Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/11681/5654
Title: Core drilling through the Antarctic ice sheet
Authors: National Science Foundation (U.S.). Office of Antarctic Programs
Ueda, Herbert T.
Garfield, Donald E.
Keywords: Antarctic regions
Drills
Ice coring
Ice cores
Ice sheets
Ice cap
Ice drills
Ice core analysis
Drill core analysis
Ice temperature
Heat flow
Bottom ice
Byrd Station, Antarctica
Glacier ice
EPOLAR
Publisher: Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (U.S.)
Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.)
Series/Report no.: Technical report (Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (U.S.)) ; 231.
Description: Technical Report
Abstract: The Antarctic ice sheet was penetrated by core drilling at Byrd Station (80°01'S, 119°32'W) during the 1967-68 austral summer. The drill was a cable-suspended electro-mechanical rotary type 87 ft long, weighing 2650 lb. An electrohydraulic hoist raised and lowered the drill at a maximum rate of 150 ft/min. Other equipment included 12,000 ft. of armored electrical cable and a 70-ft-high aluminum tower. During the 1966-67 austral summer, the equipment was installed and a depth of 745 ft was drilled. Drilling resumed in November 1967 and the hole was completed in January 1968. Cores 10 to 20 ft. long averaging 4 and ¼ in. diam. Were recovered over 99% of the depth. The penetration rate averaged 70 ft/day. The drilling rate varied from 1.4 to 7.8 in./min at a power input of 7.5 to 9 kw. Drill cuttings were dissolved in an aqueous ethylene glycol solution circulated at the bottom of the hole and returned to the surface in the drill bailer on each coring run. Liquid water, indicative of pressure melting at the bottom of the ice sheet, was encountered at 7101 ft. Attempts to recover a core of sub-ice material were not successful. The hole began deviating from the vertical at 750-ft depth and, despite corrective measures, was inclined 15° at the bottom. Ice temperatures increased steadily from a minimum of -28.8°C at 2400 ft to -13.0°C at 5942 ft, where temperature measurement ceased. The heat flow for this location is estimated to be 1.8 μcal/cm^2 sec.
Rights: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11681/5654
Appears in Collections:Technical Report

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