Exploring Ocean Cores at the IODP
Gulf Coast Repository for deep sea drilling cores
Dave Grant - Ocean Institute, Sandy Hook, NJ 07732
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The School of Rock explores Earth's Deep Time - 40 years of scientific ocean drilling that represents millions of years of precise geological and climate history. Along with studying the technology involved in drilling, we studied abrupt climate changes, extinctions, and accompanied researchers in the field at Texas A&M. |
 The Gulf Coast Repository stores |
 An enthusiastic participant sizes up a core holding the notorious K-T Boundary to see if it will fit in carry-on luggage for the trip back to NJ. |
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 "Bubba" the driller shows off different types of bits for various sediments. |
 Testing drill bits: This is a section of "Carthage" marble (16,000 PSI compressive strength) that was used to test a newly designed Polycrystaline Diamond Compact (PDC) bit designed by the AMOCO Production Company. |
 Testing teachers: A giant jig-saw puzzle floor mat challenges visiting teachers to piece together enlarged images of microfossils of diatoms, foraminifera, radiolarians, silicoflagellates and calcareous nannofossils. |
 In the classroom we communicated with the School's Teacher at Sea on the Reveille |
 Noted scientists showed us how to analyze cores and interpret the seismic data used to determine which sites are targeted for drilling. |
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 In the core lab we studied samples from various sites, including cores plagued by chert deposits that fracture and interfere with analysis. |
 Basalt layers are common near mid-ocean ridges where sea floors are spreading. |
 Some of the most interesting cores are from off the Southeast Coast of the US and show the layers of impact materials and ash-fall at the K-T Boundary. |
  Close-ups of the K-T Boundary |
 Photographic scans of the fresh cores on the ship and data from onboard scientists help interpret each layer. |
 Simple tools like the Munsell color charts take some of the subjectivity out of the process and quantify the data. |
 Under high magnification, microfossils reveal information about the paleoclimate and geology from each layer. |
 The glassy skeletons of diatoms are typical of "high latitude" productive waters. |
 After hours: An evening experiment involving liquid Nitrogen, cream and sugar. |
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