Dry Valley Drilling Project

Abstract

As a consequence of recent meetings held in New Zealand and Antarctica by science and administrative coordinators from Japan. New Zealand, and the United States, a three‐year drilling project (1972–1975) in the Dry Valleys region of Antarctica has been proposed and approved. The project (Dry Valley Drilling Project) is to be funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation and by antarctic research groups from Japan and New Zealand, using McMurdo station as a base of operations. The project, in addition to the advantages of having international support, will be multidisciplinary and will include ten boreholes drilled to a maximum depth of 600 meters. Recommended drill sites include: Ross Island into McMurdo volcanics; McMurdo Sound into interbedded marine, glacial, and volcanic deposits; Marble Point metamorphics; Lake Vida in Victoria Valley; Don Juan Pond in Wright Valley; Lake Vanda in Wright Valley; mouth of Taylor Valley near the coast; Lake Fryxell in Taylor Valley; Lake Bonney in Taylor Valley; and Walcott glacier area It is hoped that collection of continuous core from these site locations will enable scientists to develop a better working knowledge of the physical and biological history of the antarctic continent, from Precambrian time to the present.