At its recent meeting, the Science Planning Committee (SPC) approved a revised platform schedule, now posted at www.iodp.org/expeditions. The revised schedule takes into account the JOIDES Resolution’s new release date from the shipyard (see news below), and new activity anticipated by the ECORD Science Operator (ESO).
ESO is continuing plans to implement the New Jersey Shallow Shelf Expedition in late spring-summer of 2008. In a new development, the Great Barrier Reef Park Authority (GBRPA) granted permission to conduct the Great Barrier Reef Expedition in Fall 2009. ESO thankfully acknowledges the support of their Australian colleagues during the application process and looks forward to working with the GBRPA in developing the expedition plans. Details regarding all expedition dates and staffing are expected to finalize by April 2008.
IODP Expeditions 314, 315, and 316 were historic: they marked the first stage in the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone (NanTroSEIZE) Drilling Project, and the inaugural voyages of the Chikyu for IODP. The expeditions occurred over five months of continuous drilling operations in the off-Kumano region of the Nankai Trough subduction zone. Chikyu departed from the port of Shingu on Sept. 21, 2007 with great fanfare—including four news helicopters circling overhead—to begin the riserless portion of the NanTroSEIZE transect. More than 71 scientists from 12 countries participated in drilling operations before Chikyu’s return to Shingu on Feb. 5, 2008.
These three expeditions shared a common goal: sampling and geophysical logging of the upper end of the plate boundary system in the Nankai Trough, including major thrust faults at less than 1 km below the seafloor. The aim was two-fold: to characterize relatively shallow faulting as a means of contrasting it with the seismogenic zone (to be drilled in later expeditions), and to prepare two sites for coming riser operations. Expedition 314 was devoted to geophysical logging at five sites using Logging-While Drilling (LWD) techniques. Highlights included drilling the deepest LWD hole in ODP/IODP history (1401 mbsf) and, for the first time, penetrating the major splay thrust system that divides the Nankai margin in this region, which is implicated in tsunami generation. Expeditions 315 and 316 were devoted to coring these sites, plus two others within the same transect. Coring unearthed excellent samples of several fault zones, matched by very impressive x-ray CT imaging of the cores. This first stage of NanTroSEIZE operations produced exciting results and set the stage for highly anticipated deep-drilling operations into the seismogenic zone. Since NanTroSEIZE’s start, Chikyu has proven to be a world-class drilling vessel capable of great things.
As the accomplishments of the first three NanTroSEIZE expeditions are still being digested, the NanTroSEIZE Project Management Team, the Operations Task Force, and the Science Planning Committee are fully engaged in planning the next effort. Stage 1B (so named because it represents operations originally planned but deferred) is now expected to begin Dec. 2008 and continue through the end of Feb. 2009. Although planning is ongoing, it is likely that Stage 1B will begin with a drilling expedition of approximately six weeks duration, aimed mainly at sampling sediments, rocks, and fluids going into the subduction zone and plate boundary fault system. This first Stage 1B operation will be a fully-staffed scientific expedition. A call for participants is anticipated soon. A second operation, designated as an engineering expedition approximately one month long, will follow with the primary objective of installing casing at two riserless sites, in preparation for later installation of borehole observatories that will facilitate pore pressure, strain, seismometry, and other measurements. The latter operation is likely to be carried out with only a few scientific representatives on board, as no coring or logging will be done. By 2010, riser operations and deep drilling are anticipated. Visit www.iodp.org/expeditions for further NanTroSEIZE updates.
The USIO continues to address severe challenges in maintaining the conversion schedule for the upgrading of the JOIDES Resolution for IODP. The world’s largest offshore drilling contractor, Transocean, is managing the construction of the U.S.-sponsored scientific ocean drilling vessel in Singapore. The ship was to have been delivered from the shipyard by the end of March 2008. However, problems continue to revolve around unprecedented demand for shipyard work and a severe global shortage of capable shipyard labor due to increased demand in drilling for oil. To this end, USIO representatives Robert Gagosian, Ocean Leadership president and CEO; and Steven Bohlen, JOI Division president, met face to face in mid-March with Transocean's Western hemisphere operations senior-most leadership. The meeting focused on specific actions Transocean will take in coming weeks to ensure that the U.S. drilling vessel is delivered for IODP operations as soon as possible. Further details will be communicated to the ocean-drilling community as they become available. www.iodp.org/riserless-vessel
ECORD scientists, along with ESO, ESSAC, and EMA representatives will be on hand to present IODP at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna, Austria, from April 13-18. Several scientific sessions focus on IODP and scientific ocean drilling activities:
EGU2008-A-05860 Edwards, K.J.; Wheat, G; Bach, W The Deep Subsurface Biosphere at North Pond: A Mid-Atlantic Ridge Microbial Observatory (IODP proposal for scheduling in 2010.)
EGU2008-A-03096 Ildefonse, B. Oceanic core complexes and crustal accretion at slow-spreading ridges. Indications from IODP expeditions 304-305 and previous ocean drilling results.
EGU2008-A-06673 Kinoshita, M.; Tobin, H.; IODP Exp 314 Science Party. First Results from NanTroSEIZE LWD, IODP Expedition 314: Lithostratigraphy and physical properties of the mega-splay thrust sheets and forearc basin deposits.
EGU2008-A-08536 Kopf, A.; Tobin, H.; Kinoshita, M.; NanTroSEIZE Project Management Team The Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment (NanTroSEIZE): Stage 1 drilling results and future perspectives.
A joint IODP–ICDP Town Hall Meeting will be held on April 17 at 19:00 in Room 1 at the meeting venue. A popular and relaxed event, this town hall meeting encourages scientists from both groups to meet and exchange program news, contacts, and other useful information. Many ECORD scientists, ESSAC, EMA, and IO staff also will volunteer in IODP-ECORD Booth #57 on the exhibition floor. To sign up for volunteer duty in the IODP booth, go to www.iodp.org/education/#thm.
ECORD is sponsoring a Distinguished Lecturer Programme that features participation of leading IODP scientists, designed to bring first-hand reports on exciting IODP scientific discoveries to the geosciences community in ECORD and non-ECORD countries. Distinguished Lecturerswill be nominated for a period of one year (2008-09); one lecturer per each of three main thematic areas of IODP research:
The Deep Biosphere and the Subseafloor Ocean Environmental Change, Processes and Effects Solid Earth Cycles and Geodynamics
The deadline to apply for a spot as a lecturer is April 15. ESSAC is also interested in hearing from host applicants. For more information, go to www.essac.ecord.org.
The U.S. Science Support Program (USSSP) is accepting workshop proposals that promote the development of new ideas to study Earth processes and history through scientific ocean drilling. The primary goal of USSSP’s workshop program is to identify promising new scientific objectives and research opportunities. USSSP seeks to expand its long-standing sponsorship of workshops in ocean sciences, marine geology and geophysics, and paleoclimatology to related disciplines by encouraging broad-based scientific community involvement. Cosponsorship of workshops by related programs and active participation of graduate students is strongly encouraged. The submission deadline is April 1, 2008. For more information, visit www.oceanleadership.org/usssp/workshops, or contact USSSP Assistant Director Charna Meth: (phone) +1-202-232-3900, x1639; or
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Deep Earth Academy, the IODP U.S. education program, formerly called JOI Learning, is pleased to announce the following opportunity for teachers:
School of Rock 2008 Using Ocean Cores to Explore Past Climate Change Dates: July 6–14, 2008 Location: IODP Gulf Coast Repository at Texas A&M University, College Station Application Deadline: Friday, April 4 Only 12 spots available!
IODP-MI has successfully competed for non-IODP funding to conduct feasibility and planning work for ultra deepwater dual gradient drilling through the DeepStar consortium, an industry group that supports deepwater technology development projects and leverages financial and technical resources of the deepwater industry. The current project, headed by Greg Myers, IODP-MI Engineering Manager, is a collaboration among IODP-MI, AGR Drilling Services, the USIO, and industry partners to investigate the modification of existing commercial technology to allow deep-hole (>2,000m) drilling in ultra deepwater. This approach provides major advances, including the elimination of mud and cuttings discharges and the provision for a mud-control system in water depths beyond the reach of drilling risers. The next step of the initiative, following this project, will be to prepare an at-sea demonstration of the technology in the Gulf of Mexico. For more information, contact Greg at
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DeepStar funding will support an IODP ultra deepwater drilling initiative in the Gulf of Mexico.
An IODP workshop is scheduled for Sept. 29-Oct. 1 in Potsdam, Germany, for scientists who wish to contribute to scientific ocean drilling plans that aim to retrieve geological records of past climate change. The workshop will draw together investigators who share common goals of identifying and drilling globally distributed sites that preserve paleoclimate information on high-to ultra-high resolution timescales, developing new technologies for stratigraphic correlation and multi-parameter proxy measurements, and applying coupled ocean-atmosphere modeling to arrays of paleoclimate data. The workshop venue is the GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) in Potsdam. Apply online by May 19. For more information, go to www.iodp.org/climate-ws-workshop.
Dr. Yoshi Tatsumi and Dr. Ted Moore have completed several laps of DRILLS tours and have been greeted with enthusiasm and warm welcomes throughout Europe, Brazil, and Japan. Their DRILLS colleague, Dr. Bo Barker Jørgensen, completed his DRILLS tour of the United States during the first half of March also meeting students and teachers on university campuses on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
“Wonderful is a word that is inadequate, but can capture the heart of the Feb. 19 event in Durham,” reported Yaoling Niu, professor of Earth Sciences at Durham University, UK, and a DRILLS host. Dr. Tatsumi was welcomed by “an enthusiastic younger generation of Earth Scientists,” recounted Dr. Niu, describing members of the on-campus Arthur Holmes Geological Society (AHGS)—a group named for geologist Arthur Holmes, Durham’s founding professor of geology and one of the first geologists to suggest a causative mechanism to the plate tectonic paradigm.
Dr. Ted Moore experienced similar welcomes in Japan. “I had good interaction with the grad students and professors every place I visited,” he reported.
A video production of Dr. Tatsumi’s lecture given at the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, Scotland, can be downloaded at http://www.iodp.org/drills/#tatsumi. Videos of Dr. Moore’s and Dr. Jørgensen’s lectures will be added to the page very soon.
DRILLS host Dr. Hiroshi Nishi brings Ted Moore and entourage out to admire the snowscape at Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
The ODP Final Technical Report provides an overview of the management and organization of ODP and highlights 20 years of technical and scientific accomplishments. It is a visually compelling, 68-page document, rich with graphics and photos. The text of this high-level overview provides summary information about five key areas of ODP: Administration; Scientific Results; Engineering and Science Operations; Samples, Data and Publications; and Outreach. A PDF of this report can be downloaded from: www.odplegacy.org/samples_data/publications.html.
April 20–23—American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Annual Meeting, San Antonio. Visit IODP at Booth #2941. www.aapg.org/sanantonio
May 5–8—Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), Houston, Texas. Visit IODP at Booth #10338. www.otcnet.org/2008/index.html
May 19-22—Science Steering and Evaluation Panel (SSEP) Meeting, Busan, Korea. www.iodp.org/ssep
May 25-30—Japan Geosciences Union General Assembly, Chiba,Japan. www.jpgu.org/meeting_e/ June 8-13—ASLO Summer Meeting, Sponsored by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography; cosponsored by the Society of Canadian Limnologists and the North American Benthological Society. Session to attend: Free Choice Learning: Where Science, Education, and Careers Meet, convened by Leslie Peart (IODP) and George I. Matsumoto (MBARI). http://aslo.org/stjohns2008
June 11-13—Asia’s Subsea Conference and Exhibition, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Malaysia. For more information, contact
June 16-18—Environmental Protection and Safety Panel (EPSP) Meeting, Hannover, Germany. www.iodp.org/epsp
June 22-27— IODP-MI Board of Governors Meeting, Beijing, China. www.iodp.org/bog
To download IODP E-NEWS in a PDF format CLICK HERE For more information or inquiries about any topic in this e-newsletter, please e-mail
IODP E-News is a bimonthly publication of Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Management International (IODP-MI). It is produced and distributed by IODP-MI for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program under the sponsorship of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the Ministry of Culture, Education, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, and other participating countries. Its content is based upon research supported under NSF Contract OCE-0432224.
