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Trevor Williams – ANDRILL: Geologic Drilling to Produce Stratigraphic Records of the Antarctic

Trevor Williams – ANDRILL: Geologic Drilling to Produce Stratigraphic Records of the Antarctic. Originally presented 16 September 2006. For those of us in the US and most of the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere is largely “Terra Incognito”.

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Trevor Williams – ANDRILL: Geologic Drilling to Produce Stratigraphic Records of the Antarctic

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  1. Trevor Williams – ANDRILL: Geologic Drilling to Produce Stratigraphic Records of the Antarctic Originally presented 16 September 2006

  2. For those of us in the US and most of the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere is largely “Terra Incognito” We can look at maps, such as the ones in the next slides, and see shapes and names. But we tend to think of the Southern Ocean and surrounding land masses merely as the bottom half of maps or globes. New techniques are beginning to allow us to show more about this interesting portion of our planet: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/predict.gif

  3. http://tea.armadaproject.org/activity/demello/ICE_CONTINENT_ENCOUNTER.doc#AntarcticMapshttp://tea.armadaproject.org/activity/demello/ICE_CONTINENT_ENCOUNTER.doc#AntarcticMaps

  4. Antarctica’s Geography http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/story3_2_01.html

  5. Antarctica is the fifth largest continent. It is also the … • Southernmost • Coldest • Windiest • Driest • Highest • Most remote • Last to be discovered http://andrill.org/about/antarctica/index.html

  6. How remote is Antarctica? • 1000 km (600 mi) from South America • 2500 km (1600 mi) from Australia • 4000 km (2500 mi) from Africa

  7. AA’s area is larger than that of Europe or Australia Its average elevation is more than 2000 m (6500 ft), twice that of Asia’s Remove the ice, and East Australia would have a landmass abut that of Australia, and West Australia would be an archipelago More facts about Antarctica http://andrill.org/about/antarctica/index.html

  8. Only about 1% of the ice-free regions have been explored for minerals • There is evidence that there may be rich mineral deposits, along with petroleum and natural gas. • The Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1961, established a 50-year moratorium on commercial mining activity in Antarctica.

  9. The most important feature about Antarctica is that it is now very cold! Located at Earth’s southern pole means that little or no solar energy is received during half the year, and although the sun shines for long day lengths in the other half, not much energy is absorbed

  10. Modern Antarctica results largely from its isolation at the pole and the ocean currents that surround it. http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Water/images/Surface_currents_jpg_image.html

  11. Becoming Antarctica • Formation of the Circumpolar Current (West Wind Drift) played a major role in isolating and cooling Antarctica • Changes in ocean circulation had major effects on energy transfer on the globe, which will explored in the next few slides • Consequently, the ice cap grew and sea level was lowered, and Antarctica became “Earth’s ice box”

  12. But it wasn’t always this way! • 200 mya, what was to become Antarctica was at the center of Gondwanaland, the southern supercontinent created as Pangaea began to split apart • It was connected to Australia, Africa, South America, India, and New Zealand • Fossils provide evidence that climate was much warmer and lush vegetation covered much of the surface • Any polar ice cap was much smaller, so sea level was much higher

  13. You can study an animation from a PBS “NOVA” program showing the breakup of Gondwanaland at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/eden/media/stt.html

  14. How Old Is Australia? Rocks of East Antarctica are at least 3 billion years old, and the rocks of West Antarctica are relatively new, probably only 700 million years old. Much of Antarctica’s geologic history remains unknown as the rock record, required to decipher the history, is hidden beneath the continent’s ice blanket. Drilling projects, including ANDRILL, aim to recover rock core from beneath the ice to help uncover the story of Antarctica’s evolution through deep time.

  15. What lies beneath Antarctica’s Ice? http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/story3_2_01.html

  16. Probing Beneath the Ice Cap Between 1988 – 1997, NASA’s RADARSAT program studied our planet using SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) techniques. (Jeffrey Weissel presented an E2C Workshop in May 2004 about SAR strategies to provide rapid response to natural hazards)

  17. Other E2C Programs about Antarctica Dr. Michael Studinger has provided E2C Workshops about investigating Lake Vostok, hidden beneath 4 km of ice. For more information:"Uncovering the Secrets of Lake Vostok" (Nov 2003)"Remote Sensing on Land and Under Lake Vostok's Ice" (Apr 2005)"Remote Sensing" of Lake Vostok (Feb 2006)

  18. IPY International Polar Year 2007 - 2008 We are about to begin a new era of exploration in the Antarctic and Arctic through an international research project officially going Mar 2007 – Mar 2008 What Is IPY? Previous IPYs and IGY IPY Themes

  19. Today, we will consider how scientists can understand the geology hidden beneath the polar ice caps through more direct methods. Trevor Williams will describe techniques used during ANDRILL and other coring projects to describe the stratigraphy and interpret the geologic record.

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