Drilling Sites
Site B is the original vertical hole (~150 m). Site C is the second vertical hole (~192 m). Site D is the diagonal hole (~354 m angled, 290 m vertical).
Drilling Completed!
Drillers Steve Cole, Justin Blouin, AJ Vecchiarelli, Beau Marshall, and Matt Lyon hold the last core of the SUSTAIN drilling operation. At 10:30 am this morning, drilling on Surtsey was completed! The final, diagonal hole reached a length of 354 m (vertical depth of 290 m). At 343 m, the team reached the feeder dike of Surtur (eastern crater). The final meter of core was a lapilli tuff, indicating the team transversed the dike. The drilling team deserves the highest praise for their dedication, enthusiasm and drive in bringing the drilling operation to such a grand finish. As well, the efforts of the waterline workers, and the science team on Surtsey and Heimaey has been critical to the extraordinary success of the project.
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Success at Drillsite C!
Last night we achieved our first BIG success!
We drilled through the well-cemented tuff Surtsey’s hydrothermal system, and into the deeper deposits of the volcano below 160 m depth. We had nearly 100% recovery of consolidated tuff all the way down to 180 m – the final depth of the hole drilled in 1979. Our drillers pressed on through the night and recovered a possible sample of the seafloor beneath the volcano at ~185 m depth. The SE-02B hole is now terminated at 191.64 m.
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Steaming Core
Steaming core at over 100 °C and ~ 80 m in depth. Click the link above to watch the video.
surtsey50years
An up-close look at the core, likely to be a well-consolidated lithic tuff which has undergone a great deal of alteration.
Full Core Recovery
A member of the science team proudly displaying full core recovery. This core contained a single fracture, but otherwise was a solid piece 3.15 m long
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Extracting Core
Extracting the core from the drill casing on the 10th of August, 2017. The core is housed in a plastic liner for handling and transport and is carried in an aluminum holder to ensure it does not fracture. Labeling and sampling are done once the core has been transferred to the shed.
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First Core
The teams on Surtsey extracted the first core today! Here they are pictured with the first section.
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Microbiology Sampling
Microbiologists measure and cut the core into 10cm segments to collect samples.
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