This paper gives an overview, preliminary results, and perspectives of a drilling project in northeastern Brazil. It presents a promising new record of mid-Cretaceous rocks from the South Atlantic Ocean, which may have registered significant geologic events that affected the distribution of marine ecosystems, as well as major paleoclimatic events. It is also important to assess if a correlation exists between the biotic assemblages of the South Atlantic Ocean and the Tethys Sea.

Auckland Volcanic Field maar lake sediments exhibit enormous potential for the identification and interpretation of short-duration climate events and long-term climate trends as well as intra- and inter-hemispheric climate. In tandem with ongoing work on Orakei maar, the study of Onepoto maar lake sediments will extend this record by providing high-resolution palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions spanning the last two glacial cycles.

New cable-free borehole memory sondes allow measurements in boreholes with very unstable walls, which is common, e.g., in soft sediments below lakes. The drill-pipe-mounted memory sondes can pass through narrowed zones. While being pulled up by the drill pipes, they measure natural radioactivity, velocity of sound, electrical conductivity, magnetizability, and the temperature of the borehole rocks. We describe the memory sondes and appendant depth devices, both tested in thorough field tests.