An international effort led by Geoscience Australia and JAMSTEC proposes to drill a deep stratigraphic well up to 2500 meters below the seafloor on the Lord Howe Rise. The project aims to core Cretaceous and older sediments to understand continental ribbon evolution, Cretaceous paleoclimate, and sub-seafloor microbial life over a 100-million-year timeframe. Preparations included a 2016 seismic survey mapping crustal structure and a planned 2017 survey for geotechnical data.
Use Cases
- Modeling plate tectonic cycles and continental evolution based on drilling into extended continental crust.
- Reconstructing Cretaceous paleoclimate based on high-latitude biomarker and micropaleontology data.
- Studying the evolution of sub-seafloor microbial life over a 100-million-year timeframe.
- Mapping sedimentary basin architecture and resource potential based on seismic reflection and refraction data.
Strengths
- Proposal rated 'excellent' by the IODP Science Evaluation Panel in January 2017.
- Preparatory seismic survey acquired 2D reflection and refraction data across an east-west transect.
- Drilling planned to reach depths up to 2500 m below seafloor, targeting Cretaceous and older sediments.
Limitations
- Dataset description is a proposal; actual core data from drilling is not yet available.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Ocean Data Network
- Collection Method
- Proposed deep riser stratigraphic drilling and associated seismic surveys.
- Time Range
- Proposal submitted 2015, drilling planned for 2019 or 2020. Surveys conducted 2016-2017.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-06-23 00:28:44.724931; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Lord Howe Rise in the Tasman Sea, southwest Pacific.