Collaborative research: Large-scale, long-term, multi-directional, cross-hole experiments in the upper oceanic crust using a borehole observatory network

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Intellectual Merit: This proposal is to conduct a number of hydrogeologic experiments in ocean crust on the east flank of the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. The aim of the experiments is to study the movement of fluids, chemicals and microbes within the ocean crust between drill holes completed by the Integrative Ocean Drilling Program. The work will be the first to run a long-term cross-drill-hole test in the ocean crust. One and two years following the Integrative Ocean Drilling Program expedition in 2010, the down hole instruments will be serviced and samples collected from multiple depths in the hole. Three-dimensional numerical modeling will evaluate how flow works within the oceanic crust. Taken together, the proposed work will constrain heat transport, chemical transport, and sub-seafloor microbiology making the results of value to many communities.Broader Impacts: This project will train graduate and undergraduate students and will leverage off of an existing education and outreach program already in place for the Integrative Ocean Drilling Program expedition in 2010.