Drilling Project Into Chicxulub Crater To Begin

[Richard W Travsky <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>]

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 http://unisci.com/stories/20021/0117025.htm

University of Arizona scientists in the next week or two will begin field
work on an international project to core 1.8 kilometers into an immense
crater created by the impact of an asteroid or comet 65 million years ago.
...
The project, the Chicxulub Scientific Drilling Project (CSDP), is located
near Mrida, Yucatan, Mexico.

"This is a very special collaboration with our neighbors in Mexico and
highlights the success of international cooperation among scientists
throughout the world," said David A. Kring, UA associate professor of
planetary sciences and co-investigator in the CSDP.  "We appreciate the
opportunity to work with our colleagues from UNAM and ICDP
member-nations."

Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mexico (UNAM) is the lead institution on
the project.  Kring collaborates closely with Jaime Urrutia Fucugauchi of
the UNAM Instituto de Geofisica, who directs the drilling project. Other
principal investigators include Dante Moran Zenteno (UNAM), Virgil
Sharpton (University of Alaska), Richard Buffler (University of Texas),
Dieter Stoeffler (Humbolt-Universitat zu Berlin, Germany) and Jan Smit
(Vrije University, Netherlands).
...
Ruiz and Rene Drucker, UNAM coordinator of scientific investigation,
signed a memorandum of understanding in Mexico on Tuesday that will
facilitate and pay for the exchange of students and faculty on this
project and future projects involving UA College of Science departments.

The Chicxulub Scientific Drilling Project is being run under the auspices
of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP),
headquartered in Potsdam, Germany. In addition to Mexico, Germany, and the
United States, nations funding ICDP operations include Canada, China,
Japan and Poland. Corporate affiliates include UNESCO, the international
Ocean Drilling Program and Schlumberger Inc.
...
Kring and undergraduate geosciences major Jake Bailey will join operations
at the Yaxcopoil-1 site 40 kilometers southwest of the province's capital,
Mrida. Ruiz will visit the site in a few weeks on a future trip to Mexico.

"We expect to reach the 1.8-kilometer (one and one-tenth mile) depth after
69 days of drilling," Kring said, at a cost of $1.5 million from the ICDP.

"We planned to hit rocks in the crater between 500 meters (1,640 feet) and
one kilometer (3,280 feet), then continue through the impact crater itself
-- through breccias and the impact melt layer -- all the way down to
continental crust bedrock. If we succeed in getting more funds, we'll core
down to 2.5 kilometers (1 and a half miles)," he added.