETM. David Smith from the BGS is part of the technical drilling team.

2) More media attention of the Chicxulub crater drilling project: Searching for life after the mass extinction

Read more in the Mail Online

3) New super-eruption discovery from the Yellowstone hotspot

Dr Tom Knott, Dr Marc Reichow and Prof Mike Branney from the University of Leicester with their international collaborators, have just reported the discovery of a new super-eruption from the ICDP funded Yellowstone Hotspot project. The group estimate the eruption volume to have exceeded 1,900 km³. The single ignimbrite covers 14,000 km² of Idaho, and is more than 1.3 km thick in the caldera of the supervolcano. It is just one of 12 giant eruptions reported from the area by the team, who show that intense hotspot magmatism caused major crustal subsidence, forming the 100 km-wide Snake River Basin. You can find out more about the new super-eruption in their paper just out in the Geological Society of America Bulletin.

February

1) An update of the HSPDP project has been published in the most recent issue of Scientific Drilling: Cohen, A, Campisano, C, Arrowsmith, R, Asrat, A, Behrensmeyer, A K, Deino, A, Feibel, C, Hill, A, Johnson, R, Kingson, J, Lamb, H, Lowenstein, T, Noren, A, Olago, D, Owen, R B, Potts, R, Reed, K, Renaut, R, Schäbitz, F, Tiercelin, J–J, Trauth, M H, Wynn, J, Ivory, S, Brady, K, O’Grady, R, Rodysill, J, Githiri, J, Russell, J, Foerster, V, Dommain, R, Rucina, S, Deocampo, D, Russell, J, Billingsley, A, Beck, C, Dorenbeck, G, Dullo, L, Feary, D, Garello, D, Gromig, R, Johnson, T, Junginger, A, Karanja, M, Kimburi, E, Mbuthia, A, McCartney, T, McNulty, E, Muiruri, V, Nambiro, E, Negash, E W, Njagi, D, Wilson, J N, Rabideaux, N, Raub, T, Sier, M J, Smith, P, Urban, J, Warren, M, Yadeta, M, Yost, C, Zinaye, B. 2016. The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project: Inferring the Environmental Context of Human Evolution from Eastern African Rift Lake Deposits. Scientific Drilling 21, 1–16 doi:10.5194/sd–21–1–2016

2015

December

1) The International Continental Scientific Drilling Program cordially invites you to the joint IODP/ICDP Town Hall Meeting on Tuesday, December 15, 6:30 PM at the Metropolitan Ballroom, JW Marriott, San Francisco, Union Square, 515 Mason Street. Meet IODP and ICDP representatives for program updates and future developments. A great opportunity to network with your colleagues over refreshments. Please join us also at the ECORD/IODP–ICDP booth #313.

2) A new ground-breaking drilling project gets the go-ahead. This multinational project involves a large international team of engineers and researchers, including several groups from the UK. The ICDP will provide up to $1M funding to retrieve the first core from an active magma chamber in Iceland. The project is the KMDP (Krafla Magma Drilling Project).

The unexpected discovery of a rhyolite magma body only 2.1 km below the Krafla Caldera has opened a window of opportunity for studies leading to fundamental advances in geothermal energy production and assessment of volcanic hazards. This project will piggyback on the drilling of a new geothermal well, which will be deepened with ICDP funds to provide the World's first controlled sampling of an active magma chamber. Drilling will include sampling overlying hydrothermally-altered rocks including the subcritical-supercritical transition, the rock-magma interface, and parly-crystalised magma itself. Drilling into the beating heart of a live volcano and will push drilling technology to its limits, and provide a great leap forward in our ability to sample hitherto inaccessible parts of the geosphere. ICDP-funded activities will form part of a larger collaboration with the ultimate aim of a long-term International Volcanic Geothermal Testbed.

Scientific and engineering objectives relate to development of next-generation supercritical geothermal energy production, and a far deeper understanding of complex magma bodies within calderas:

• Is it possible to drill into, and carefully recover samples from, molten rock at 900°C?
• What is the volatile component of unerupted magma?
• Why was the magma chamber virtually invisible to certain geophysical techniques?
• What controls the size, extent and productivity of the supercritical geothermal resource?
• How and at what rate do heat and volatiles move from magma to the Earth's surface?
• What key parameters signify early warning of caldera unrest and hence potential volcanic hazards?

The project PI is John Eichelberger (University of Alaska) and the UK steering committee member is Sue Loughlin (British Geological Survey).

Over 25 organisations are involved in the development of the KMDP, with UK interests being represented by researchers from: the British Geological Survey, the University of Lancaster, the University of Liverpool, and the University of Manchester.

3) The following were presented at AGU 2015:

• Allen, M, Faulker, D R, Tatham, D, Mariani, E, Boulton, C J. Laboratory Permeability and Seismic velocity anisotropy measurements across the Alpine Fault, New Zealand.
• Boulton, C J, Menzies, C D, Allen, M, Faulkner, D R, Mariani, E. Observations and Implications of Cyclical Slip in DFDP-1 Principal Slip Zone Gouges, Alpine Fault, New Zealand.
• Coussens, J, Woodman, N, Menzies, C D, Teagle, D A H, Sutherland, R, Capova, L, Cox, S C, Upton, P, Townend, J, Toy, V G. Quantifying Hydraulic Conductivity and Fluid Pressures in the Alpine Fault Hanging-Wall Using DFDP-2 Data and Numerical Models.
• Guerin-Marthe, S, Adam, L, Townend, J, Toy, V G, Doan, M, Faulkner, D R. How does the Textural Character of Alpine Fault Rocks Influence their Elasticity and Anisotropy.
• Mathewson, L, Toy, V G, Menzies, C D, Zimmer, M, Erzinger, J, Niedermann, S, Cox, S C. Real Time Mud Gas Logging During Drilling of DFDP-2B.
• Matter, J, Kelemen, P, Teagle, D A H. Scientific Drilling in the Samail Ophiolite, Sultanate of Oman.
• Menzies, C D, Teagle, D A H, Boulton, C J, Toy V G, Townend, J, Sutherland, R. DFDP2 Science Team. Geochemical Characterisation of the Alpine Fault Zone from the DFDP Boreholes.
• Niejeimer, A, Boulton, C J, Toy, V G, Townend, J, Sutherland, S. Low Frictional Strength of Alpine Fault Rocks of DFDP-1 at Elevated Temperature and Low Slip Rate.
• Sutherland, R. et al (inc Menzies, C D, Coussens, J, Boulton, C J, Faulkner, D R, Mariani, E, Allen, M) Extreme Hydrothermal Conditions Near an Active Geological Fault, DFDP-2B Borehole, Alpine Fault, New Zealand.
• Townend, J, Sutherland, R, Toy, V G, Doan, M, Celerier, B, Massiot, C, Coussens, J, Capova, L, Jeppson, T. Petrophysical, Structural, and Hydrogeological Characteristics of the Alpine Fault Hanging Wall Based on DFDP-2 Wireline Logging, Temperature, and Hydraulic Measurements.
• Upton, P, Sutherland, R, Townend, J, Coussens, J, Capova, L. Very high geothermal gradient in near surface of the Whataroa Valley adjacent to the Alpine Fault: topographic driving forces and permeable mountains.

October

1) New UK-led drilling project gets the green light. ICDP have provided US$ 1M funding for a new drilling project on the Paleogene marine record from coastal Tanzania, project TOPIC (Tanzania Onshore Paleogene Integrated Coring).

The project will provide a new integrated stratigraphy for the Tanzanian Paleogene which is well known for its excquisite microfossil preservation and palaeoclimate records. Drilling will include new records through the Paleocene/Eocene and Eocene/Oligocene boundaries, and everything in between. Scientific objectives relate to paleoclimate studies and the deep subsurface biosphere:

• How did atmospheric CO₂ and global temperature co-vary during previous intervals of global warmth?
• How extreme did climatic conditions become in the tropics, in the ocean and on land?
• What was the response of the marine and terrestrial biota to extreme climate states and intervals of climate change?
• Is the paleoclimate forcing and response we infer from the sediment record consistent with the predictions of General Circulation Models (GCMs) that are also used to predict the future?
• What kind of microbial life currently exists subsurface, at what abundance and depth?

The project PI is Paul Pearson (Cardiff University) with other UK Co-Is from UCL, Birmingham, Southampton, BGS, and Bristol.

2) Congratulations to the following (UK) applications to the "ICDP Managing and Execution of Continental Scientific Drilling Projects" training to be run at KTB GeoCentre in Windischeschenbach, Germany, between 19th–21st October 2015: Maarten Blaauw, Judith Coggon, Stephen Hesselbo, Juerg Matter, Paul Pearson.

3) Melanie Leng attended to 8th ECORD-IODP-ICDP Outreach and Education Task Force Meeting between 5th–7th October 2015 at GFZ, Potsdam, Germany. Please contact Melanie Leng (ICDP) or Alan Stevenson (ECORD) if you would like advice about outreach for ICDP projects.

4) Jon Dean attended the "ICDP Training Course on Lacustrine Sediment Drilling" in September at Lake Ohrid (Macedonia).

September

1) Funding success! The ICDP have provided US$1.5M towards the drilling for a project on the Lower Jurassic in Wales/UK: Integrated understanding of the early Jurassic Earth system and Timescale (JET).

The science objectives are to:

• Achieve a high-resolution continuous cyclostratigraphy for the Early Jurassic and associated astronomical time scale leading to insights into solar system resonance, length-of-day and tidal dissipation; the first biostratigraphically-calibrated magnetostratigraphy for the entire 25 Myr long Early Jurassic based on a single section, and; a full synthesis of radio-isotopic and chronostratigraphic scales
• Provide a multi-proxy isotopic and elemental chemostratigraphy to track supercontinent break-up influence on the global Earth system and, in particular, a record of the end-Triassic and Early Toarcian mass extinctions, and subsequent recoveries of the carbon cycle, biosphere and ocean, and effects from volatile releases from coeval LIPs.
• Deliver insights into Early Jurassic sea-level change and the greenhouse-icehouse transitions; an understanding of interdependencies between primary productivity, nutrient flux, and ocean redox state; and an integrated record of changes in atmospheric and marine composition understood in the context of quantitative whole-Earth system models.

The overall PI is Stephen Hesselbo (University of Exeter) with UK Co-Is from Oxford, the BGS and Leeds

2) Congratulations to the ICDP team for successfully putting together a special issue of International Journal of Earth Sciences (volume 104, issue 6) on "A Snapshot of Research Findings Enabled by Scientific Drilling". All papers are open access.

3) Congratulations to Luca Menegon and Mark Anderson (both Plymouth) for their successful applications to the ICDP Scientific Workshop on the "Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonides" project, between 12th-14th October 2015 in Uppsala, Sweden.

4) ICDP-UK Science Showcase

The BGS will be hosting a science showcase of existing and up and coming ICDP co-funded projects on Wednesday 23th September 2015. The speakers and presentation titles are listed below. If you would like to attend please contact Melanie Leng.

ICDP-UK Science Showcase - speakers and presentation titles

	09.30-10.15	Arrival at the BGS, tea & coffee
Prof Melanie Leng	10.15-10.30	Welcome and introduction
Prof Brian Horsfield	10.30-10.45	ICDP over view and opportunities
Prof Stephen Hesselbo	10.45-11.00	Integrated understanding of the early Jurassic Earth system and Timescale (JET)
Prof Philip Barker	11.00-11.15	Drilling of the crater Lake Challa near Mt. Kilimanjaro, Kenya, Tanzania
Dr Dan Condon	11.15-11.30	Geologic Research through Integrated Neoproterozoic Drilling (GRIND)
Prof Melanie Leng	11.30-11.45	Scientific Collaboration On Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid (SCOPSCO)
Prof Charles Cockell	11.45-12.00	Chicxulub Impact Crater
	12.00-13.00	Lunch and general discussion
Prof Henry Lamb	13.00-13.15	Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) - using scientific drilling to understand the paleoclimate context of human evolution
Dr Mike Rogerson	13.15-13.30	The Lake CHAd Deep DRILLing Project (CHADRILL) - unravelling 10 million years of environmental and climatic changes in Africa
Dr Mike Rogerson	13.30-13.45	Investigating Mediterranean-Atlantic Gateway Exchange (IMAGE)
Prof Paul Pearson	13.45-14.00	Tanzania Onshore Paleogene Integrated Coring (TOPIC) - Eocene paleoclimate stratigraphy and deep biosphere
Dr Juerg Matter	14.00-14.15	Scientific Drilling in the Samail Ophiolite, Sultanate of Oman
Dr Catriona Menzies	14.15-14.30	Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP) - Alpine Fault New Zealand
Dr James Riding	14.30-14.45	CONtinuous Coring Of the Cenozoic (CONOSC) - onshore soutern Northe Sea basin
Dr Chris Rochelle	14.45-15.00	Krafla Magma Drilling Project (KMDP)
Dr Nick Roberts	15.00-15.15	Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonides (COSC): Mountain belt dynamics and present-day impacts
Prof John Ludden, Dr Mike Patterson, Prof Brian Horsfield	15.15-16.00	Final discussion, tea & coffee

July

1) Congratulations to Jonathan Dean and Dayton Dove (both BGS) for their successful applications to the ICDP Training Course on Lacustrine Sediment Drilling to be held in September at Lake Ohrid (Macedonia). This training course will cover aspects of scientific drilling in lakes, including project planning and management, pre-site studies, drilling engineering, drill core handling and storage, on-site core analysis, downhole logging, data management, and post-drilling activities.

2) As part of the outreach for the "Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) - using scientific drilling to understand the paleoclimate context of human evolution" project, Julian Ruddock (artist in residence), has produced a short video of his impressions during a visit to the drilling site in November.

3) The latest volume of Scientific Drilling is now online. The following articles have UK authors:

• Lorenz, H, Rosberg, J E, Juhlin, C, Bjelm, L, Almqvist, B S G, Berthet, T, Conze, R, Gee, D G, Klonowska, I, Pascal, C, Pedersen, K, Roberts, N M W, and Tsang, C F. COSC-1 – drilling of a subduction-related allochthon in the Palaeozoic Caledonide orogen of Scandinavia. Pages 1-11.
• Condon, D J, Boggiani, P, Fike, D, Halverson, G P, Kasemann, S, Knoll, A H, Macdonald, F A, Prave, A R, and Zhu, M. Accelerating Neoproterozoic research through scientific drilling. Pages 17-25.
• Friedrich, O, Norris, R D, Wilson, P A, and Opdyke, B N. Newfoundland Neogene sediment drifts: transition from the Paleogene greenhouse to the modern icehouse. Pages 39-42.
• Kieft, T L, Onstott, T C, Ahonen, L, Aloisi, V, Colwell, F, S, Engelen, B, Fendrihan, S, Gaidos, E, Harms, U, Head, I, Kallmeyer, J, Kiel Reese, B, Lin, L H, Long, P, E, Moser, D P, Mills, H, Sar, P, Schulze-Makuch, D, Stan-Lotter, H, Wagner, D, Wang, P L, Westall, F, and Wilkins, M J. Workshop to develop deep-life continental scientific drilling projects. Pages 43-53.

4) Scientific Workshop: on the "Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonides" project. October 12th-14th 2015 in Uppsala, Sweden. Information on workshop objectives and how to apply. Application deadline is August 15.

June

1) ICDP invites Principal Investigators, project managers and leading scientists of upcoming continental scientific drilling projects to apply for the ICDP Training Course on Planning, Management and Execution of Continental Scientific Drilling Projects to be held from October 19-21, 2015, at the GeoZentrum KTB (Germany). This training course will touch upon relevant aspects for managing a scientific drilling project, including:

• Proposal Writing & Multi-Source Fundraising
• Drilling Workflow & Terminologies, Reporting
• Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE)
• On-Site Management
• Sample Handling and Curation
• Dowhhole Logging Planning and Execution
• Outreach Deadline for application is July 31, 2015; decisions will be communicated by August 10. Preference will be given to applicants involved in ICDP drilling projects, applicants from ICDP member countries, developing countries, and those from countries considering ICDP membership. For the successful candidates, costs including those for travelling, visa, and accommodation will be covered by the ICDP. Applications should include a letter of interest and a CV. Please send your application to icdp-outreach@gfz-potsdam.de

More information

2) Continental drilling and a trip to Minneapolis... by Melanie Leng

In early June the ICDP committees met to assess deep drilling of the Earth applications for 2015. The meeting was held at the world famous LacCore (National Lacustrine Core Facility) in Minneapolis. Here Melanie Leng explains a bit about ICDP, the UK’s geoscience community involvement, and her trip to Minneapolis...

More information

May

1) The International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, ICDP invites scientists from upcoming scientific drilling projects for lacustrine sediments to apply for the ICDP Training Course on Lacustrine Sediment Drilling to be held from September 14-16, 2015 at Lake Ohrid (Macedonia). This training course will touch upon relevant aspects of scientific drilling in lakes, including project planning and management, pre-site studies, drilling engineering, drill core handling and storage, on-site core analysis, downhole logging, data management, and post-drilling activities. The training course is recommended for master students, doctorate students and post-docs involved in scientific drilling. Deadline for application is June 30, 2015; decisions will be communicated by July 10. Preference will be given to applicants involved in ICDP drilling projects, applicants from ICDP member countries, developing countries, and those from countries considering ICDP membership. For the successful candidates, costs including those for travelling, visa, and accommodation will be covered by the ICDP. Applications should include a letter of interest, CV, and at least two letters of support. Please send your application to icdp-outreach@gfz-potsdam.de
More information on ICDP training.

2) Update on the Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonides (COSC) project. The COSC project, funded by the ICDP and Swedish Deep Drilling Programme, aims to study mountain building processes in a major Palaeozoic orogen, the deep structure of this mountain belt, and the role it plays in the recent to present-day climate, hydrology and sub-surface biology. The COSC project aims to drill two deep drill holes, the first of which was completed last year. COSC-1 began drilling on May 1st 2014, and was completed on August 26th 2014. The full 2500m that was aimed for was drilled successfully, with a remarkable >99.5% recovery. H-size diameter (96mm) was drilled to 1600m, and this was replaced by N-size down to 2500m. The lithologies encountered comprise felsic orthogneiss and paragneiss mostly, with thin amphibolite and pegmatite layers. The aim of the hole was to penetrate from the Lower Seve Nappe into the unit below, however, a great thickness of mylonitic rocks interpreted as the basal thrust were drilled (~500m), but with no marked changed into an underlying nappe. The drillcore was logged on-site, and has been XRF scanned off-site. Other on-site science included mug logging and measurements, thermal conductivity and hydrological measurements of the drillhole, and matrix gas analyses. The core has been moved to a storage facility in Berlin, and the first sampling party was undertaken in February of this year to begin various scientific studies of the core. These will include physical properties, micro-structural measurements, petrology and geochronology. The operational report and paper discussing the COSC-1 drilling will be soon published in the journal Scientific Drilling. Planning of COSC-2 is underway, so please get in touch with Nick Roberts at the BGS (UK Co-I) if you are interested in scientific collaboration.

3) ICDP-UK science show case workshop

The BGS will be hosting a science showcase of existing and up and coming ICDP co-funded projects on Wednesday 23th September 2015. The speakers and presentation titles are listed below. If you would like to attend please contact Melanie Leng.

Prof Stephen Hesselbo	Integrated understanding of the early Jurassic Earth system and Timescale (JET)
Prof Philip Barker	Drilling of the crater Lake Challa near Mt. Kilimanjaro, Kenya, Tanzania
Dr Dan Condon	Geologic Research through Integrated Neoproterozoic Drilling (GRIND)
Prof Melanie Leng	Scientific Collaboration On Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid (SCOPSCO)
Prof Charles Cockell	Chicxulub Impact Crater
Prof Henry Lamb	Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) - using scientific drilling to understand the paleoclimate context of human evolution
Dr Mike Rogerson	The Lake CHAd Deep DRILLing Project (CHADRILL) - unravelling 10 million years of environmental and climatic changes in Africa
Dr Mike Rogerson	Investigating Mediterranean-Atlantic Gateway Exchange (IMAGE)
Prof Paul Pearson	Tanzania Onshore Paleogene Integrated Coring (TOPIC) - Eocene paleoclimate stratigraphy and deep biosphere
Dr Juerg Matter	Scientific Drilling in the Samail Ophiolite, Sultanate of Oman
Dr Catriona Menzies	Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP) - Alpine Fault New Zealand
Dr James Riding	CONtinuous Coring Of the Cenozoic (CONOSC) - onshore soutern Northe Sea basin
Dr Susan Loughlin	Iceland Deep Drilling Project (IDDP) - exploration for supercritical geothermal resources
Dr Nick Roberts	Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonides (COSC): Mountain belt dynamics and present-day impacts

 

April

1) A group of over 30 international scientists participated in a pre-drilling workshop on joint IODP-ICDP drilling of the Chicxulub Impact Crater (Expedition 364) in Mérida, Mexico (30-31 March 2015). The workshop was organised by Jaime Urrutia Fucugauchi (UNAM), Mario Rebolledo Vieyra (CICY), Ligia Pérez Cruz (UNAM) and the two scientists who will lead the offshore drilling expedition, Sean Gulick of the University of Texas in Austin, USA and Joanna Morgan of Imperial College London, UK. A single 1500-m hole will be drilled through the crater’s peak ring – a ring of hills within the impact basin. The objectives are to: understand peak ring and large crater formation, the rock weakening mechanism that leads to flat final craters, constrain the post-impact climate, investigate the recovery of life in a sterile zone, examine whether impact craters could have been habitats for early life, and study an atypical PETM. Drilling will take place between April and June 2016. There is a call for scientists to sail on the expedition (please visit the ECORD website), the closing date is 8th May 2015.

January

1) Congratulations to Dr Sev Kender who has been invited to take part in the IODP MagellanPlus Workshop "Drilling the Cretaceous–Palaeogene tropical South Atlantic" in Newcastle 2-4 February 2015. This meeting will be exploring an IODP proposal aimed at understanding the rifting history of the South Atlantic and the evolution of the oceans including Ocean Anoxic Events.

2)Congratulations to Dr Sev Kender who has been invited to take part in the ICDP workshop "Coring North Sea Cenozoic (CONOSC)" in Utrecht 18-21 March 2015. The meeting will focus on developing a full proposal to core the southern North Sea to reconstruct past climatic change over NW Europe, including Eocene hyperthermals.

2014

December

October

September