Nightshift at 641 meters below the surface. While Leonardo and Roney upload the core data, Pedro, who is pictured on the left, is conducting the sedimentological description of the samples. Kleiton is managing and keeping an eye on the analyses and concentrations of greenhouse gases at the bottom of the picture.
Our current progress. More than 25% of the drilling has already been completed as we have already exceeded 620 meters in depth. As long as the work is done, we will soon be able to reach 50% of the total depth.
After cementation activities and security device installation (BOP) in the borehole, the drilling core activities could resume and greater depths were reached. Today, the first core of the third TADP drilling phase was sampled by Leonardo (in the left) and Tácio (in the right). Even the rain could not dampen these guys' enthusiasm for the sampling!
To calculate the total drilling carbon footprint, activities for monitoring greenhouse gases were carried out at the site. At the dump for drilling fluid, measurements were made. The photograph features Angela.
While the driller's team works on progressing to retrieve deeper cores, the scientific team has been working in the area to increase their understanding of the complexity of Amazonian habitats. Monitoring of greenhouse gases in a Jurua floodplain setting is shown in the picture. The picture shows Kleiton, Thomás, and Angela, left to right. Sediment deposits in the Rodrigues Alves surroundings.
While waiting for deeper cores, some members of the team described the sedimentary facies and contemporary sediment deposits in the Rodrigues Alves surroundings. Camila is shown in the photo.
Today part of the team took up the task to perform maintenance on the pipes connecting the OLGA system to the gas chromatograph. Angela led the team in replacing some piping protection that had become damaged. Roney, Thomás, Kleiton, and Angela are shown in the photo from left to right.
Part of the science team travelled to the Jurua River to collect samples as the cementation at the drilling site advanced. Leonardo, Camila and Rachel piloted the drone to capture fresh pictures of the Jurua itself and a dead arm. Thomas, Kleiton and Angela took gas samples from the water of Jurua for analysis and William collected sediments for luminescence tests. In the photo from left to right: Camila, Kleiton, Angela, William, Thomas, Leonardo, and Rachel.
New photos from the drilling site. The drone was flown through the site by Leonardo, Roney, and Camila (a newcomer of the science team), who then analyzed the images to create a 3D model. This model can be created by superimposing images that were obtained from various viewpoints of the site.
For a subsequent stage of cementing the well, the casing shoe of the borehole was drilled. By including this cement, it will be possible to install the Blowout Preventer (BOP), assuring safety for further steps in the project. In the image, we see fragments of the casing shoe and GEOSOL personnel retrieving the drill barrel with other parts.
Processing of downhole logging data along with technical board discussion. The data will assist GEOSOL and the scientific committee in the drilling's following phases. In the picture from left to right: Sergio Clauses and Tacio Bicudo (in person) and Andre Sawakuchi and Marcos Barbosa (online).
Day of data collection along the borehole using geophysical downhole logging. In order to obtain the borehole diameter (caliper probe), cement location (full wave sonic probe), and integrity (magnetic susceptibility probe), Tacio led the team in handling and calibrating the probe. The team, from left to right: Leonardo, Kleiton, Tacio, Isaac, William, and Thomás.
Today we tested the drone for aerial surveying of the drill site and its surrounding and to create a tridimensional site model. The tests were conducted by Leonardo with assistance from William at the motocross track near the drilling site. All is working out just fine and we got beautiful images from the sunset!
Just after today's meeting, the group reunited to say goodbye to Professor Gelvam Hartman, an important member participating and supervising the drilling site activities. We'll miss him a lot.
Water sample are being acquired from flowing artesian wells around the drill site for chemical and physical analysis. The results will be compared with the pore water samples.
Today we started testing the cementing pumps by circulating fluids through the borehole. We will carry out the cementing at 562 m and move on to the next phase.
Today a meeting between the scientific team and the operational team was necessary to discuss a best course of action as a detachment had occurred during the lowering of the casing. The following fishing operation was successfully performed.
Two members of the science team are leaving today: Professor Marconato and Priscila. It has been great to share the TADP field experience with you. Thanks, team!
Alda and Kleiton collected some water samples to run routine chemical analysis. Such water is used for making the mud that is used in the borehole drilling and, therefore, we are interested in assessing its properties and any variations throughout the drilling operations.
On this Saturday afternoon students from the Federal University of Acre (UFAC) came to visit the drilling site to see the operation live and learn about what we are doing. We appreciate the visit!
Just joking, of course! Our female team is not made of Barbies, but of real women: two geologists, two engineers, a geophysicist, and an oceanographer. From left to right: Rachel, Angela, Eloá, Lari, Pri, and Alda.
All cores are now organised and there is room for the 1500-ish meters that will come out in the next drilling phases. We are looking forward to have this room full of cores!
Today we visited the Paleontology Research Laboratory of the Federal University of Acre (UFAC, Floresta campus) to see a vast collection of fossils found in Amazonia. The "smiling buddy" in the photo is a replica of the jaw of a Purusaurus, the largest alligator on Earth that lived in Acre millions of years ago. Special thanks to Professor Francisco Negri who showed us the collection of the laboratory with great enthusiasm. See you later, alligator!
The weather is milder this weekend and Angela, who is here since the beginning of the drilling operations, went for a walk at the city center to enjoy her time off.
During dry season the Jurua looks like this. During wet season it can be 10 meters higher and fills this wide valley.Our drill site is about 600 meters west of the Petrobras site. As we reach 560 meters below the surface we still encounter similar paleo-environments to those seen in the photo of the modern Jurua: floodplain, point bar, channel. Nothing changes; changes are constant.
In 1961, when this man was a 19 year old, Petrobras drilled a deep exploratory well right where he is standing. Today the site sits less than two meters away from the edge of the top of the high terrace overlooking the Jurua River, one of the major tributaries of the Amazon.
At our Acre drill site, team members and drillers are being swapped in and out. Yesterday we gained Larissa Tamura, a geophysics postdoctoral from USP. And tonight we lose Doug Schnurrenberger our drilling supervisor from University of Minnesota and Sebastian Gómez, a Colombian doctoral student at USP. Doug and Sebastian have been at the site for the past month and have been invaluable, for both their talents and their personalities.
This is filled with cuttings from the drill core. It is emptied into a nearby, on-site, mud pit. Basically bits of rock from depth are buried at the surface. No harm done.
By the way, our drill site is on an abandoned Moto-cross course. No trees cleared.
With our continuing interbedded sand and hard, expanding muds, recovery requires constant vigilance by the drillers and thoughtful composition of drilling mud.
There is a little informational video of the core being extruded from the core barrel into the split liner (click here for the video). The method has made a huge difference in recovery.
Catherine Rigsby working in the makeshift shade against the early morning sun. We are really happy when cloud cover appears. Otherwise, some pretty hot days. Make those European heat domes seem like child's play:).
