4929.17 meters, “Dream” reorganizes my country’s deep-sea drilling record

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 28 (Reporter Wang Libin and Zhou Ying) The China Geological Survey of the Ministry of Natural Resources announced on September 28 that the “Dream” ocean drilling ship has recently completed a test drilling mission in the South China Sea. It completed the drilling and coring mission of 2 wells in the 4,100-meter water depth of the South my country Sea, and successfully drilled basalt samples from the South Ocean Basin. my country’s deep-sea drilling and coring operation capacity has been increased to 5,000 meters.

On this voyage, the “Dream” had a maximum drilling depth of 4929.17 meters and a maximum footage of 864.77 meters, setting a new record for my country’s independently implemented maximum operating water depth drilling. my country’s high-efficiency coring operation capabilities in deep-sea drilling have entered the international advanced ranks; the self-developed rotary coring drilling tool was successfully used A 4.27-meter basalt core sample was drilled. my country has become the third country after the United States and Japan to use drilling ships to drill hard rock samples from deep ocean basins. It has also established a coring operation system at the same level as international ocean drilling. The coring efficiency, quality and operation stability have reached the international advanced level.

According to Sun Zhen, a researcher at the Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey and chief scientist of this voyage, the team carried out long-term, high-intensity continuous collaborative operations of ship-borne deep-sea remote-controlled submersibles for the first time. The two ship-borne deep-sea remote-controlled submersibles have operated for more than 358 hours under 4,000 meters of water, with a single continuous operation of up to 103 hours, reaching the international advanced level. For the first time, in accordance with international ocean drilling standards, the entire process of core sample collection, sorting, cataloging, cutting, scanning, sampling, testing, and storage was completed on-site and multi-parameter processing and analysis was completed, and the entire process of ultra-deep water ocean scientific drilling operations was mastered.

This voyage acquired a large number of valuable core samples and data. Preliminary research confirmed that there were multiple periods of large-scale volcanic eruptions after the transition of the South China Sea spreading ridge, which provided key evidence for solving core scientific issues such as the expansion of the South China Sea. It is expected to revolutionize the scientific understanding of the formation and evolution of the South China Sea. It was found that the oceanic red layer and the green-dark green sedimentary interbedded combination were found on the seabed. At 813 to 864 meters below, a tens-meter-thick sand-mud interbedded sedimentary structure was encountered. The strata were accompanied by obvious bioturbation and were rich in organic matter. This is the first time in China that such features have been discovered in deep strata with a water depth of over 4,000 meters in the South China Sea and far away from the land. It is of great significance for studying the paleoenvironmental evolution of the South China Sea and the exploration and development of ultra-deep water energy resources.

This voyage was organized by the China Geological Survey and implemented by the Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey. 170 scientific expedition team members from 9 relevant units participated.

Reporters Wang Libin Zhou Ying Source: China Youth Daily