Coring the lagoon of Bora Bora with the Hipercorig

A coring operation is currently taking place in the lagoon of the island of Bora Bora in French Polynesia, where Charles Darwin coined the theory of development of barrier reefs, deep lagoon and fringing reefs surrounding subsiding volcanic islands in 1842 .

Using the Hipercorig drilling system, a group led by scientists from the University of Bern (Switzerland) together with international and local partners will recover multiple lagoonal interglacial sequences dating potentially back to 500'000 years and beyond. The project will investigate paleoclimatic signals, sea-level changes and island subsidence that together formed the complex sedimentary architecture of the lagoonal sediments.

Best wishes from ICDP for the start of the operation!