International drilling project started in Namibia

Nov 19, 2019

Drilling across the boundary of the Ediacaran

Ediacaran-age Nama Group strata resting unconformably on Proterozoic basement, Namibia. Photo: Tony Prave

Drilling with international teams on three continents: The ICDP drilling project "Geological Research through Integrated Neoproterozoic Drilling - The Ediacaran-Cambrian Transition" (GRIND-ECT) began drilling in September. The researchers are particularly interested in the old seabed on the continent, where they can study and collect data on the transition between the earth ages Ediacaran and Cambrian. This can be found in today's Namibia, Brazil and southern China. It is the first drilling project of the International Integrated Drilling Project ICDP, which carries out drilling on three continents: Africa, South America and Asia. Researchers from the MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen are participating in this project.

The Neoproterozoic Era 1,000 to 541 million years ago is one of the most drastic in Earth history: multicellular organisms evolved, the supercontinent Rodinia formed and broke apart, the global carbon cycle was subject to strong fluctuations, oxygen concentrations rose, and the climate experienced at least two episodes of worldwide glaciation. Rock outcrops from the Neoproterozoic, which scientists can use to study the era, are mostly difficult to access and not continuous. This makes it difficult to develop quantitative models of Earth system functioning during this Era. The outcrops are old seabeds that are particularly well preserved in the three regions. The ancient marine rocks thus form a continuous archive of the ecological and biogeochemical conditions in which animals evolved at the time.

The aim of the GRIND project is to provide a temporally high-resolution geobiological, stratigraphic and geochemical database, as well as a long-term archive for future research by means of a network of contiguous layers showing the transition from the Ediacaran to the Cambrian about 560 to 530 million years ago. To achieve this goal and understand the driving mechanisms of the Neoproterozoic revolution of the Earth system, the project will bring together data from the three distant regions.

Scientists from over 14 nations are involved in GRIND-ECT. The project is steered by a Central Science Team: Tony Prave (University of St Andrews, UK), Simone Kasemann (University of Bremen), Francis Macdonald (University of California Santa Barbara, USA), Catherine Rose (University of St Andrews, UK), Kristin Bergmann (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA), Abner Nghoongoloka (Geological Survey Of Namibia, Namibia), Ricardo Trindade (University of Sao Paolo, Brazil), Moayan Zhu (Nanjing Institute of Geology, Palaeontology and Stratigraphy, China). Scientific advisors are Aivo Lepland (Geological Survey of Norway, Norway) and Bruce Levell (Oxford University, Great Britain).

On 24 September 2019, the drilling began at Tierkloof in the southern Namibian desert by Günzel Drilling Company. Until end of November 2019, GRIND-ECT will continue drilling four additional holes in southern Namibia around the Swartpunt and Orange River areas. The cores will be shipped to the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Resources (BGR) core repository in Berlin, Germany, for detailed core characterization.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Simone Kasemann
Isotope Geochemistry
Phone: 0421 218 65930
Email: [Bitte aktivieren Sie Javascript]

The team made it through 50 meters of hard quartzite. However, the drill bit had to be replaced after ten meters. Photo: Melanie Mesli

More current information on the drilling and the project

At the first hole in Tierkloof the team surpassed the 500-meter mark. David and Henry from the drilling team with a 3-meter core. Photo: Melanie Mesli

Catherine Rose logging the Nudaus formation auf. Photo: Melanie Mesli

The Guenzel drilling team. Photo: Tony Prave