It's the final day in Indonesia for me for this trip. The work isn't totally complete- we are still working on paperwork related to exporting our cores and equipment, but this will come together soon. For now, a final image of dawn at Lake Towuti. The project will now enter its next phase- opening the cores, and digging into detailed analyses to understand the environmental history of Sulawesi. Look for posts and updates here as this work gets into gear. (TDP on facebook)
Yesterday at 4:03 PM the last two containers of drilling equipment were loaded onto a truck bound for port, and our physical activities here in the field came to an end. All that's left is a tangle of paperwork to wrap things up here and then ship ~5 tons of sediment core to the US. We'll get it done; I just hope there aren't too many headaches along the way... (TDP on facebook)
The project is nearing completion; there are only a few containers left to send to port and then a lot of paperwork to wrap things up. It's a good time to acknowledge the team from DOSECC Exploration Services that made so much of this happen. Beau, Justin, Tim, Steve, AJ, Shane: you guys were great. Thanks so much for your efforts through all of the challenges. (TDP on facebook)
Demob is now in full swing. The first set of containers left Towuti's shore late this afternoon bound for the port of Balantang, and the barge is starting to look a bit sparse. The cores, all ~1100 meters of them, are crated up and waiting for pickup and shipment to LacCore at the University of Minnesota. The last two days have also seen the majority of the project scientists depart by night bus, so now it's just Satria, Tika, Hafidz, Ryan, and the DES team on site to wrap things up. And, of course, yours truly. Until next week. (TDP on facebook)
Tonight a special night for the Towuti Drilling Project. After a day of work unloading barge at the dock located in the village of Pekaloa and packing equipment in Sorowako house, we met the Head of Towuti invitated to attend an iftar with the government of East Luwu in his home office. In the event, officially we say goodbye to Opu Regent Andi Hatta Marakarma. Although we've been going back to our respective countries, God willing, the relationship that has existed between the TDP and East Luwu regency will not be interrupted. Hopefully our research can contribute to the advancement of Earth Guru, particularly in the field of science and technology and the environment. When we arrived back at Sorowako after the event, the TDP photographed together. Moreover, some of us, including me, had to leave East Luwu tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for the help guys. ' We want to leave first. Pis later we met again in the future! (TDP on facebook)
The 4th of July holiday. BBQ, swimming pools, fresh cut grass, High Life. If I were home right now I'd probably smoke a pork shoulder. Well, here at TDP, we have a different way of celebrating the 4th: Demobilization! We spent the day disassembling the barge, with our flags flying high. The work is going quickly, and we are all working hard for a smooth and on-time departure. Best of all, Sinyo treated us to a coconut juice break in the mid-morning heat, which was much appreciated by Shane and Justin in the shade of the drill. To all of our friends stateside, we hope you had a great holiday! (TDP on facebook)
Our first hole at Site 3 bottomed out in coarse gravel at about 174 m below the lake floor, the project's deepest hole yet. Yesterday we began drilling our second hole at Site 3 to ensure good overlaps between cores and 100% recovery of the sedimentary section. Then, under a clear sky, at about 60 m sub-bottom while drilling through a tephra, another rod broke, and the sediments of Towuti gobbled up another ~60 m of drill rod, a coring tool, and miscellaneous other equipment. With that, our drilling operations came to a close. We're now starting the long and tedious process of demobilization, which includes everything from disassembling the equipment to paying off all of our bills. More info to come soon... (TDP on facebook)
Today we're going to acknowledge a few unsung heroes of the project- the crews and assistants that have been working with us since day one of the project on the boats and in the dock to make sure our crews get to and from the barge, fuel and supplies get transferred cleanly and safely every day, and just making sure everything runs as smoothly as possible. Sometimes they sleep on the boat on the lake for us, and they're always ready to work at a moment's notice. I've worked with a few of these guys for over 8 years, and it's always a pleasure. Arief, Ariefin, Arman, and a special thanks to Bahtiar, Lorenz, and most especially Sinyo Rio- we could not do this project without you. Last night we finished our first hole at Site 3, and with only 3 drilling shifts left, we'll try for one more hole all the way to bedrock. Wish us luck! (TDP on facebook) Do you want to learn more about the Towuti Drilling Project? Wanna see photos and videos from the field and hear our Sulawesi stories from the past 1.5 months? If you're in Jakarta, come to AtAmerica in Pacific Place Mall this coming Tuesday, July 7. Free! (TDP on facebook)
Today we have to say goodbye to a a fine young driller, Skyler Davis, who is off to Salt Lake City to get married. Skyler, it's been a true pleasure having you here and you will be sorely missed. From all of us here at TDP, congratulations and we wish a long and joyous marriage. The project is beginning to wind down. We had another fight anchoring the barge yesterday; had to drop two anchors near the drill site and ride out the night. Now all four anchors are down and we're getting ready to core our final hole or two. Should be drilling by the evening at the latest. (TDP on facebook)
Ever wondered what spending 24 hours on the drilling barge logging the borehole feels like? This video might help answer that. We send logging tools down at least one drilled hole at each site to log various physical properties of the sediment in situ. This helps us to correlate our sediment cores to "true depth", and gives us valuable information about the sedimentology of the sites before we ever open a core. This video, thanks to Jan-Thorsten Blanke, will give you an idea of how that work is done. (TDP on facebook)
Last night we wrapped up our borehole logging operation at Site 2. The site turned out to be much more challenging than we had anticipated, with a couple of thick, cemented tephras and semi-lithified sections. But with the completion of the logging, we've now completed our primary coring targets and have close to 800 meters of core in hand. The image below shows what we've gotten. We have a few more days and will move on to one of our secondary targets. All is going well now, and anything extra we get is icing on the cake. Meanwhile, yours truly has a lot of work ahead to prep for demob... (TDP on facebook)
What a rollercoaster this project has been. Yesterday things were going beautifully. The day shift set a new single shift core recovery record not only for the project but for DOSECC as a whole: 79.3 meters. We were set to complete hole 2B early this morning, log the hole, and tow to our final site tomorrow. Then, at about 1:30 AM the drill got stuck in a tephra and we broke a rod somewhere near the lake bottom. After fishing for it for a while, we had to give up and lose a drill string to the sediments of Lake Towuti. Starting over now at a new hole, 2C, and hoping for better luck this time. (TDP on facebook)
What a rollercoaster this project has been. Yesterday things were going beautifully. The day shift set a new single shift core recovery record not only for the project but for DOSECC as a whole: 79.3 meters. We were set to complete hole 2B early this morning, log the hole, and tow to our final site tomorrow. Then, at about 1:30 AM the drill got stuck in a tephra and we broke a rod somewhere near the lake bottom. After fishing for it for a while, we had to give up and lose a drill string to the sediments of Lake Towuti. Starting over now at a new hole, 2C, and hoping for better luck this time. (TDP on facebook)
We've had choppy, windy, stormy weather on the lake the last two days. This made the process of lifting the anchors, towing the barge, and re-anchoring and re-positioning at Site 2 a real pain. This wound up taking two days, but we finally completed this yesterday at 5 PM. More ominously, our hydraulic problems with the water pump have reared their ugly head again, at least intermittently. But the night shift led by Tim "killing it" Frazier, have already gotten 60 m of core from site 2. The day shift is heading out, and if we can get 2 or 3 days of clean coring we should be able to wrap the site up quickly. At least these storms have given us some nice rainbows. (TDP on facebook)
Yesterday night we bottomed out in sandy gravel at 154.6 meters depth. The last cores from Site 1 were brought to shore and logged in the lab. After almost exactly 1 month, we're calling it quits for the site. Altogether we recovered 573.15 meters from the site, with the last hole containing a nearly complete sequence from the uppermost deep-water lake clays through peats, beach sands, and fluvial gravels at the base of the core. We're logging the borehole now, and today we'll tow the barge to Site 2 and start drilling there. With a working barge the crews are really flying now, drilling 50-80 meters per shift to make up for lost time. Below are photos of the last cores coming to dock and the last core catcher getting logged. Let's all pray the string of good luck continues! (TDP on facebook)
What a difference a night makes. Yesterday the day crew managed to finish up our third hole at Site 1 with limited water pump function and somewhat limited recovery. Beau Marshall from DOSECC arrived from the US with a replacement valve for the controls on the water pump. After installing it, the night crew managed to core 70 meters in nine hours, working in a hard rain for a lot of the night. Here are some photos of the team, led by Tim, AJ, and Shane -not-a-slave-to-fashion- Scheel and assisted by Ryan O'Grady, Kartika Kirana, and Chris Kelly (and a guest appearance by yours truly). We're now making good progress, and have a much better shot at completing the project before our demobilization deadline if we can keep this pace up for a week or two. As for me, I've been up for 33 hours straight, so time for a short nap before loading the borehole logging gear onto our supply boat. (TDP on facebook)
Another day of trying to core with severely limited equipment. Yesterday, after re-tripping the rods, the night shift reamed us back down to ca. 45 m depth, and cored their way through a thick tephra at that depth. The day shift then showed up, started trying to core with the hydraulic piston corer (HPC). We couldn't get the water pump to consistently generate enough pressure to fire the HPC. By noon the pump was down and getting rebuilt, but there aren't enough spares to do a proper rebuild. It seems as though we have had multiple major equipment failures since day 1- the main hydraulic pumps that power the entire drilling rig, AND the water pumps used in coring. We're dead in the water without both of these. We're doing our best to keep coring, but with limited pump function progress is extremely slow. All we scientists can do is watch with astonishment as this ridiculous string of equipment failures plays out, and do our best to help where we can to get things back on track. Of course, it would be much, much worse were it not for the beauty of this place we are living in. I realized I've been giving the sunsets here short shrift, but here is one. (TDP on facebook)
Another day, another broken part. Last night the night shift, led by Tim -Fix It- Frazier, assembled a replacement kelly hose by welding together the correct connections and using 1 inch hydraulic line. It's not perfect, but it worked, and the day shift managed to fire off three cores. Then the bearing set on the sheeve supporting the wireline blew. Will it ever end? We spent the rest of the day running around to machine shops until we found one that could install a new bearing set. A replacement is on its way, but meanwhile, another day gone. These down days have led to some interesting scenes on the barge like the one below, where the biggest guy on our crew, Shane, supported by Tim and AJ, stands on a 40 inch wrench to try to break apart fittings on the broken hose. Meanwhile, Ryan stands on the hose and hopes nothing's coming at him. And the downtime has also witnessed some outstanding sunrises. (TDP on facebook)
A new day dawns? Today, at long last, we got the replacment pumps and they are now being installed on the rig. The photo below, taken shortly after dawn, is from our supply boat, showing a barrel of oil and two replacement pumps en route to the rig. I shouldn't have been able to take that photo, as the pumps were due to arrive last night. But, in an unbelievable but fitting end to the delivery saga, the truck bringing the pumps from Makassar to Sorowako (arranged by Atlas Copco) ran out of gas en route. Let's hope this bad luck is behind us- with even a little bit of good luck we'll be drilling before this day is over! (TDP on facebook)
The pumps are finally on the way! They left Makassar about 4 hours ago, and will arrive tonight. With any luck, we'll be drilling on day shift tomorrow. And it couldn't come sooner. The team has been looking for things to do, and has started sampling everything on the hotel menu. Last night we all had soda gembira (translation is happy soda), a mixture of pink fanta and sweetened condensed milk. Yes, you read that right. They described this as "sweet, rejuvenating, and life-altering." Meanwhile, as you can see below the drillers today got to sample coconut milk straight from the cocunut with lime, avocado, and a bit of sugar. So who do you think got the better end of that deal? (TDP on facebook)
