Scientific Drilling at the Nordic Geological Winter Meeting in Oslo and network kick-off

Christopher Juhlin summarized the scientific findings from the deep (> 6000 m) drillholes in the Siljan Ring, Sweden, that were drilled in the 1980's. The scientific drilling project in the Outokumpu ore field was presented by Ilmo Kukkonen, Geological Survey of Finland. Before the session proceeded to on-going projects and future initiatives, Morten Smelror, Director of the Geological Survey of Norway, gave an overview over the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) and its importance for drilling projects in the Nordic Countries. The keynote lecture of the session was given by Guðmundur Ómar Friðleifsson, principal investigator of the Iceland Deep Drilling Project (IDDP). The talk introduced this ambitious project and the challanges of drilling into very hot volcanic rocks. The remaining four speakers presented and advertised upcoming drilling projects and initiatives in the Nordic Countries: The ICDP supported Mjølnir impact crater drilling project on the Barents Shelf, presented by Henning Dypvik, University of Oslo; drilling for palaeoenvironmental research in the Baltic Sea Basin, an Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) project, presented by Thomas Andrén, Södertörn University (Sweden); the "Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonides" project was presented by David Gee, Uppsala University, and the "Postglacial Fault Drilling Project" by Ilmo Kukkonen, Geological Survey of Finland. The latter two projects are part of the Swedish Deep Drilling Program (SDDP) and received workshop funding from ICDP.

Link to the abstract volume of the 29th Nordic Geological Winter Meeting.

After the conference session the focus was turned to Nordic scientific cooperation with the official kick-off of the NordForsk researchers network "Scientific Drilling in the Nordic Countries". A concise presentation of the network and its intended role for the Nordic geoscientific community by the network leader (Henning Lorenz, Uppsala University) was followed by informal mingle of some 35 interested scientists, discussing various aspects of scientific drilling in the Nordic Countries during the following hour.

In the evening, the national representatives to the network attended a planning meeting for future network activities. A first announcement will be available on this website within a few weeks.

Many thanks to the co-conveners of the session (Ilmo Kukkonen, Christophe Pascal, Henning Dypvik), the speakers and the audience for their contributions to a successful scientific drilling event at the 29th Nordic Geological Winter Meeting!