Program Update: Integrated Ocean Drilling Program – March 2011
Filed under: Discovery,News & Resources,Program Updates,Program Updates - Integrated Ocean Drilling Program,Scientific Ocean Drilling
During the month of March, the U.S. Implementing Organization (USIO) and the U.S. Science Support Program (USSSP) staff have been closely following updates from their Japanese colleagues who work at Tokyo-based IODP-Management International (IODP-MI) and those who work onboard the Japanese deep sea drilling vessel Chikyu. Fortunately, all staff were safe and accounted for in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11. At the time of the quake, Chikyu was in port at Hachinohe, preparing for its next expedition. The Chikyu evacuated port immediately but during the emergency evacuation, one of the vessel’s thrusters suffered severe damage. The ship is currently heading towards Yokohama Honmoku quay for dry dock repair work, with an estimated arrival date of April 5.
The JOIDES Resolution continues to drill off the coast of Costa Rica as part of the IODP Costa Rica Seismogenesis Project (CRISP) Expedition, which began on March 15. The expedition is designed to elucidate the processes that control large earthquakes within erosional subduction zones. Recently recovered cores are composed of lower Pleistocene sediments with sandy layers and clay sequences which have been interpreted as turbidites. The CRISP expedition is scheduled to end on April 13 after which the IODP Superfast Spreading Rate 4 – or “Superfast” – Expedition will begin in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. The Superfast Expedition will attempt to deepen ODP hole 1256D to recover samples from the lower oceanic crust. Co-chief scientists Damon Teagle and Benoît Ildefonse recently published an article in the journal Nature about their work and the upcoming expedition. A MSNBC review of their article is available here at http://www.oceanleadership.org/2011/drilling-deeper-into-the-earth-than-ever-before/.
Finally, IODP celebrates its appearance in the History Channel’s new documentary entitled “Journey to the Earth’s Core.” Imagery and computer animation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stqhtI-N7eg) from last summer’s IODP Juan de Fuca Ridge Flank Hydrogeology Expedition was included in the documentary to help explain how researchers access and study the subseafloor biosphere.
