Articles | Volume 34, issue 1/2
https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-34-1-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-34-1-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Science report
| 
16 Jul 2025
Science report |
| 16 Jul 2025
| 16 Jul 2025
Unearthing the climate history of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile – deep drilling in two clay pans of the Coastal Cordillera
Volker Wennrich
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany
Julia Diederich-Leicher
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany
Bárbara Nataly Blanco-Arrué
Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology, University of Cologne, 50969 Cologne, Germany
now at: Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics, 30655 Hanover, Germany
Christoph Büttner
Institute of Geophysics and Geoinformatics, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, 09596 Freiberg, Germany
Stefan Buske
Institute of Geophysics and Geoinformatics, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, 09596 Freiberg, Germany
Eduardo Campos Sepulveda
Department of Geological Sciences, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile
Tibor Dunai
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany
Jacob Feller
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany
Emma Galego
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany
Ascelina Hasberg
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany
Niklas Leicher
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany
Damián Alejandro López
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany
Jorge Maldonado
Superex S.A. Diamond and Sonic Drilling Group, Santiago, Chile
Alicia Medialdea
Geographical Institute, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany
National Research Centre on Human Evolution (CENIEH), 09002 Burgos, Spain
Lukas Ninnemann
Institute of Geophysics and Geoinformatics, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, 09596 Freiberg, Germany
now at: Center for Interdisciplinary Digital Sciences (CIDS), TUD Dresden University of Technology, 01069 Dresden, Germany
Russell Perryman
Comprobe, Borehole Imaging and Orientation Services, Santiago, Chile
Juan Cristóbal Ríos-Contesse
Department of Geological Sciences, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile
Benedikt Ritter
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany
Stephanie Scheidt
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany
Barbara Vargas-Machuca
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany
Pritam Yogeshwar
Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology, University of Cologne, 50969 Cologne, Germany
now at: Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics, 30655 Hanover, Germany
Martin Melles
Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany
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Tomi Jusri, Stefan Buske, Olaf Hellwig, and Felix Hloušek
Solid Earth Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2021-143, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-2021-143, 2022
Preprint withdrawn
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Tibor János Dunai, Steven Andrew Binnie, and Axel Gerdes
Geochronology, 4, 65–85, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-65-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-65-2022, 2022
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Hossein Hassani, Felix Hloušek, Stefan Buske, and Olaf Wallner
Solid Earth, 12, 2703–2715, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2703-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-2703-2021, 2021
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Passive seismic imaging methods use natural earthquakes as seismic sources, while in active seismic imaging methods, artificial sources (e.g. explosives) are used to generate seismic waves. We imaged some structures related to a major fault plane through a passive seismic imaging approach using microearthquakes with magnitudes smaller than 0.9 (Mw). These structures have not been illuminated by a previously conducted 3D active seismic survey due to their large dip angles.
Benedikt Ritter, Andreas Vogt, and Tibor J. Dunai
Geochronology, 3, 421–431, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-3-421-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-3-421-2021, 2021
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We describe the design and performance of a new noble gas mass laboratory dedicated to the development of and application to cosmogenic nuclides at the University of Cologne (Germany). At the core of the laboratory are a state-of-the-art high-mass-resolution multicollector Helix MCPlus (Thermo-Fisher) noble gas mass spectrometer and a novel custom-designed automated extraction line, including a laser-powered extraction furnace. Performance was tested with intercomparison (CREU-1) material.
Nikita Afonin, Elena Kozlovskaya, Suvi Heinonen, and Stefan Buske
Solid Earth, 12, 1563–1579, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1563-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-1563-2021, 2021
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In our study, we show the results of a passive seismic interferometry application for mapping the uppermost crust in the area of active mineral exploration in northern Finland. The obtained velocity models agree well with geological data and complement the results of reflection seismic data interpretation.
Alireza Malehmir, Magdalena Markovic, Paul Marsden, Alba Gil, Stefan Buske, Lukasz Sito, Emma Bäckström, Martiya Sadeghi, and Stefan Luth
Solid Earth, 12, 483–502, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-483-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/se-12-483-2021, 2021
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A smooth transition toward decarbonization demands access to more minerals of critical importance. Europe has a good geology for many of these mineral deposits, but at a depth requiring sensitive, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective methods for their exploration. In this context, we present a sparse 3D seismic dataset that allowed identification of potential iron oxide resources at depth and helped to characterise key geological structures and a historical tailing in central Sweden.
Joel Mohren, Steven A. Binnie, Gregor M. Rink, Katharina Knödgen, Carlos Miranda, Nora Tilly, and Tibor J. Dunai
Earth Surf. Dynam., 8, 995–1020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-995-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-995-2020, 2020
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In this study, we comprehensively test a method to derive soil densities under fieldwork conditions. The method is mainly based on images taken from consumer-grade cameras. The obtained soil/sediment densities reflect
truevalues by generally > 95 %, even if a smartphone is used for imaging. All computing steps can be conducted using freeware programs. Soil density is an important variable in the analysis of terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides, for example to infer long-term soil production rates.
Elisabeth Dietze, Kai Mangelsdorf, Andrei Andreev, Cornelia Karger, Laura T. Schreuder, Ellen C. Hopmans, Oliver Rach, Dirk Sachse, Volker Wennrich, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Clim. Past, 16, 799–818, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-799-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-799-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Long-term climate change impacts on fire, vegetation and permafrost in the Arctic are uncertain. Here, we show the high potential of organic compounds from low-temperature biomass burning to serve as proxies for surface fires in lake deposits. During warm periods of the last 430 000 years, surface fires are closely linked to the larch taiga forest with its moss–lichen ground vegetation that isolates the permafrost. They have reduced in warm–wet, spruce–dominated and cool–dry steppe environments.
Jack Longman, Daniel Veres, Vasile Ersek, Ulrich Salzmann, Katalin Hubay, Marc Bormann, Volker Wennrich, and Frank Schäbitz
Clim. Past, 13, 897–917, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-897-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-897-2017, 2017
Short summary
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We present the first record of dust input into an eastern European bog over the past 10 800 years. We find significant changes in past dust deposition, with large inputs related to both natural and human influences. We show evidence that Saharan desertification has had a significant impact on dust deposition in eastern Europe for the past 6100 years.
Bernd Wagner, Thomas Wilke, Alexander Francke, Christian Albrecht, Henrike Baumgarten, Adele Bertini, Nathalie Combourieu-Nebout, Aleksandra Cvetkoska, Michele D'Addabbo, Timme H. Donders, Kirstin Föller, Biagio Giaccio, Andon Grazhdani, Torsten Hauffe, Jens Holtvoeth, Sebastien Joannin, Elena Jovanovska, Janna Just, Katerina Kouli, Andreas Koutsodendris, Sebastian Krastel, Jack H. Lacey, Niklas Leicher, Melanie J. Leng, Zlatko Levkov, Katja Lindhorst, Alessia Masi, Anna M. Mercuri, Sebastien Nomade, Norbert Nowaczyk, Konstantinos Panagiotopoulos, Odile Peyron, Jane M. Reed, Eleonora Regattieri, Laura Sadori, Leonardo Sagnotti, Björn Stelbrink, Roberto Sulpizio, Slavica Tofilovska, Paola Torri, Hendrik Vogel, Thomas Wagner, Friederike Wagner-Cremer, George A. Wolff, Thomas Wonik, Giovanni Zanchetta, and Xiaosen S. Zhang
Biogeosciences, 14, 2033–2054, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-2033-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-2033-2017, 2017
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Lake Ohrid is considered to be the oldest existing lake in Europe. Moreover, it has a very high degree of endemic biodiversity. During a drilling campaign at Lake Ohrid in 2013, a 569 m long sediment sequence was recovered from Lake Ohrid. The ongoing studies of this record provide first important information on the environmental and evolutionary history of the lake and the reasons for its high endimic biodiversity.
James M. Russell, Satria Bijaksana, Hendrik Vogel, Martin Melles, Jens Kallmeyer, Daniel Ariztegui, Sean Crowe, Silvia Fajar, Abdul Hafidz, Doug Haffner, Ascelina Hasberg, Sarah Ivory, Christopher Kelly, John King, Kartika Kirana, Marina Morlock, Anders Noren, Ryan O'Grady, Luis Ordonez, Janelle Stevenson, Thomas von Rintelen, Aurele Vuillemin, Ian Watkinson, Nigel Wattrus, Satrio Wicaksono, Thomas Wonik, Kohen Bauer, Alan Deino, André Friese, Cynthia Henny, Imran, Ristiyanti Marwoto, La Ode Ngkoimani, Sulung Nomosatryo, La Ode Safiuddin, Rachel Simister, and Gerald Tamuntuan
Sci. Dril., 21, 29–40, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-21-29-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-21-29-2016, 2016
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The Towuti Drilling Project seeks to understand the long-term environmental and climatic history of the tropical western Pacific and to discover the unique microbes that live in metal-rich sediments. To accomplish these goals, in 2015 we carried out a scientific drilling project on Lake Towuti, located in central Indonesia. We recovered over 1000 m of core, and our deepest core extended 175 m below the lake floor and gives us a complete record of the lake.
Giovanni Zanchetta, Eleonora Regattieri, Biagio Giaccio, Bernd Wagner, Roberto Sulpizio, Alex Francke, Hendrik Vogel, Laura Sadori, Alessia Masi, Gaia Sinopoli, Jack H. Lacey, Melanie J. Leng, and Niklas Leicher
Biogeosciences, 13, 2757–2768, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-2757-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-2757-2016, 2016
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Chronology is fundamental in paleoclimatology for understanding timing of events and their origin. In this paper we try to obtain a more detailed chronology for the interval comprised between ca. 140 and 70 ka for the DEEP core in Lake Ohrid using regional independently-dated archives (i.e. speleothems and/or lacustrine succession with well-dated volcanic layers). This allows to insert the DEEP chronology within a common chronological frame between different continental and marine proxy records.
Niklas Leicher, Giovanni Zanchetta, Roberto Sulpizio, Biagio Giaccio, Bernd Wagner, Sebastien Nomade, Alexander Francke, and Paola Del Carlo
Biogeosciences, 13, 2151–2178, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-2151-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-2151-2016, 2016
Alexander Francke, Bernd Wagner, Janna Just, Niklas Leicher, Raphael Gromig, Henrike Baumgarten, Hendrik Vogel, Jack H. Lacey, Laura Sadori, Thomas Wonik, Melanie J. Leng, Giovanni Zanchetta, Roberto Sulpizio, and Biagio Giaccio
Biogeosciences, 13, 1179–1196, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-1179-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-1179-2016, 2016
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Lake Ohrid (Macedonia, Albania) is thought to be more than 1.2 million years old. To recover a long paleoclimate record for the Mediterranean region, a deep drilling was carried out in 2013 within the scope of the Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid (SCOPSCO) project. Here, we present lithological, sedimentological, and (bio-)geochemical data from the upper 247.8 m composite depth of the overall 569 m long DEEP site record.
A. J. Coletti, R. M. DeConto, J. Brigham-Grette, and M. Melles
Clim. Past, 11, 979–989, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-979-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-979-2015, 2015
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Evidence from Pleistocene sediments suggest that the Arctic's climate went through multiple sudden transitions, warming by 2-4 °C (compared to preindustrial times), and stayed warm for hundreds to thousands of years. A climate modelling study of these events suggests that the Arctic's climate and landscape drastically changed, transforming a cold and barren landscape as we know today to a warm, lush, evergreen and boreal forest landscape only seen in the modern midlatitudes.
K. Schittek, M. Forbriger, B. Mächtle, F. Schäbitz, V. Wennrich, M. Reindel, and B. Eitel
Clim. Past, 11, 27–44, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-27-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-27-2015, 2015
V. Wennrich, P. S. Minyuk, V. Borkhodoev, A. Francke, B. Ritter, N. R. Nowaczyk, M. A. Sauerbrey, J. Brigham-Grette, and M. Melles
Clim. Past, 10, 1381–1399, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1381-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1381-2014, 2014
A. A. Andreev, P. E. Tarasov, V. Wennrich, E. Raschke, U. Herzschuh, N. R. Nowaczyk, J. Brigham-Grette, and M. Melles
Clim. Past, 10, 1017–1039, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1017-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1017-2014, 2014
C. Meyer-Jacob, H. Vogel, A. C. Gebhardt, V. Wennrich, M. Melles, and P. Rosén
Clim. Past, 10, 209–220, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-209-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-209-2014, 2014
P. E. Tarasov, A. A. Andreev, P. M. Anderson, A. V. Lozhkin, C. Leipe, E. Haltia, N. R. Nowaczyk, V. Wennrich, J. Brigham-Grette, and M. Melles
Clim. Past, 9, 2759–2775, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2759-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2759-2013, 2013
A. Francke, V. Wennrich, M. Sauerbrey, O. Juschus, M. Melles, and J. Brigham-Grette
Clim. Past, 9, 2459–2470, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2459-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2459-2013, 2013
T. Dahm, P. Hrubcová, T. Fischer, J. Horálek, M. Korn, S. Buske, and D. Wagner
Sci. Dril., 16, 93–99, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-16-93-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-16-93-2013, 2013
N. R. Nowaczyk, E. M. Haltia, D. Ulbricht, V. Wennrich, M. A. Sauerbrey, P. Rosén, H. Vogel, A. Francke, C. Meyer-Jacob, A. A. Andreev, and A. V. Lozhkin
Clim. Past, 9, 2413–2432, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2413-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2413-2013, 2013
A. C. Gebhardt, A. Francke, J. Kück, M. Sauerbrey, F. Niessen, V. Wennrich, and M. Melles
Clim. Past, 9, 1933–1947, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1933-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1933-2013, 2013
M. A. Sauerbrey, O. Juschus, A. C. Gebhardt, V. Wennrich, N. R. Nowaczyk, and M. Melles
Clim. Past, 9, 1949–1967, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1949-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1949-2013, 2013
U. Frank, N. R. Nowaczyk, P. Minyuk, H. Vogel, P. Rosén, and M. Melles
Clim. Past, 9, 1559–1569, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1559-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1559-2013, 2013
H. Vogel, C. Meyer-Jacob, M. Melles, J. Brigham-Grette, A. A. Andreev, V. Wennrich, P. E. Tarasov, and P. Rosén
Clim. Past, 9, 1467–1479, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1467-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1467-2013, 2013
V. Wennrich, A. Francke, A. Dehnert, O. Juschus, T. Leipe, C. Vogt, J. Brigham-Grette, P. S. Minyuk, M. Melles, and El'gygytgyn Science Party
Clim. Past, 9, 135–148, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-135-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-135-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Location/Setting: Continental | Subject: Geology | Geoprocesses: Global climate change
Paleozoic Equatorial Records of Melting Ice Ages (PERMIA): calibrating the pace of paleotropical environmental and ecological change during Earth's previous icehouse
BASE (Barberton Archean Surface Environments) – drilling Paleoarchean coastal strata of the Barberton Greenstone Belt
ICDP workshop on the Deep Drilling in the Turkana Basin project: exploring the link between environmental factors and hominin evolution over the past 4 Myr
Paleogene Earth perturbations in the US Atlantic Coastal Plain (PEP-US): coring transects of hyperthermals to understand past carbon injections and ecosystem responses
Drilling into a deep buried valley (ICDP DOVE): a 252 m long sediment succession from a glacial overdeepening in northwestern Switzerland
Workshop report: PlioWest – drilling Pliocene lakes in western North America
Deep-time Arctic climate archives: high-resolution coring of Svalbard's sedimentary record – SVALCLIME, a workshop report
Drilling Overdeepened Alpine Valleys (ICDP-DOVE): quantifying the age, extent, and environmental impact of Alpine glaciations
From glacial erosion to basin overfill: a 240 m-thick overdeepening–fill sequence in Bern, Switzerland
Sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to +2 °C (SWAIS 2C)
Scientific drilling workshop on the Weihe Basin Drilling Project (WBDP): Cenozoic tectonic–monsoon interactions
Report on ICDP Deep Dust workshops: probing continental climate of the late Paleozoic icehouse–greenhouse transition and beyond
The Bouse Formation, a controversial Neogene archive of the evolving Colorado River: a scientific drilling workshop report (28 February–3 March 2019 – BlueWater Resort & Casino, Parker, AZ, USA)
Colorado Plateau Coring Project, Phase I (CPCP-I): a continuously cored, globally exportable chronology of Triassic continental environmental change from western North America
Report on ICDP workshop CONOSC (COring the NOrth Sea Cenozoic)
A key continental archive for the last 2 Ma of climatic history of the central Mediterranean region: A pilot drilling in the Fucino Basin, central Italy
Trans-Amazon Drilling Project (TADP): origins and evolution of the forests, climate, and hydrology of the South American tropics
Accelerating Neoproterozoic research through scientific drilling
A way forward to discover Antarctica's past
Jonathan M. G. Stine, Joshua M. Feinberg, Adam K. Huttenlocker, Randall B. Irmis, Declan Ramirez, Rashida Doctor, John McDaris, Charles M. Henderson, Michael T. Read, Kristina Brady Shannon, Anders Noren, Ryan O'Grady, Ayva Sloo, Patrick Steury, Diego P. Fernandez, Amy C. Henrici, and Neil J. Tabor
Sci. Dril., 33, 109–128, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-109-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-109-2024, 2024
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We present initial results from the upper 450 m of ER-1, a legacy core collected from modern-day Bears Ears National Monument, Utah, USA. This section contains a relatively complete record of Upper Carboniferous to Early Permian sediments, providing a unique window on Earth's last icehouse–hothouse transition. Ongoing research will tie our results to important fossil sites, allowing us to better understand how this climate shift contributed to the evolution of terrestrial life.
Christoph Heubeck, Nic Beukes, Michiel de Kock, Martin Homann, Emmanuelle J. Javaux, Takeshi Kakegawa, Stefan Lalonde, Paul Mason, Phumelele Mashele, Dora Paprika, Chris Rippon, Mike Tice, Rodney Tucker, Ryan Tucker, Victor Ndazamo, Astrid Christianson, and Cindy Kunkel
Sci. Dril., 33, 129–172, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-129-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-129-2024, 2024
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What was Earth like when young? Under what conditions did bacteria spread? We studied some of the best-preserved, oldest rocks in South Africa. Layers there are about vertical; we drilled sideways. Sedimentary strata from eight boreholes showed that they had been deposited in rivers, sandy shorelines, tidal flats, estuaries, and the ocean. Some have well-preserved remnants of microbes. We will learn how life was established on a planet which would appear very inhospitable to us nowadays.
Catherine C. Beck, Melissa Berke, Craig S. Feibel, Verena Foerster, Lydia Olaka, Helen M. Roberts, Christopher A. Scholz, Kat Cantner, Anders Noren, Geoffery Mibei Kiptoo, James Muirhead, and the Deep Drilling in the Turkana Basin (DDTB) project team
Sci. Dril., 33, 93–108, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-93-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-93-2024, 2024
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The Deep Drilling in the Turkana Basin project seeks to determine the relative impacts of tectonics and climate on eastern African ecosystems. To organize goals for coring, we hosted a workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, which focused on how a 4 Myr sedimentary core from Turkana will uniquely address research objectives related to basin evolution, past climates and environments, and modern resources. We concluded that a Pliocene to modern record is best accomplished through a two-phase drilling project.
Marci M. Robinson, Kenneth G. Miller, Tali L. Babila, Timothy J. Bralower, James V. Browning, Marlow J. Cramwinckel, Monika Doubrawa, Gavin L. Foster, Megan K. Fung, Sean Kinney, Maria Makarova, Peter P. McLaughlin, Paul N. Pearson, Ursula Röhl, Morgan F. Schaller, Jean M. Self-Trail, Appy Sluijs, Thomas Westerhold, James D. Wright, and James C. Zachos
Sci. Dril., 33, 47–65, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-47-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-47-2024, 2024
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The Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is the closest geological analog to modern anthropogenic CO2 emissions, but its causes and the responses remain enigmatic. Coastal plain sediments can resolve this uncertainty, but their discontinuous nature requires numerous sites to constrain events. Workshop participants identified 10 drill sites that target the PETM and other interesting intervals. Our post-drilling research will provide valuable insights into Earth system responses.
Sebastian Schaller, Marius W. Buechi, Bennet Schuster, and Flavio S. Anselmetti
Sci. Dril., 32, 27–42, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-32-27-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-32-27-2023, 2023
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In the frame of the DOVE (Drilling Overdeepened Alpine Valleys) project and with the support of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), we drilled and recovered a 252 m long sediment core from the Basadingen Through. The Basadingen Trough, once eroded by the Rhine glacier during several ice ages, reaches over 300 m under the modern landscape. The sedimentary filling represents a precious scientific archive for understanding and reconstructing past glaciations.
Alison J. Smith, Emi Ito, Natalie Burls, Leon Clarke, Timme Donders, Robert Hatfield, Stephen Kuehn, Andreas Koutsodendris, Tim Lowenstein, David McGee, Peter Molnar, Alexander Prokopenko, Katie Snell, Blas Valero Garcés, Josef Werne, Christian Zeeden, and the PlioWest Working Consortium
Sci. Dril., 32, 61–72, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-32-61-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-32-61-2023, 2023
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Western North American contains accessible and under-recognized paleolake records that hold the keys to understanding the drivers of wetter conditions in Pliocene Epoch subtropical drylands worldwide. In a 2021 ICDP workshop, we chose five paleolake basins to study that span 7° of latitude in a unique array able to capture a detailed record of hydroclimate during the Early Pliocene warm period and subsequent Pleistocene cooling. We propose new drill cores for three of these basins.
Kim Senger, Denise Kulhanek, Morgan T. Jones, Aleksandra Smyrak-Sikora, Sverre Planke, Valentin Zuchuat, William J. Foster, Sten-Andreas Grundvåg, Henning Lorenz, Micha Ruhl, Kasia K. Sliwinska, Madeleine L. Vickers, and Weimu Xu
Sci. Dril., 32, 113–135, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-32-113-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-32-113-2023, 2023
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Geologists can decipher the past climates and thus better understand how future climate change may affect the Earth's complex systems. In this paper, we report on a workshop held in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, to better understand how rocks in Svalbard (an Arctic archipelago) can be used to quantify major climatic shifts recorded in the past.
Flavio S. Anselmetti, Milos Bavec, Christian Crouzet, Markus Fiebig, Gerald Gabriel, Frank Preusser, Cesare Ravazzi, and DOVE scientific team
Sci. Dril., 31, 51–70, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-31-51-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-31-51-2022, 2022
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Previous glaciations eroded below the ice deep valleys in the Alpine foreland, which, with their sedimentary fillings, witness the timing and extent of these glacial advance–retreat cycles. Drilling such sedimentary sequences will thus provide well-needed evidence in order to reconstruct the (a)synchronicity of past ice advances in a trans-Alpine perspective. Eventually these data will document how the Alpine foreland was shaped and how the paleoclimate patterns varied along and across the Alps.
Michael A. Schwenk, Patrick Schläfli, Dimitri Bandou, Natacha Gribenski, Guilhem A. Douillet, and Fritz Schlunegger
Sci. Dril., 30, 17–42, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-30-17-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-30-17-2022, 2022
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A scientific drilling was conducted into a bedrock trough (overdeepening) in Bern-Bümpliz (Switzerland) in an effort to advance the knowledge of the Quaternary prior to 150 000 years ago. We encountered a 208.5 m-thick succession of loose sediments (gravel, sand and mud) in the retrieved core and identified two major sedimentary sequences (A: lower, B: upper). The sedimentary suite records two glacial advances and the subsequent filling of a lake sometime between 300 000 and 200 000 years ago.
Molly O. Patterson, Richard H. Levy, Denise K. Kulhanek, Tina van de Flierdt, Huw Horgan, Gavin B. Dunbar, Timothy R. Naish, Jeanine Ash, Alex Pyne, Darcy Mandeno, Paul Winberry, David M. Harwood, Fabio Florindo, Francisco J. Jimenez-Espejo, Andreas Läufer, Kyu-Cheul Yoo, Osamu Seki, Paolo Stocchi, Johann P. Klages, Jae Il Lee, Florence Colleoni, Yusuke Suganuma, Edward Gasson, Christian Ohneiser, José-Abel Flores, David Try, Rachel Kirkman, Daleen Koch, and the SWAIS 2C Science Team
Sci. Dril., 30, 101–112, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-30-101-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-30-101-2022, 2022
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How much of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will melt and how quickly it will happen when average global temperatures exceed 2 °C is currently unknown. Given the far-reaching and international consequences of Antarctica’s future contribution to global sea level rise, the SWAIS 2C Project was developed in order to better forecast the size and timing of future changes.
Zhisheng An, Peizhen Zhang, Hendrik Vogel, Yougui Song, John Dodson, Thomas Wiersberg, Xijie Feng, Huayu Lu, Li Ai, and Youbin Sun
Sci. Dril., 28, 63–73, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-28-63-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-28-63-2020, 2020
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Earth has experienced remarkable climate–environmental changes in the last 65 million years. The Weihe Basin with its 6000–8000 m infill of a continuous sedimentary sequence gives a unique continental archive for the study of the Cenozoic environment and exploration of deep biospheres. This workshop report concludes key objectives of the two-phase Weihe Basin Drilling Project and the global significance of reconstructing Cenozoic climate evolution and tectonic–monsoon interaction in East Asia.
Gerilyn S. Soreghan, Laurent Beccaletto, Kathleen C. Benison, Sylvie Bourquin, Georg Feulner, Natsuko Hamamura, Michael Hamilton, Nicholas G. Heavens, Linda Hinnov, Adam Huttenlocker, Cindy Looy, Lily S. Pfeifer, Stephane Pochat, Mehrdad Sardar Abadi, James Zambito, and the Deep Dust workshop participants
Sci. Dril., 28, 93–112, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-28-93-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-28-93-2020, 2020
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The events of the Permian — the orogenies, biospheric turnovers, icehouse and greenhouse antitheses, and Mars-analog lithofacies — boggle the imagination and present us with great opportunities to explore Earth system behavior. Here we outline results of workshops to propose continuous coring of continental Permian sections in western (Anadarko Basin) and eastern (Paris Basin) equatorial Pangaea to retrieve continental records spanning 50 Myr of Earth's history.
Andrew Cohen, Colleen Cassidy, Ryan Crow, Jordon Bright, Laura Crossey, Rebecca Dorsey, Brian Gootee, Kyle House, Keith Howard, Karl Karlstrom, and Philip Pearthree
Sci. Dril., 26, 59–67, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-26-59-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-26-59-2019, 2019
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This paper summarizes a workshop held in Parker, AZ, USA, to discuss planned scientific drilling in the Miocene(?) or early Pliocene Bouse Formation, a controversial deposit (of lacustrine, marine, or some hybrid origin) found in the lower Colorado River valley. The drilling project is intended to address this controversy as well as shed light on Pliocene climates of southwestern North America during an important period of past climate change.
Paul E. Olsen, John W. Geissman, Dennis V. Kent, George E. Gehrels, Roland Mundil, Randall B. Irmis, Christopher Lepre, Cornelia Rasmussen, Dominique Giesler, William G. Parker, Natalia Zakharova, Wolfram M. Kürschner, Charlotte Miller, Viktoria Baranyi, Morgan F. Schaller, Jessica H. Whiteside, Douglas Schnurrenberger, Anders Noren, Kristina Brady Shannon, Ryan O'Grady, Matthew W. Colbert, Jessie Maisano, David Edey, Sean T. Kinney, Roberto Molina-Garza, Gerhard H. Bachman, Jingeng Sha, and the CPCD team
Sci. Dril., 24, 15–40, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-24-15-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-24-15-2018, 2018
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The Colorado Plateau Coring Project-1 recovered ~ 850 m of core in three holes at two sites in the Triassic fluvial strata of Petrified Forest National Park, AZ, USA. The cores have abundant zircon, U-Pb dateable layers (210–241 Ma) that along with magnetic polarity stratigraphy, validate the eastern US-based Newark-Hartford astrochronology and timescale, while also providing temporal and environmental context for the vast geological archives of the Triassic of western North America.
Wim Westerhoff, Timme Donders, and Stefan Luthi
Sci. Dril., 21, 47–51, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-21-47-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-21-47-2016, 2016
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The CONOSC (COring the NOrth Sea Cenozoic) project brings scientists together that aim at scientific drilling of the north-western European marginal seas where in the last 65 million years the influence of sea and land was recorded continuously in the sediments. The subsiding area is ideally suited for detailed study of the relations between changing climate, biodiversity, and changing land masses. The report discusses the ICDP workshop outcome and overall project aims.
B. Giaccio, E. Regattieri, G. Zanchetta, B. Wagner, P. Galli, G. Mannella, E. Niespolo, E. Peronace, P. R. Renne, S. Nomade, G. P. Cavinato, P. Messina, A. Sposato, C. Boschi, F. Florindo, F. Marra, and L. Sadori
Sci. Dril., 20, 13–19, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-20-13-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-20-13-2015, 2015
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As a pilot study for a possible depth-drilling project, an 82m long sedimentary succession was retrieved from the Fucino Basin, central Apennines, which hosts ca. 900m of lacustrine sediments. The acquired paleoclimatic record, from the retrieved core, spans the last 180ka and reveals noticeable variations related to the last two glacial-interglacial cycles. In light of these results, the Fucino sediments are likely to provide one of the longest continuous record for the last 2Ma.
P. A. Baker, S. C. Fritz, C. G. Silva, C. A. Rigsby, M. L. Absy, R. P. Almeida, M. Caputo, C. M. Chiessi, F. W. Cruz, C. W. Dick, S. J. Feakins, J. Figueiredo, K. H. Freeman, C. Hoorn, C. Jaramillo, A. K. Kern, E. M. Latrubesse, M. P. Ledru, A. Marzoli, A. Myrbo, A. Noren, W. E. Piller, M. I. F. Ramos, C. C. Ribas, R. Trnadade, A. J. West, I. Wahnfried, and D. A. Willard
Sci. Dril., 20, 41–49, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-20-41-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-20-41-2015, 2015
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We report on a planned Trans-Amazon Drilling Project (TADP) that will continuously sample Late Cretaceous to modern sediment in a transect along the equatorial Amazon of Brazil, from the Andean foreland to the Atlantic Ocean. The TADP will document the evolution of the Neotropical forest and will link biotic diversification to changes in the physical environment, including climate, tectonism, and landscape. We will also sample the ca. 200Ma basaltic sills that underlie much of the Amazon.
D. J. Condon, P. Boggiani, D. Fike, G. P. Halverson, S. Kasemann, A. H. Knoll, F. A. Macdonald, A. R. Prave, and M. Zhu
Sci. Dril., 19, 17–25, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-19-17-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-19-17-2015, 2015
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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.
J. S. Wellner
Sci. Dril., 18, 11–11, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-18-11-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-18-11-2014, 2014
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Short summary
We present the results of comprehensive pre-site surveys and deep drillings in two clay pans in the central Atacama Desert of northern Chile, one of the driest deserts on Earth. The results of the site surveys as well as lithological and downhole-logging data of the deep-drilling operations highlight the potential of the sediment records from the PAG (Playa Adamito Grande) and Paranal clay pans to provide unprecedented information on the Neogene precipitation history of the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert.
We present the results of comprehensive pre-site surveys and deep drillings in two clay pans in...
