Cheers to the end of drilling at drill site DIVE_1A! Today the site DIVE-1A got busy, with a nice party organized by the drilling company and DIVE, together with local representatives. Meanwhile borehole logging is starting to produce nice results!
Final depth has been reached at DT-1A! More than satisfactory lithological and structural variations, time constraints and some technical difficulties with the rig, contributed to the decision to stop the drilling at 909.5 meters. While the shipping of cores is being prepared, now on-site operations are all focused to prepare the borehole logging activities in the next weeks.
Three more cores on deck today, with nice mylonites and pyroxenites. Site is now being prepared for the Easter break and important decisions are being discussed for the ending of the drilling!
Diving to the deepest lower crust! Today the borehole reached 900 m, with new metagabbronorite and pyroxenite cores. A very nice goal reached just before the Easter holidays.
An issue with the rig has been slowing down drilling in the last few days, but today a temporary solution has been found and new cores arrived on deck. Drilled depth is 882 meters!
Another six cores today, which allowed to arrive to 855m depth. Very nice crystal-rich fracture zones make the cores even more attractive for the DIVE geologists and for the visitors of the day.
Six nice and intact cores reached the deck today, after some fracture zone crossed yesterday. We are at 837 m depth. And after the shady winter of Megolo, the sunshine starts to hit the site!
Almost two silent weeks passed, because of a malfunctioning pump of the drill rig. The problem has been solved and today drilling started again. Three cores on deck, and surprise surprise a nice transition from metagabbronorites to pyroxenites arrived! Bottom depth is now 783 meters. Meanwhile happy students and scientists visited the site.
A lot happened in the last few weeks. Many meters have been drilled, arriving to a bottom depth of 770 m. Some fracture zones were encountered and a lot of rods now need to be pulled at every drill bit change. But the intact cores keep showing new and variable structures and nice lithological transitions!
After getting to a bottom depth of 680 meters and recovering intriguing ultramafic rocks, rods had to be pull out because of drill-bit consuption. Meanwhile life on site is quite active, with visits from the local authorities and DIVE scientists planning for the next steps.
Eight more cores on deck today, with the drilling being more and more difficult due to the quickly changing lithologies and presence of fractures. The cores are rich of surprises and the day ended well, with a bottom depth of 674 m!
After a three-days stop for manteinance, drilling started again on Friday and brough on deck rocks that change toward ultramafic lithologies. More fractured rocks at depth seems to make drilling more demanding. Meanwhile today we had a nice visit from the happy and enthusiatic neighbours from the Megolo area.
