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Drilling
is the long arm of the earth scientist. Like field vehicles, aircraft, submersibles
and spacecrafts, drilling puts us where it would otherwise be hard or impossible
to go — in order to observe and collect materials for improved understanding
of natural processes.
The capabilities of current drilling are marvels in themselves. The scientific
significance of reaching a point in space, however, will be born of what a scientist
expected to find, the ability to sense the place when the drill bit gets there,
and the impact the new knowledge will have on current understanding. In this
issue, we visit some of the more exciting worldwide scientific drilling approaches
as a preview of where to expect scientific breakthroughs over the next several
years.
In the first feature, “Looking Into a Volcano: Drilling Unzen,” Setsuya
Nakada and John Eichelberger describe the ongoing program to drill through the
core of Unzen Volcano near Nagasaki, Japan. Directional drilling has reached
about 2,500 feet. The vertical feeder core of the volcano is expected in another
3,000 feet with temperatures in the range of 600 degrees Celsius. A major scientific
goal of the mission is to understand the conditions that determine whether a
volcanic eruption will be a loud bang or a quiet ooze. Unzen has experienced
both types of events in its history, and the prediction and mitigation of future
eruptions could have great social value.
In our next feature, contributing writer Sara Pratt takes a “fresh angle”
on oil extraction, focusing on the special technology that allows drillers to
control the direction of a borehole, from vertical to horizontal and beyond,
and around the points of the compass. Pioneered and used largely by oil companies
to enhance recovery and minimize environmental disruption and exploration and
production costs, it has become a key player in oil and natural gas drilling
on Alaska’s North Slope. The technology also has applications in mineral
resources, engineering and drilling volcanoes, as we saw in the previous feature
article.
From oil we turn to Earth’s large lakes, which contain remarkable sedimentary
records that may exceed thousands of feet in thickness and reach back hundreds
of thousands of years. These sediments provide insight into topics such as climate,
landscape modification, biological evolution and mine-waste contamination. As
discussed in the third feature by Schnurrenberger and Hiatt, exploration of
these seemingly more accessible scientific resources has trailed ocean-floor
exploration because of technology barriers. Oil companies led the development
of ocean drilling methods, whereas lake exploration has lacked a mobile, rapidly
and inexpensively deployed drilling platform. That is changing with the Global
Lake Drilling (GLAD) program, a consortium of government agencies and academic
institutions, which has already drilled lakes in Utah, California, Bolivia and
Iceland.
And finally, in “A New Era of Ocean Drilling Sets Sail,” Kasey White
describes the new global ocean drilling effort. Last year marked the end of
the 20-year Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) and the beginning of its successor,
the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). ODP drilled 700,000 feet of core
from 1,700 holes — advancing our understanding of climate change, earthquakes,
natural resources and microbiology. The collaborative, proposal-driven, internationally
reviewed science and expedition plans for both ODP and IODP are models of getting
a big bang from big science. IODP will benefit from multiple vessels with different
drilling capabilities to match different ocean conditions.
Once again we thank our contributing authors for thought-provoking slants on
earth science and technology. It is an ongoing amazement to me just how many
bright scientists receive extraordinary support not only from competent colleagues
with untold skill sets, but also from fellow citizens who want to know about
Earth and are willing to support its exploration.
Believe your compass and your inclinometer,
Samuel S. Adams
Geotimes Editor-in-Chief
P.S. On another note, David Applegate, who has been editor of Geotimes
for more than four years, has moved on to become the Senior Science Advisor
for Earthquakes and Geologic Hazards at the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston,
Va. David has been instrumental in the substantial evolution of this magazine
during his tenure, and everyone at Geotimes and AGI thanks him for his
dedicated service. We look forward to building on David’s legacy and wish
him the best in his future endeavors.
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