Integrated Ocean Drilling Program - Ocean Drilling Consortium

Ocean Drilling Consortium

Application Deadline: May 7, 2008

BACKGROUND

Funding is not available from government agencies for year-round operations on the U.S.-sponsored IODP drillship. Funding is only available for an average of seven months per year, from 2009-2013. The merits of utilizing the drillship for the entire year are obvious, both for maintaining the scientific and technical infrastructure on the ship and ashore, and for maintaining the scope of scientific activities for the full year. You also may be aware of an avenue that IODP-MI and the USIO have explored together over the last six months or more, with a number of energy companies: an industry-sponsored ocean-drilling program that would be funded by a consortium of energy companies and that would utilize the JOIDES Resolution for an average of five months each year.

This initiative would not replace or displace IODP. Instead, it would provide an independent program to support IODP and help maintain its viability.

In order to develop a proposal for an Ocean Drilling Consortium that would address research challenges common to the academic community and industry, it was proposed at a recent meeting attended by academic and industry representatives that a workshop be held in June 2008. This workshop is planned for June 15-17 at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Support for the workshop will be provided by several energy companies.

The workshop will be organized around three major themes:

I. Genesis and evolution of extensional margins and basin architecture

	Extension/Hyperextension and denudation: volcanic versus magma-poor systems.
	Understanding syn-rift and post-rift processes that control heat flow history and effect on source rock maturation.
	Nature of outer highs, crustal type and origin.
	Burial/subsidence history.
	Processes of magma emplacement, extension, hydrothermal processes.
	Sampling along strike transitions from volcanic-rich to volcanic-poor margins.
	What is subsidence history of thin continental crust? Paleobathymetry.

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II. De-risking uncertainty in shelf margin and deep water reservoirs

	Architecture/connectivity of deep-water reservoirs and seals. What is the distribution of sands and shales  turbidite/source rock couplets?
	Instrumentation experiments, including pressure connectivity.
	Variability in seismic facies.
	Variability in single depositional systems.
	Processes and linkages from the shelf margin to the deep water environment.
	How good are age constraints? Required for driving forces and rates of processes (requires coring).
	High quality/high resolution 3D seismic data needed for all of the above.
	Pro-delta sources and how they are transported to deep water.

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III. Distribution and genesis of Mesozoic through Paleogene marine source
rocks on passive margins

	Define temporal and spatial limits with regard to global vs. local anoxic events and productivity.
	Forcing mechanismspaleoclimate, paleoceanography, volcanic events, and tectonic settings.
	Productivity and preservation on the shelf vs. deep ocean (are they connected?)
	Geology of source rocksprediction of SRs in unknown areas. - e.g. Indian Ocean - Vagrant oils (comparative studies)

Participants will be divided into three working groups to address each theme. Each group will be charged with developing specific objectives that can be achieved by drilling. Each group should also consider the possibility of high-scientific-value, single-site targets. These could include, for example, areas with a lack of stratigraphic control and/or structural control, areas where imaging is difficult (sub-basalt, sub-salt, etc.), or high-latitude/near Arctic regions and other poorly sampled areas.

The main outcome of the workshop will be an outline of a proposal for a four-year drilling program. This will include well defined targets that are drillable within the first one to two years, as well as an outline for longer-term drilling plans.

To apply for participation in the workshop, please submit an abstract online (not to exceed one page) no later than Wednesday, May 7. The abstract should outline potential drilling objectives as well as suggestions of specific drilling targets that address any of the above themes. Because of funding and space restrictions, the workshop will be limited to 45 academic scientists, plus participants from industry partners supporting the workshop. A provisional steering committee consisting of Jerry Dickens, Brandon Dugan, John Hopper, Greg Mountain, Dale Sawyer and Brian Tucholke, together with three additional members, will be charged with re-viewing applications from academia and assigning each to the appropriate theme group.
All interested scientists are strongly encouraged to provide feedback and ideas, including poten-tial drilling targets, on the above-noted web page.

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