Pile 'em high

The Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater was formed around 35 million years ago when a bolide struck the coast of modern-day Virginia, USA. It is centred approximately on Cape Charles, just on the west coast of Northampton County, Virginia, practically in Chesapeake Bay.

The aim of the Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater Deep Drilling Project, sponsored by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), was to recover core samples to investigate the sedimentary history of the crater over the past 35 million years, the impact debris and the rocks of the crater floor. A further important aspect was the investigation of the groundwater regime in the crater and the implication for the population of coastal eastern Virginia.

Drilling carried on for three months and was declared a major success by the scientists involved. A total core length of 1.1 miles (1.77
km) was recovered from the crater structure when drilling ceased at a final depth of 5,795 ft on December 4th last year. "The drilling project was a major success," said Greg Gohn, a USGS scientist. "We recovered a nearly complete set of core samples from the top of the crater fill to the crater floor."

Mr. Gohn is one of the leading scientists involved with the drilling project, together with Christian Koeberl of the University of Vienna in Austria, Kenneth Miller of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, USA and Uwe Reimold, from Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, together forming the international and multi-disciplinary team.

"This is one of the most complete cores ever obtained in an impact structure," Koeberl said, "and will allow us to understand a shallow- marine impact event at an unprecedented level."

The original press release can be read on the USGS website:
<http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1429>

Also from the USGS site:

Relevant Web URLs:

ICDP/Chesapeake: http://chesapeake.icdp-online.org USGS/Chesapeake Crater: http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eespteam/crater/
DOSECC: http://www.dosecc.org/

The International Continental Scientific Drilling Program is a multinational program which funds and supports geosciences in the field of Continental Scientific Drilling. The ICDP has currently a total of 13 member countries and two corporate affiliates. The GFZ Potsdam in Germany serves as Executive Agency for the ICDP.

Regards

--
Alan Johnson, Geotr@ns
www.geotrans-online.de
German-English, Geosciences/Technical
http://geotransblog.blogspot.com/
Terminus Est
.

Relevant Pages

  • Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater Drilling Declared Major Success (Forwarded)
    ... Following three months of around-the-clock work, the Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater Deep Drilling Project successfully completed its operations, extracting more than a mile long segment of rocks and sediments from the Earth. ... USGS and the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program are the project's sponsors. ... The International Continental Scientific Drilling Program is a multinational program which funds and supports geosciences in the field of Continental Scientific Drilling. ...
    (sci.astro)
  • Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater Drilling Declared Major Success (Forwarded)
    ... Crater Drilling Declared Major Success ... USGS and the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program ...
    (sci.space.news)