[meteorite-list] Deepest Core Samples Yet Pulled From ChesapeakeBay Crater
From: Greg Redfern <gredfern_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Dec 5 23:11:06 2005 Message-ID: <000201c5fa1b$11eef0a0$6500a8c0_at_homeqmkddyxspr> Hello List, Part 2 of my series on the CBIC is at the WTOPNEWS link under my name. Part 3 will be posted next Monday and discuss the drilling ops and science being done there. I had the privilege of spending a few days at the site & seeing the cores as they came out of the ground. I hope you fond it interesting. All the best, Greg Greg Redfern NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/index.html What's Up: The Space Place http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=421 -----Original Message----- From: meteorite-list-bounces_at_meteoritecentral.com [mailto:meteorite-list-bounces_at_meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Gerald Flaherty Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005 8:44 PM To: Ron Baalke; Meteorite Mailing List Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Deepest Core Samples Yet Pulled From ChesapeakeBay Crater Magnificent! Thanks Ron. Jerry Flaherty ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com> Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005 11:51 AM Subject: [meteorite-list] Deepest Core Samples Yet Pulled From Chesapeake Bay Crater > > http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=96415&ran=187009 > > Deepest core samples yet pulled from Bay crater > By DIANE TENNANT > The Virginian-Pilot > December 5, 2005 > > An attempt to drill more than a mile into an ancient impact crater under > the Chesapeake Bay ended Sunday morning, a little short of the goal. > > Rock samples from 5,795 feet below ground were pulled from the ground at > about 7:45 a.m. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey endured > gusting winds and rain to collect the last of the boxes of core samples > - tubes of rock and sediment - that will be studied in labs around the > world. > > "I think it's a clear success," said Greg Gohn of the USGS, one of four > principal investigators . > > The drilling project, in the soybean fields of a privately owned farm > north of Cape Charles, was the deepest look ever taken into the > Chesapeake Bay impact crater, which was created 35 million years ago, > when an asteroid or comet traveling between 15 and 40 miles per second > slammed into a shallow sea that covered much of the East Coast. The > resulting crater is at least a mile deep and about 56 miles across. The > center lies under Cape Charles, and the edges lie under parts of Norfolk > and Virginia Beach, the Peninsula and the Middle Peninsula. > > Studies on the crater have focused largely on groundwater. The crater > disrupts the normal layers of freshwater aquifers in the region, either > trapping saltwater or allowing it to penetrate farther inland than would > be expected. > > Eight holes had already been drilled into outer parts of the crater to > collect core samples. The deepest of those was 2,699 feet, less than > half of the latest effort, which had aimed for 7,218 feet. > > Seven science teams and 118 scientists from around the world are > involved in the project. The teams plan to examine such things as > immediate environmental effects of the impact, long-term effects and > geophysics such as temperature and density of rocks. Biologists also are > searching for microbes that can survive extreme conditions. > > It is believed that when the crater formed, tsunamis topped the > Appalachian Mountains and bounced off Europe, wildfires raged along the > East Coast and sand was melted into glass beads that were carried > thousands of miles away by the wind. > > Drilling began in mid-September and ran 24 hours a day for nearly three > months. When it ended, it was 1,423 feet short of the goal. Several > hundred feet of granite slowed the drillers. > > Still, scientists were pleased with the results. The crater is buried > beneath more than 1,000 feet of sediment at that location. Samples were > taken of those sediments as well as rock that was melted by the heat of > the impact, found at more than 4,000 feet under ground. > > The last core brought to the surface contained pegmatite, a rock that is > similar to granite but full of large crystals of quartz, garnet and > other minerals. > > The deep drilling project was funded in part by the International > Continental Scientific Drilling Program, a consortium of science > agencies in 13 countries, including China, Canada, Germany and South > Africa. In the United States, the National Science Foundation is the > funding partner. > > Analysis of the samples is expected to take months . The first results > will probably be published in scientific journals 12 to 18 months from > now. > > ______________________________________________ > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list Received on Mon 05 Dec 2005 11:11:01 PM PST |
StumbleUpon del.icio.us Yahoo MyWeb |