https://sd.copernicus.org/articles/ Recent articles of the journal Scientific Drilling https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-127-2026 <b>Initial results from a Trans-Amazon Drilling Project core from the Acre Basin of Brazil</b><br> Sherilyn C. Fritz, André O. Sawakuchi, Anders Noren, Paul A. Baker, Cleverson Silva, Carlos Jaramillo, Renato Paes de Almeida, Liliane Janikian, Isaac Salém Bezerra, Marcos Barbosa, Dailson Bertassoli, Rain Blankenship, Cristiano M. Chiessi, Sarah J. Feakins, Maria da Glória Garcia, Cécile Gautheron, Brian Grivna, Gelvam Hartmann, Cindy Kunkel, André Marconato, Angela Martinez, Sebastian G. Marulanda, Carlos Eduardo M. Mazoca, Francisco R. Negri, Mauricio Parra, Werner E. Piller, Fabiano N. Pupim, Victor Salgado, Rachel T. So, Priscila Emerich Souza, Elena Stiles, Caroline A. E. Strömberg, Siu Mui Tsai, Ingo Wahnfried, Josh West, Marc-Élie Adaimé, Jhon Afonso, Thomas Kenji Akabane, Camila Eliza Althaus, Carlos D'Apolito, Kleiton R. Araújo, Roney da Silva de Azevedo Júnior, Jessica Barcellos, Tacio Bicudo, Giovanni Bogota, Bodo Bookhagen, Caio Breda, Alderlene Pimentel de Brito, Francy Carvajal, Daniel Antunes Coppi, Carolina Barbosa Leite da Cruz, Felipe Torres Figueiredo, Kate Freeman, Pedro Victor Oliveira Gomes, Martin Gross, Emma Hartke, Katja Heeschen, William Mozart Henrichs, Leonardo Henrique, Carina Hoorn, Brian K. Horton, Andrés Díaz-Jamamillo, Said Kamrani-Mehni, Fatima Leite, Lin Li, Rodrigo Ferreira de Lucena, Alastair Milne, Thomás Miranda, Marcelo Mota, Diana Ochoa, Vinicius de Lima Passos, Rafaela Maciel Lopes de Paula, Elisa Piispa, Angelo Plata Torres, Surangi W. Punyasena, Adriano Domingos dos Reis, Catherine Rigsby, Andrés F. Salazar Rios, Fernanda Costa Gonçalves Rodrigues, Raquel M. M. Romão, Ingrid C. Romero, Henrique O. Sawakuchi, Doug Schnurrenberger, Kristina Brady Shannon, Silane A. F. da Silva-Caminha, Clauses Sousa, Larissa Natsumi Tamura, Thomas Wiersberg, Helanlin Xiang, and Belén Zamudio<br> Sci. Dril., 35, 127–157, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-127-2026, 2026<br> The Trans-Amazon Drilling Project seeks to reconstruct the origins of biodiversity in the world's largest and most diverse rain forest, and the roles of landscape changes driven by Andean uplift and global climate change in diversification. We provide a project overview and preliminary results from a drill core from the Acre Basin of western Brazil, which recovered an 860 m sequence that was deposited in a large river system and which will yield critical insights on evolutionary history.  2026-06-26T14:29:23+02:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-119-2026 <b>Non-destructive core visualization using X-ray computed tomography scan and its implementation into the core workflow on D/V Chikyu</b><br> Hanaya Okuda, Charlotte Pizer, Mai-Linh Doan, and Michael Strasser<br> Sci. Dril., 35, 119–125, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-119-2026, 2026<br> X-ray computed tomography scans have been used to look inside drill cores without destroying them. On the drilling vessel Chikyu, drill cores are routinely scanned by X-ray computed tomography, but the usage of scan data has been limited on the vessel due to large data size, unfamiliar data format, etc. In this study, we designed a workflow that enables shipboard scientists to access and utilize the X-ray computed tomography data quickly for shipboard core handling. 2026-06-10T14:29:23+02:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-99-2026 <b>The ICDP Nam Co Drilling Project (NamCore), Tibet: a 510.2 m sedimentary record from the Third Pole</b><br> Marie-Luise Adolph, Junbo Wang, Liping Zhu, Leon J. Clarke, Andrew C. G. Henderson, Hendrik Vogel, Gerhard Daut, Peter Frenzel, Jianting Ju, Qiangqiang Kou, Dierk Michaelis, Olga Schmitz, Anja Schwarz, Volkhard Spiess, Arne Ulfers, Cidan Zhaxi, Daniel Ariztegui, Natasha Barbolini, Thorsten Bauersachs, Erwin Braun, Giulia Ceriotti, Brian Grivna, Marlene Hoehle, Rolf Kipfer, Wilhelmine Klamt, Cindy Kunkel, Aliisa Laakkonen, Minghui Li, Qingfeng Ma, Paul Moser Röggla, Kaja Müller, Anders Noren, Ryan O'Grady, Santiago Otero, Maïlys Picard, Anna Pint, Camille Thomas, Jerome Van der Woerd, Mathias Vinnepand, Claudia Wrozyna, Christian Zeeden, Xinghuan Zhu, and Torsten Haberzettl<br> Sci. Dril., 35, 99–117, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-99-2026, 2026<br> We drilled deep into sediments beneath a large lake on the Tibetan Plateau, Nam Co, to learn how climate and environments have changed over multiple ice age cycles. The recovered sediments show repeated shifts between major changes in lake conditions, water chemistry, and ecosystems. These findings help clarify how wind systems responded to natural climate cycles and improve understanding of how high mountain regions may react to future climate change and environmental stress. 2026-06-05T14:29:23+02:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-83-2026 <b>An urban energy laboratory for monitoring and better understanding of subsurface processes related to low-enthalpy geothermal heat production – UrbEnLab</b><br> David Bruhn, Hemmo A. Abels, Auke Barnhoorn, Claire Bossennec, Aoife K. Braiden, Maren Brehme, Romain Chassagne, Alexandros Daniilidis, Mathieu Darnet, Guy Drijkoningen, Patrick Fulton, Virginie Harcouët-Menou, Ernst Huenges, Stefan Jansen, Alexis Koulidis, Susanne Laumann, Haiyan Lei, Joseph Moore, Paula Rulff, Thorben Schöfisch, Evert Slob, Philip J. Vardon, Liliana Vargas-Meleza, and Denis Voskov<br> Sci. Dril., 35, 83–97, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-83-2026, 2026<br> A workshop on the the scientific value and use of a 4500 m deep borehole on the campus of TU Delft in the Netherlands was held in June 2024. The borehole will serve as an observation infrastructure for processes in the underground related to human activities, such as exploitation of energy resources like geothermal energy or storage of heat or gas. The location is of great interest for this purpose as there are already two deep geothermal wells and shallow wells for heat storage. 2026-03-19T14:29:23+01:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-61-2026 <b>Scientific deep drilling in the Chew Bahir basin: advantages and pitfalls of two overlapping sediment cores</b><br> Verena Foerster, Asfawossen Asrat, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Erik T. Brown, Alan Deino, Asfaw Erbello, Markus L. Fischer, Daniel Gebregiorgis, Annett Junginger, Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr, Christine S. Lane, Stephan Opitz, Anders Noren, Helen M. Roberts, Ralph Tiedemann, Céline-Marie Vidal, Finn Viehberg, Ralf Vogelsang, Charlotte Zachow, Bahru Zinaye, Andrew S. Cohen, Henry F. Lamb, Frank Schaebitz, and Martin H. Trauth<br> Sci. Dril., 35, 61–81, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-61-2026, 2026<br> To explore links between human evolution and environmental change, the Chew Bahir basin in southern Ethiopia, a sedimentary climate archive, was investigated through a series of scientific drilling expeditions. We share key lessons from planning, site selection, drilling strategy and core processing, with a focus on the awards and challenges in collecting and merging twin sediment cores into a near-continuous record to provide practical lessons for future projects. 2026-03-17T14:29:23+01:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-55-2026 <b>Real-time unwrapping of 3D X-ray CT scans for visual core description</b><br> Mai-Linh Doan, Morgane Brunet, Charlotte Pizer, Hanaya Okuda, Yu-Chun Chang, Sara Satolli, Uisdean Nicholson, Yuzuru Yamamoto, Marianne Conin, Rina Fukuchi, Jamie Kirkpatrick, Sean Toczko, and the IODP Expedition 405 Scientists<br> Sci. Dril., 35, 55–60, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-55-2026, 2026<br> State-of-the-art scientific drilling frequently involves X-ray scanning to get an initial overview of the recovered cores. The X-ray scanner generates a huge 3D image, usually explored with a specialized computer located several meters away from the cores. We suggest using paper summaries of the X-ray images for a more focused description without digital distractions. In particular, we propose creating a virtual image that wraps around the core, similar to how the Shroud of Turin shows a body. 2026-03-05T14:29:23+01:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-39-2026 <b>Geochemical and structural indicators for hydrothermal fluid migration: a case study in the Bushveld Complex</b><br> Rolene Lubbe, Amy J. Allwright, Stephanus S. de Lange, and Frederick Roelofse<br> Sci. Dril., 35, 39–53, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-39-2026, 2026<br> This study investigated previously underexplored deep-water movement in the Bushveld Complex. Analysis of water and rock data from a deep exploration well revealed distinct changes in water chemistry at 450 m below ground level, associated with a severely fractured rock layer and a deep rock conduit. These features indicate potential deep, saline, gas-rich water pathways containing high dissolved salts and specific metals, providing insight into deep fluid migration in fractured hard rocks. 2026-02-27T14:29:23+01:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-21-2026 <b>Recommendations for using core X-ray fluorescence data on basaltic rock as a tool to assess compositional variability</b><br> Ashley M. Morris, Sarah Lambart, Carlos A. Alvarez Zarikian, John M. Millett, Morgan T. Jones, Sverre Planke, Peter Betlem, Sayantani Chatterjee, Marialena Christopoulou, Eric C. Ferré, Irina Y. Filina, Joost Frieling, Reed P. Scherer, Natalia Varela, Weimu Xu, and Stacy L. Yager<br> Sci. Dril., 35, 21–37, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-21-2026, 2026<br> Choosing samples from large sections of hard-rock cores often relies on preliminary chemical analyses, which can be limited and therefore misrepresentative of full chemical variability. This study adapts X-ray fluorescence core-scanning techniques for use on hard-rock basalt cores to outline a method that provides accurate chemical information in greater detail relative to traditional analytical methods. The presented workflow suggests significant contributions to new and legacy core research. 2026-02-26T14:29:23+01:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-1-2026 <b>Follow the CO2 – drilling into an actively degassing intraplate volcano underlain by a silicate–carbonatite intrusion</b><br> Torsten Dahm, Axel K. Schmitt, Shanaka de Silva, Tobias Fischer, Astrid Holzheid, Nina Kukowski, Yan Lavallee, Anne Sturm, and Juliana Troch<br> Sci. Dril., 35, 1–20, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-35-1-2026, 2026<br> The Eifel region in Germany hosts hundreds of distributed volcanoes of Quaternary age, including the Laacher See volcano that produced an eruption of VEI (volcanic explosivity index) 6 13 kyr ago, and is underlain by one of the youngest silicate–carbonatite intrusive complexes worldwide. Recently, three workshops were held to sharpen scientific questions of global scope and relevance to study this type of volcanism by drilling. This report summarised the workshop outcome with a clear science plan for the drilling project. 2026-02-11T14:29:23+01:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-34-29-2025 <b>The RISeR cores: unexpected and extensive Middle Pleistocene terrestrial stratigraphy in the southern North Sea</b><br> Amy M. McGuire, Víctor Cartelle, Graham Rush, Freek S. Busschers, Kim M. Cohen, David M. Hodgson, and Natasha L. M. Barlow<br> Sci. Dril., 34, 29–39, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-34-29-2025, 2025<br> We present five new sediment cores, the Rates of Interglacial Sea-level Change and Responses (RISeR) cores, extracted from the southern North Sea. The cores will allow us to study the evolution of the basin in the Quaternary (the last 2.58 million years). The cores reveal widespread soil, wetland, and river deposits, reflecting a lost, predominantly terrestrial, landscape that now sits around 20 m below sea level. Understanding these landscapes is vital, as they form the foundations for a rapidly growing offshore wind industry. 2025-11-03T14:29:23+01:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-34-21-2025 <b>Hand-operated fully reproducible static blade core opening bench</b><br> Raphaël Gallet and Fabien Arnaud<br> Sci. Dril., 34, 21–27, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-34-21-2025, 2025<br> 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. 2025-10-29T14:29:23+01:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-34-1-2025 <b>Unearthing the climate history of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile – deep drilling in two clay pans of the Coastal Cordillera</b><br> Volker Wennrich, Julia Diederich-Leicher, Bárbara Nataly Blanco-Arrué, Christoph Büttner, Stefan Buske, Eduardo Campos Sepulveda, Tibor Dunai, Jacob Feller, Emma Galego, Ascelina Hasberg, Niklas Leicher, Damián Alejandro López, Jorge Maldonado, Alicia Medialdea, Lukas Ninnemann, Russell Perryman, Juan Cristóbal Ríos-Contesse, Benedikt Ritter, Stephanie Scheidt, Barbara Vargas-Machuca, Pritam Yogeshwar, and Martin Melles<br> Sci. Dril., 34, 1–20, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-34-1-2025, 2025<br> 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.  2025-07-16T14:29:23+02:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-249-2024 <b>International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) workshop on the Fucino paleolake project: the longest continuous terrestrial archive in the MEditerranean recording the last 5 Million years of Earth system history (MEME)</b><br> Biagio Giaccio, Bernd Wagner, Giovanni Zanchetta, Adele Bertini, Gian Paolo Cavinato, Roberto de Franco, Fabio Florindo, David A. Hodell, Thomas A. Neubauer, Sebastien Nomade, Alison Pereira, Laura Sadori, Sara Satolli, Polychronis C. Tzedakis, Paul Albert, Paolo Boncio, Cindy De Jonge, Alexander Francke, Christine Heim, Alessia Masi, Marta Marchegiano, Helen M. Roberts, Anders Noren, and the MEME team<br> Sci. Dril., 33, 249–266, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-249-2024, 2024<br> 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. 2024-12-16T14:29:23+01:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-237-2024 <b>A comprehensive crosshole seismic experiment in glacial sediments at the ICDP DOVE site in the Tannwald Basin</b><br> Sarah Beraus, Thomas Burschil, Hermann Buness, Daniel Köhn, Thomas Bohlen, and Gerald Gabriel<br> Sci. Dril., 33, 237–248, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-237-2024, 2024<br> We conducted seismic crosshole experiments with a sparker source in order to obtain a high-resolution subsurface velocity model in the glacially overdeepened Tannwald Basin (ICDP site 5068_1). The data show complex wave fields that contain a lot of information but also present challenges. Nevertheless, isotropic first-arrival travel-time tomography provides the first high-resolution subsurface models that correlate well with the sonic logs and the core recovered from one of the three boreholes. 2024-10-11T14:29:23+02:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-219-2024 <b>Active seismic surveys for drilling target characterization in Ossola Valley: International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) project Drilling the Ivrea–Verbano zonE (DIVE) phase I</b><br> Andrew Greenwood, György Hetényi, Ludovic Baron, Alberto Zanetti, Othmar Müntener, and the MOS field team<br> Sci. Dril., 33, 219–236, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-219-2024, 2024<br> A set of seismic reflection surveys were conducted in May 2019 in the Ossola Valley, Western Italian Alps, to image the geologic structure below two proposed boreholes. The boreholes plan to penetrate the upper 2 km of the lower continental crust, a zone of much scientific interest. The seismic surveys have defined the valley structure to depths of 550 m, determined the dip of geological banding, and ruled out the possibility of major geologic drilling hazards that could be encountered. 2024-09-02T14:29:23+02:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-207-2024 <b>Workshop report: Afar Dallol Drilling – ONset of sedimentary processes in an active rift basin (ADD-ON)</b><br> Anneleen Foubert, Derek Keir, Balemwal Atnafu, Tesfaye Kidane, and the ADD-ON Workshop Consortium<br> Sci. Dril., 33, 207–218, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-207-2024, 2024<br> The Dallol area (northern Afar, Ethiopia) is the ideal field lab to study the birth of a future ocean. The ADD-ON workshop brought together scientists from different disciplines, government agencies, local universities, and communities to plan a scientific drilling into the Dallol deep subsurface. This drilling will provide unique archives to resolve questions related to rift processes, seismic and volcanic activity, climate change, the deep biosphere, geothermal energy, and water resources. 2024-08-30T14:29:23+02:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-191-2024 <b>Shaped and filled by the Rhine Glacier: the overdeepened Tannwald Basin in southwestern Germany</b><br> Bennet Schuster, Lukas Gegg, Sebastian Schaller, Marius W. Buechi, David C. Tanner, Ulrike Wielandt-Schuster, Flavio S. Anselmetti, and Frank Preusser<br> Sci. Dril., 33, 191–206, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-191-2024, 2024<br> The Tannwald Basin, explored by drilling and formed by repeated advances of the Rhine Glacier, reveals key geological insights. Ice-contact sediments and evidence of deformation highlight gravitational and glaciotectonic processes. ICDP DOVE 5068_1_C core data define lithofacies associations, reflecting basin infill cycles, marking at least three distinct glacial advances. Integrating these findings aids understanding the broader glacial evolution of the Lake Constance amphitheater. 2024-07-04T14:29:23+02:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-173-2024 <b>A strainmeter array as the fulcrum of novel observatory sites along the Alto Tiberina Near Fault Observatory</b><br> Lauro Chiaraluce, Richard Bennett, David Mencin, Wade Johnson, Massimiliano Rinaldo Barchi, Marco Bohnhoff, Paola Baccheschi, Antonio Caracausi, Carlo Calamita, Adriano Cavaliere, Adriano Gualandi, Eugenio Mandler, Maria Teresa Mariucci, Leonardo Martelli, Simone Marzorati, Paola Montone, Debora Pantaleo, Stefano Pucci, Enrico Serpelloni, Mariano Supino, Salvatore Stramondo, Catherine Hanagan, Liz Van Boskirk, Mike Gottlieb, Glen Mattioli, Marco Urbani, Francesco Mirabella, Assel Akimbekova, Simona Pierdominici, Thomas Wiersberg, Chris Marone, Luca Palmieri, and Luca Schenato<br> Sci. Dril., 33, 173–190, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-173-2024, 2024<br> We built six observatory stations in central Italy to monitor a fault potentially capable of generating a strong earthquake. Each site has 80–160 m deep wells equipped with strainmeters and seismometers. At the surface, we placed GNSS antennas and seismic and meteorological sensors. All data, which are open access for the scientific community, will help us to better understand the complex physical and chemical processes that lead to the generation of the full range of slow and fast earthquakes. 2024-06-24T14:29:23+02:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-129-2024 <b>BASE (Barberton Archean Surface Environments) – drilling Paleoarchean coastal strata of the Barberton Greenstone Belt</b><br> 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<br> Sci. Dril., 33, 129–172, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-129-2024, 2024<br> 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. 2024-06-18T14:29:23+02:00 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-109-2024 <b>Paleozoic Equatorial Records of Melting Ice Ages (PERMIA): calibrating the pace of paleotropical environmental and ecological change during Earth's previous icehouse</b><br> 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<br> Sci. Dril., 33, 109–128, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-33-109-2024, 2024<br> 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. 2024-06-18T14:29:23+02:00