A total of 42 Earth scientists from 14 countries met in Gioia dei Marsi, central Italy, on 23 to 27 October 2023 to explore the potential for deep drilling of the thick lake sediment sequence of the Fucino Basin. The aim was to reconstruct the history of climate, ecosystem, and biodiversity changes and of the explosive volcanism and tectonics in central Italy over the last 3.5 million years, constrained by a detailed radiometric chronology.

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. 

In this paper, we present the technical choices we made to craft a universal core opening bench. This device has been designed to open sediment cores in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) liners up to 1.5 m long and with 3 mm thick walls. The accepted external diameters are 63 and 90 mm, but this may be customized easily. All plans and 3D shapes are available online at no charge.