Lord Howe Rise Deep Stratigraphic Drilling Proposal and Collaboration

Geoscience Australia and JAMSTEC have collaborated since 2014 on a proposal for deep scientific drilling in the Zealandia continental fragment. The approved project aims to collect rock cores from several kilometers below the seafloor to study a 100-million-year history. This initiative, managed by the Australian Ocean Data Network, represents the first such drilling in Australia's maritime jurisdiction.

Use Cases

• Analyzing rock core stratigraphy to reconstruct 100-million-year tectonic history of the Zealandia fragment.
• Studying sediment composition and microfossils within cores to model past climate dynamics.
• Investigating geochemical signatures in deep rock cores to understand the limits of ancient microbial life.
• Mapping basin formation processes using core data from sediment-filled basins formed by tectonic stretching.

Strengths

• Project scope targets a 100-million-year geological history.
• Collaboration involves two major national science agencies since 2014.
• Approved by the International Ocean Discovery Program, a long-running scientific collaboration.

Limitations

• No actual core sample data is currently available; this is a project proposal.
• Specific data formats, sample counts, and measurement columns are undefined.
• Temporal coverage of future core data is prospective, not historical.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, documenting collaboration between Geoscience Australia and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC).

Collection Method

Proposed scientific drilling and core collection via the International Ocean Discovery Program.

Time Range

Targets geological records spanning up to 100 million years.

Freshness

null

Geography

Lord Howe Rise, within the Zealandia continental fragment in the ocean between eastern Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia.