From the western Amazon and travelling 3800 km through Amazonian rivers, the ferry with the drill rig arrived in the eastern Amazon. Hello, Bagre city, Marajó Islando.
The USP team is involved in sorting and loading the core crates, and creating a packing list to calculate and review the weight for shipment to the Continental Scientific Drilling Facility at the University of Minnesota. This is another team activity.
The drilling company team is still at the Acre site to clean up the drilling site. The on-site team receives guidance from the safety technician on accident prevention as well as comprehensive guidance on disease prevention, such as cervical cancer and skin cancer.
The core liners were loaded onto the truck for transportation to the University of São Paulo. This is a long road trip from the western Amazon to São Paulo city, covering around 4500 km. Local workers (Maciel and Carlinhos) and drivers (Gilderlan and Cícero) were essential in planning the storage and loading of the core liners onto the truck.
Our project manager, Isaac, arrived at the Acre site to oversee the loading of core liners for shipment to the University of São Paulo and found the Juruá River at a high stage. Back to the Message of the Day from July 9th to see the river at its low stage.
Demobilization has begun. Clauses is the last TADP member on-site and is overseeing the abandonment protocol of the borehole.
Several individuals deserve special thanks for their considerable efforts and constant support at Acre. This includes Clauses (Company Man), Isaac (Project Manager), Angela (Geomicrobiologist), Ingo and his students, Roney and Alderlene, Said Kamrani (ICDP), Marcos, Tácio, and Larissa (Geophysical Logging Team), several scientists at ICDP (Thomas, Cindy, Uli), local support provided by Francisco Negri at UFAC, and numerous individuals at USP who assisted with ordering, shipping, scheduling, etc.
We also extend special thanks to the landowner, Tárcito Batista. Additionally, we are grateful to the many people who spent time at the drill site, including some who dedicated several weeks but were unable to witness a single drill core emerging from the hole. Lastly, but not least, we express our gratitude to Gloria, Adriana, and the outreach team for their many creative efforts to engage the public.
The second borehole sidetrack has failed. We have not been able to recover any core since mid-October and, in order to preserve funds for drilling at the Marajó site, we have decided to halt drilling at Acre. We have recovered 923 meters of continuous core, which should enable us to do some great science.
The operations continue in the western Amazon and It's time for Christmas lights at the drilling site.
The sidetrack operation has presented many challenges in performing the sidetrack through the casing. The drilling company is still in an attempt to second sidetrack the operation. The field team closely monitors and updates the executive committee daily. The executive committee holds weekly meetings to determine the best course for the project and discusses the decision-making with the drilling company.
Scientific activities are still suspended. The scientific team is limited to the project manager PhD Isaac Bezerra and microbiology PhD Angela Jimenez. They are monitoring the operations with the Company Man Clauses Sérgio.
The first attempt to sidetrack the operation initiated on November 20th was not successful. The drilling company has made a second attempt, as geophysical logging indicated the possibility of the drill pipe sticking, hindering the sidetrack in an open hole.
Adjustments were made to tools and the plan, and a new attempt began on November 30th. These are time-consuming operations as they require extensive preparation and maneuvers.
These have been days of great learning in drilling operations and patience.
The downhole geophysical logging (Full Wave Sonic probe) was conducted to identify the most suitable interval for a side track operation.
The ongoing activities have been a great learning experience for everyone. The geophysical activities conducted by the on-site team and led by Project Manager Isaac have always had the support of Marcos Bolognini and Tácio Bicudo. Katja Hesse assisted in the processing and interpretation of FWS data. In the photo, clockwise from top to bottom: Marcos Bolognini, Tácio Bicudo, and Isaac Bezerra analyze the FWS data.
In the last attempt to pass through the critical point, the driller encounters resistance in the advance that causes damage to the fingers of the core catcher tool.
The rain becomes common during the so-called Amazonian winter, a relief from the intense heat of the past few months. The operation can be halted due to the thunderstorm.
In the first recovered section, contaminated cement was observed. This is a normal situation since fluid is used to displace the cement through the drill pipe. Improvement is expected as the depth increases, with cement becoming harder.
During the week, Ricardo Sampaio, the GEOSOL safety technician, worked with the employee team on SIPAT, a week dedicated to raising awareness about safety and environmental practices. The activities were useful for guiding, training, and ensuring the safety of employees while encouraging safe hand protection habits.
The scientific team always faces a challenge when performing downhole logging in open boreholes and encountering obstacles during descent. An overwashed section was confirmed at a depth of 740 m where there was a cut of the 4.5'' drill pipe.
A slow advance is being made through the collapsed section. The recovered material consists of a mixture of sandstone clasts, and mudstone enveloped by drilling fluid.
Once the cement did not show continuous recovery, GEOSOL requested that the scientific team perform the downhole logging again. Logging revealed the filling of the overwashed section. The scientific team always relies on the support of GEOSOL staff.
The overwashed zone has been filled with cement. The cement exhibits a discontinuous and brittle state. It's not the ideal scenario, but filling the annular space prevents the accumulation of cuttings through the annulus. The drilling through the collapsed section is the next step.
Clauses Sérgio, the company man, meets with Said Kamrani, the Drilling engineer from ICDP, to present to the Executive Commitee the options and challenges for the resumption of drilling.
Inclined heterolithic stratification on the margin of the Cruzeiro do Sul city. Cemented mudstone is a common feature in outcrops exposed along the margin of the Juruá River and also in the recovered cores.
While the drill pipe is going down to check the cement top, we have a lot of fruits on the mango tree. Locals, Geosol employees, and the scientific team always take mangoes to the lodge at the end of the shift.
Professor André Marconato is monitoring on-site operations and delivered a gift from Carlos Mazoca for the team. The team is very happy, supplied with 2 kg of special coffee.
While the team waits for the cement to dry, Angela leads the on-site team in making pasta and guacamole with tacos. Angela Jimenez is from Honduras and completed her doctoral studies in Brazil.
The on-site team was requested to perform Caliper downhole logging at critical depths. An enlargement of at least 52 cm in diameter and 2 m deeper below the shoe was identified. GEOSOL decided to cement the top of the overwashed section that accumulated the gravel and filled the annular space.
GEOSOL strengthens the awareness campaign, whose main goal is to alert women and society about the importance of prevention and early diagnosis of breast cancer and cervical cancer. The pink lace on the doghouse is a symbol present at the drill site.
The drag bit did not clean the complete section. GEOSOL requested from the headquarter in Minas Gerais state the shipment of a tricone drill bit. The bit was machined to pass through the 4 15/16” drill pipe. In the photo, the drill passes through the template to ensure that it has free passage through the drill pipe. The tricone should reduce the size of the clasts and have better efficiency in cleaning the well.
Larissa returned to the drill site and assisted in core handling operations. She brought delicious items for the team in her luggage. We loved the coffee, candies, and cookies. Larissa has been crucial in managing the field team.
Professor Marconato arrives and leads a team for the description of sedimentological profiles and sampling in an outcrop with overlapping layers of paleosoil in the Profeta village. Prof. Negri is excited to learn new techniques and assist in the sampling.
While Geosol performs the drill pipe take-off operation, Professor Felipe Figueiredo leads a team to a sedimentological description of modern sandbars on the river banks along the Juruá River. Professor Felipe is a postdoctoral researcher studying modern bars and assisting in facies modeling of the geological record of large rivers.
Angela Jimenez leads the day shift and oversees the core handling activities of Larissa Tamura and Alderlene Brito. Remember that the red tape is always at the bottom end.
Slickensides form in soil with significant amounts of shrink-swell clays—a smoothly polished surface caused by frictional movement related to expansion and contraction along cracks.
When there is a break in drilling activities, Professor Renato and Professor Felipe visit and describe outcrops, learning about the geology and architecture of the deposits in the region. In the Profeta Village, there are outcrops of reddish mudstone with carbonate cement intercalated with bodies of sand with lobate geometry and undulating bases.
