Principal Investigators
Pavel Minyuk
NEISRI Magadan (RUS)
Martin Melles
University of Cologne (GER)
Julie Brigham-Grette
University of Massachusetts (USA)
Christian Koeberl
University of Vienna (A)
Contact
University of Cologne
Institute of Geology und Mineralogy
Friederike Schuerhoff-Goeters
T. +49 221 470-2536
fschuerh@uni-koeln.de
Kontakt
Universität zu Köln
Institut für Geologie und Mineralogie
Friederike Schürhoff-Goeters
T. +49 221 470-2536
fschuerh@uni-koeln.de
An international team of researchers from Russia, Germany, the USA and Austria has conducted a deep drilling program in the far northeast of Russia during the last six months to retrieve several hundred metres of lake sediments, impact breccias and permanently frozen soil. These make new insights into the climate history of the Arctic, crater formation of Lake El’gygytgyn and permafrost dynamics possible. A milestone has been reached at the beginning of May with the first results of the drilling campaign. The cores gained will help to answer crucial open questions of Arctic geology.
At the far northern fringe of north-eastern Siberia, about 900 kilometres west of the Bering Strait and 100 km north of the Arctic Circle (67°30’ N, 172°05’ E), lies Lake El’gygytgyn which originated 3.6 Mio years ago from a meteorite impact. The lake has, in contrast to other areas of this latitude, never been glaciated - the sediments which accumulated continually at the bottom of the lake are therefore an invaluable Arctic climate archive.
International researchers from various disciplines have set the goal to retrieve this archive. Preparations took eleven years before the large scale deep drilling campaign began at the end of the last year. Infrastructure for up to 40 people had to be created in this remote area under the most difficult conditions - accommodations, sanitary installations and supply utilities.
“Humans and technical appliances need sufficient energy in temperatures of down to -45°C, for instance for storing the drilling cores above freezing point”, says Martin Melles from the University of Cologne, project manager of the El’gygytgyn Drilling Project on the side of the Germans. The drilling equipment employed for drillings in the lake weighs about 70 tons, a great challenge for its safe positioning on the lake ice. -> more