Efficient onboard activities of plutonic rock drilling expeditions in Scientific Drilling

Abstract:

Based on my aboard experience the JOIDES Resolution's six JOIDES Resolution plutonic drilling expeditions of ODP and IODP and participation in D/V "Chikyu" core logging of the ICDP Oman DP core (ChikyuOman2017 and 2018), I would like to discuss here about the efficiency of the research on board the ship, as well as from the point of view of team-work activity, and educational & outreach.

1) The IODP and related expeditions are well balanced of gender, expertise, nationalities and generation. Non-English-native students and young people are given equal opportunities to participate and contribute, as long as they belong to a member country. I participated for the first time with very low English skills, but the respect I received as a researcher has given me a great deal of confidence in myself for the rest of my research life.

2) Having outreach participants on board allows the research team to focus on the research work while actively collaborating in outreach activities. They can proactively and efficiently broadcast video, blogs, and SNS to shore-based schools and the public, and may be covered by mass media.

3) Hard rock drilling is characterized by the slow drilling progress, the long interval of the core-on-deck, so the all member of the basic description team describes all cores and work on a team-by-team basis without shifts. The efficiency of 24 hrs working with variety of expertise overwhelms the daily description work in shore-based labs.

4) On the other hand, most on-board studies in deep rock drilling are limited. The chemical analysis with detailed rock description (electron microprobe, LA-ICPMS, etc.), and continuous core chemistry analysis such as iTRAX will be very effective. They can be performed on board and improve the work using the onboard description and analysis data.

In summary, this is the first time that such a large project has been successfully carried out as an international collaborative research project. In addition, the synergy created by having researchers from a wide range of disciplines working together on the ship for one to two months is nothing short of a fusion of disciplines in the new framework. It is hoped that this project will continue to be promoted for the purpose of fostering the next generation, understanding global environmental change, and above all, understanding our own planet Earth.