IODP Deep Stratigraphic Drilling on the Lord Howe Rise: Tectonics and Climate

The Lord Howe Rise in the southwest Pacific is a submerged continental ribbon. A proposal from Geoscience Australia and JAMSTEC outlines plans for deep riser drilling to core Cretaceous and older sediments up to 2500 meters below the seafloor, aiming to understand tectonic cycles and paleoclimate. Preparations included seismic surveys in 2016 and 2017 to map crustal structure and characterize drill sites.

Use Cases

• Modeling plate tectonic cycles and continental evolution based on recovered Cretaceous and older sediments.
• Reconstructing high-latitude Cretaceous paleoclimate based on biomarker and micropaleontology data.
• Studying the evolution of sub-seafloor microbial life over a 100-million-year timeframe.
• Mapping crustal structure and sedimentary basin architecture based on 2D seismic reflection and refraction data.

Strengths

• Proposal rated 'excellent' by the IODP Science Evaluation Panel in January 2017.
• Plans to drill to a depth of up to about 2500 meters below the seafloor.
• Seismic surveys helped constrain crustal thickness to about 20 km beneath the Lord Howe Rise.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia and JAMSTEC

Collection Method

Proposed deep riser stratigraphic drilling and preparatory seismic surveys.

Time Range

Proposal submitted in 2015; drilling planned for 2019 or 2020.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 08:47:30.062999; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Lord Howe Rise in the southwest Pacific, Tasman Sea.