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SEMINAR: GEOTOPICS: Twenty Years of ODP/IODP “CORK” Hydrological Observatories - A Brief Overview

From: Keri Vinas <KVinas@rsmas.miami.edu>
Subject: SEMINAR: GEOTOPICS: Twenty Years of ODP/IODP “CORK” Hydrological Observatories - A Brief Overview
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2012 16:33:32 +0000




Monday, March 5, 2012
3:15, SLAB Seminar Room, S/A 103
Refreshments at 3:00 PM

Our upcoming speaker is Dr. Keir Becker from RSMAS in the MGG department.

The title of his talk is "Twenty Years of ODP/IODP "CORK" Hydrological Observatories- A Brief Overview".


Abstract
Since 1991, the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) have instrumented 26 subseafloor boreholes with long-term sealed-hole hydrological observatories called “CORKs.” An historical summary of the designs of and experiences with the CORK observatories will be presented, starting from the 1989 concept sketch on a dinner napkin and continuing through the newest installations planned for April 2012 at the site of the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake.  Understanding subseafloor hydrology in a variety of type environments has been a prime objective of scientific ocean drilling since the late 1970’s. However, early experience indicated that holes that penetrated through marine sediments into underlying oceanic basement often allowed open exchange between formation fluids and ocean water, perturbing if not totally disturbing the in-situ hydrogeological state. This motivated the CORK approach to seal select holes with long-term sensor strings and data loggers, to record the recovery from drilling disturbances to the in-situ state and monitor natural hydrological and tectonic signals. The original design included a single seal at the seafloor, and later designs have allowed for monitoring multiple zones sealed by packers in a single hole. The sensor strings have always included pressure and temperature monitoring, and many have included self-contained fluid samplers driven by osmotic pumps (“OsmoSamplers”) that can be tuned for a variety of geochemical and microbiological sampling objectives. Typically, data and samplers have been recovered and/or exchanged at average intervals of ~1-3 years using manned or unmanned research submersibles. All installations to date have been in sedimented young ocean crust or in subduction settings, and some of the more interesting findings to date will be summarized.


We hope to see you all there!

Your GEOTOPICS Coordinators,

Keri Vinas and Arash Sharifi