The Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonides (COSC) scientific drilling project successfully drilled a 2.5km fully cored borehole (COSC-1) through allochthonous subduction-related high-grade metamorphic gneisses and into the underlying thrust zone. This paper summarizes the scientific rationale of the project and presents first preliminary results.

This workshop report outlines the background, topics discussed and major conclusions/future directions arising form an ICDP- and ECORD-sponsored workshop convened to discuss the utility of scientific drilling for accelerating Neoproterozoic research.

We summarize the findings of the IODP Workshop Tracking the Tsunamigenic slips Across and Along the Japan Trench (JTRACK) held in Tokyo, May 2014. The workshop recommended a program of drilling to investigate the physical and chemical controls on coseismic slip in the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake and to develop new methods for determining the recurrence interval of tsunamigenic earthquakes in the sediment record. One full- and one pre-proposal with these goals were recently submitted to IODP.

This workshop brought together specialists from various fields to develop a drilling proposal to fill the “Oligo-Miocene Gap” that exists in our understanding of the functions of Earth’s systems. We propose to establish the first continuous high-deposition record of the Oligo-Miocene through International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) drilling in the North Atlantic. We give a short overview of the major topics discussed during the workshop and the scientific goals of the resulting pre-proposal.