We have reached our target depth in the current hole and will move to another hole nearby to go deeper. This has to happen because we can only drill to a certain depth with drills that give good core recovery.

To go deeper, we therefore need to move to a different hole and use a different type of drill that grinds up the rock more, destroying the core. No problem, since we already have that section of rock. The result is a hiatus in coring, and we first need to finish up the analysis of the cores we already have. Next, we get to look at the measurements we have made so far and discuss the results. Basically we want to identify what measurements show changes in the layers within the Earth, what are the corresponding ages, and what caused those changes – climate, tectonics, river drainage, all of the above, none of the above? Was it a more catastrophic event like a volcanic eruption or earthquake? Site summary presentations are due on Friday and new cores will probably arrive on Friday.

Oh yeah, I bought just a few things from the ship’s store.

On my list: “Drumming Song” – Florence and The Machine