1 week 3 days from now

How many cores?

Submitted by Wiki the Kiwi on Thu, 12/10/2009 - 10:32

Hi Kids!  I'm sorry we haven't had a visit in so long.  Things get very busy on the ship, and sometimes if you don't have a list of things to do, you forget.

We have been very busy here on the JR.  We have drilled 6 holes at two different locations so far.  We are not finished with number 6 yet.  Each of these holes has been made up of lots of cores.  The cores are about 9 meters long, and we cut them into smaller pieces so we can work with them.    The pieces are stored on racks like the one in the picture.  Guess how many cores we have gotten so far!!  Almost 300!  That is alot of cores in only 22 days.  We use the metric system in New Zealand - can any of you tell me how many feet long a 9 meter core is?

Next time, I'll tell you about the work the scientists are doing.  Do any of you have questions you would like me to answer?  I would love to hear from you!

Cheers!

Wiki

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Question

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 12/10/2009 - 19:53.

What kinds of scientists do tests on the cores? What tests are done on the core sample?

What a great question

Submitted by Wiki the Kiwi on Fri, 12/11/2009 - 06:28.

We have many kinds of scientists on the ship. Paleontologists study the fossils that we find in the cores. Sedimentologists study what the cores are made of - they look at all the tiny grains to see what they are. Physical Properties scientists study how strong the rock in the core is and things like how much it weighs and how much air is trapped in the rock. Paleomagnetists study which way the magnetism in the rock points - this helps them figure out age of the rocks. And last but not least, the Microbiologists look at any bacteria trapped in the rocks. There are lots and lots of tests, so I'm giong to talk about them one at a time. Thank you for your wonderful questions!

Wiki