This file was created by the TYPO3 extension publications --- Timezone: CEST Creation date: 2026-04-15 Creation time: 06:16:42 --- Number of references 2 article Jordan202075 In January 2020, a scientific borehole planning workshop sponsored by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program was convened at Cornell University in the northeastern United States. Cornell is planning to drill test wells to evaluate the potential to use geothermal heat from depths in the range of 2700-4500 m and rock temperatures of about 60 to 120 °C to heat its campus buildings. Cornell encourages the Earth sciences community to envision how these boreholes can also be used to advance high-priority subsurface research questions. Because nearly all scientific boreholes on the continents are targeted to examine iconic situations, there are large gaps in understanding of the "average" intraplate continental crust. Hence, there is uncommon and widely applicable value to boring and investigating a "boring" location. The workshop focused on designing projects to investigate the coupled thermal-chemical-hydrological-mechanical workings of continental crust. Connecting the practical and scientific goals of the boreholes are a set of currently unanswered questions that have a common root: the complex relationships among pore pressure, stress, and strain in a heterogeneous and discontinuous rock mass across conditions spanning from natural to human perturbations and short to long timescales. The need for data and subsurface characterization vital for decision-making around the prospective Cornell geothermal system provides opportunities for experimentation, measurement, and sampling that might lead to major advances in the understanding of hydrogeology, intraplate seismicity, and fluid/chemical cycling. Subsurface samples could also enable regional geological studies and geobiology research. Following the workshop, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded funds for a first exploratory borehole, whose proposed design and research plan rely extensively on the ICDP workshop recommendations. © 2020 Copernicus GmbH. All rights reserved. 2020 English 18168957 10.5194/sd-28-75-2020 Scientific Drilling 28 Copernicus GmbH 75-91 Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, United States; Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, United States; Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Delft, 2600, Netherlands; National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Engineering, Fukushina Renewable Energy Research Institute, Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, 963-0298, Japan; ICDP/Geomechanics and Scientific Drilling, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, 14473, Germany; Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States; Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States; Geoscience and Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, 2628 CN, Netherlands; Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, 14473, Germany; Gulf Plains Prospecting Company, Kingwood, TX 77345, United States; Engineering Systems and Environment, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, United States Boring; Decision making; Geothermal fields; Groundwater; Hydrogeology; Infill drilling, Complex relationships; Continental scientific drillings; Discontinuous rock mass; Intraplate seismicity; Mechanical working; Subsurface characterizations; Subsurface research; U.S. Department of Energy, Exploratory boreholes https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85097253936&doi=10.5194%2fsd-28-75-2020&partnerID=40&md5=299eb4514fb875504253bcd944093d3b cited By 1 T. Jordan P. Fulton J. Tester D. Bruhn H. Asanuma U. Harms C. Wang D. Schmitt P.J. Vardon H. Hofmann T. Pasquini J. Smith Workshop Participants article 2020 10.1029/2020EO148771 Eos 101 https://eos.org/science-updates/exploring-by-boring-geothermal-wells-as-research-tools T. Jordan P. Fulton J. Tester H. Asanuma D. Bruhn