Drilling around the globe

13.01.2012 | Potsdam: On 15 January the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program ICDP heads into a new year. About a dozen proposals for drilling projects to explore our planet have been filed for the year 2012. The topics cover a wide range of research projects, ranging from earthquake research through paleao -climate research to the exploration of natural resources. The planned drill sites span the globe, from Iceland to South Africa.

Also new is the Chairman of the Executive Committee, Professor Brian Horsfield of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, who now directs the evaluation of the proposals and the planning of the suggested research. New to the office but in business for a long time: Brian Horsfield heads the Centre for Integrated Hydrocarbon Research at the GFZ, holds the Chair of Organic Geochemistry and Hydrocarbon Systems at the Technical University Berlin, and is a member of acatech, the National Academy of Science and Engineering. He has over 30 years of experience in the petroleum industry and research.

About his ideas concerning the importance of scientific research boreholes, he says: "Drilling the Earth's crust is an indispensable tool for the geosciences and ICDP is the global leader in the effort to contribute to the understanding and sustainable use of our planet, be it the protection against natural disasters, serving an ever-growing population with natural resources or exploring the myriad natural and anthropogenic processes that are part and parcel of our dynamic earth."

It was December last year when Brian Horsfield took over the chair of the ICDP from Professor Rolf Emmermann, the founding Director of the GFZ. It was Professor Emmerman who initiated the founding of the ICDP. In February 1996 in Tokyo, he encouraged China, the United States and Germany to sign an agreement establishing the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, which serves the exploration of the active processes on the continents. The research topics cover the whole spectrum of Earth Sciences: Volcanoes are drilled, earthquake epicenters are pierced, sediments in lakes acting as climate archives are unravelled, geothermal energy and methane hydrates are examined as an energy source - there are very few geoscientific issues that cannot be examined by research drilling.

"The ICDP scientific drilling program has proved highly successful and has set new standards in the exploration of our planet," explains Professor Reinhard Huettl, Chair of the Executive Board of the GFZ and Vice President of the Helmholtz Association. "Today, 24 states and UNESCO are members of the ICDP. 29 drilling projects and 57 international workshops have already been conducted that have completely changed our view of Earth. In addition, this drilling program has the character of a role model for international cooperation. The achievement of Professor Emmermann in this regard cannot be overstated."