The Lord Howe Rise, a submerged continental ribbon in the southwest Pacific, is the target of a proposed deep stratigraphic drilling project. Geoscience Australia and JAMSTEC plan to drill up to 2500 meters below the seafloor to core Cretaceous and older sediments, aiming to recover data on tectonic evolution and high-latitude paleoclimate. Preparatory work includes seismic surveys conducted in 2016 and 2017 to map crustal structure and characterize drill sites.
Use Cases
- Modeling plate tectonic cycles and continental evolution based on recovered core samples from a continental ribbon.
- Reconstructing Cretaceous paleoclimate and ocean biogeochemistry based on high-latitude biomarker and micropaleontology data.
- Studying the evolution of sub-seafloor microbial life over a 100-million-year timeframe.
- Analyzing crustal structure and sedimentary basin architecture using seismic reflection and refraction data.
Strengths
- Proposed drilling targets depths up to 2500 meters below seafloor, potentially accessing over 100 million years of geological record.
- Preparatory surveys include 2D seismic reflection and refraction data along an east-west transect, providing regional crustal context.
- Project is led by established scientific organizations Geoscience Australia and JAMSTEC under the IODP framework.
Limitations
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to data_gov_au, focusing solely on the Lord Howe Rise region.
Provenance
- Source
- Geoscience Australia Data
- Collection Method
- Proposed International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) deep riser drilling, with preparatory seismic surveys.
- Time Range
- Proposed drilling planned for 2019 or 2020; preparatory surveys conducted in 2016 and 2017.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-05-14 03:23:41.060209; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Lord Howe Rise, a submerged continental ribbon in the Tasman Sea, southwest Pacific.