Scientific drilling and the evolution of the earth system: climate, biota, biogeochemistry and extreme systems

[摘要] A US National Science Foundation-funded workshop occurred 17–19 May 2013at the University of Oklahoma to stimulate research using continentalscientific drilling to explore earth's sedimentary, paleobiological andbiogeochemical record. Participants submitted 3-page "pre-proposals" tohighlight projects that envisioned using drill-core studies to addressscientific issues in paleobiology, paleoclimatology, stratigraphy andbiogeochemistry, and to identify locations where key questions can best beaddressed. The workshop was also intended to encourage US scientists to takeadvantage of the exceptional capacity of unweathered, continuous core recordsto answer important questions in the history of earth's sedimentary,biogeochemical and paleobiologic systems. Introductory talks on drilling andcoring methods, plus best practices in core handling and curation, opened theworkshop to enable all to understand the opportunities and challengespresented by scientific drilling. Participants worked in thematic breakoutsessions to consider questions to be addressed using drill cores related toglacial–interglacial and icehouse–greenhouse transitions, records ofevolutionary events and extinctions, records of major biogeochemical eventsin the oceans, reorganization of earth's atmosphere, Lagerstätte andexceptional fossil biota, records of vegetation–landscape change, and specialsampling requirements, contamination, and coring tool concerns forpaleobiology, geochemistry, geochronology, and stratigraphy–sedimentologystudies. Closing discussions at the workshop focused on the role drilling canplay in studying overarching science questions about the evolution of theearth system. The key theme, holding the most impact in terms of societalrelevance, is understanding how climate transitions have driven bioticchange, and the role of pristine, stratigraphically continuous cores inadvancing our understanding of this linkage. Scientific drilling, andparticularly drilling applied to continental targets, provides uniqueopportunities to obtain continuous and unaltered material for increasinglysophisticated analyses, tapping the entire geologic record (extending throughthe Archean), and probing the full dynamic range of climate change and itsimpact on biotic history.

[学科分类] 地质学