Wednesday, December 06, 2006
My Tour of ANDRILL
I signed up two weeks ago to be in a drawing for a tour of the ANDRILL drill site about seven miles from McMurdo. And whaddya know? Me and seven other people won!ANDRILL is a joint venture between four countries: New Zealand, the US, Italy, and Germany. They have drilled 80 meters into the Ross Ice Shelf, passed through another 860 meters of water, and are currently 696 meters into the core of Antarctica. There are scientists studying everything they can about the core samples they are bringing out.
A view of the entire drill site. The big white teepee is where the drill is.
We traveled by slow-going Piston Bully the seven miles to get out to the drill site.
Me in front of the drilling building
Tamson, our drill site tour guide, in front of the Main Building with the four represented countries' flags flying.
This is where the core casing is prepared. The core is carried in this to the main building where the scientists begin studying it.
Looking up at the drill control station area.
Looking down at the drill
Me pretending to run the drill - If you think I look like I'm concentrating, I am! They told me I should touch the control but not with too much strength.
Walking around the drill site.
Me holding the 2-or-more-million year old core of Antarctica!!!
A scientist showing us Frau Helga, the scanner machine that scans the entire image of the core samples.
This guy and his co-workers chart four things in relation to each core sample: sonic velocity and density (the two things charted in the picture) and magnetism (I think) and resistivity.
A 6-meter long sample coming in to the main building.
Everyone really excited about the new sample. I think there was some volcanic rock in it they hadn't seen in awhile, and the next photo will show the variety of colors in this sample compared to the last one they had gotten.
Richard, our inside tour guide, inspecting the new sample.
Close-up of the sample - look at all the color!
We stopped on our way out of town, and I was able to get a photo with all three of the volcanoes that formed Ross Island. That's Mt. Erebus on the left, tiny Mt. Terra Nova in the middle, and Mt. Terror on the right.
Read or Post a Comment
<< Home