A Proposal to Build a Deep Ocean Rock Coring Drill

本海洋学仪器发展项目的目标是设计、建造和测试一台现代岩石取心钻机，并为其建立操作设施。设计标准要求钻头穿透并从火成岩基底、岩化沉积物和海洋深处高达5000米的硫化物沉积物中提取3米的岩心样本。该钻机将从传统的深海研究船上部署，并将从难以或不可能使用传统沉积物取心或疏浚技术取样的环境中收集空间定向岩心。将利用这种能力的具体研究应用领域包括海洋中海山取样、在会聚边缘钻探碳酸盐岩块、为研究地壳演化而对火成岩进行离轴取样，以及在热液矿床取样。新的钻井能力也将有助于资源评估，如夏威夷专属经济区的测绘工作。展望了海洋工程领域的进展。必须发展机器人和系统控制技术，以参考极坐标标记和提取岩心。钻井系统的控制必须能够适应不同的海底条件和非垂直位置。该项目还将为规划的50米岩石取心能力提供工程基础。

The objectives of this oceanographic instrumentation development project are to design, build, and test a modern rock coring drill and establish a facility for its operation. Design criteria require the drill to penetrate and recover three-meter core samples from igneous basement rocks, lithi- fied sediments, and sulfide deposits at ocean depths of up to 5,000 meters. The drill will be deployed from conventional deep-sea research vessels and will collect spatially oriented cores from environments that are difficult or impossible to sample using conventional sediment coring or dredging tech- niques. Areas of specific research applications that would make use of such a capability include sampling of mid-ocean seamounts, drilling carbonate blocks at convergent margins, off-axis sampling of igneous rocks for studies of crustal evolution, and sampling at hydrothermal deposits. The new drilling capability will also be useful in resource assess- ment such as Exclusive Economic Zone mapping efforts off Hawaii. Advances in the field of ocean engineering are also anticipated. Robotic and system control technology must be developed to mark and extract the rock cores with reference to polar coordinates. Control of the drill system must be such that accommodations can be made for differing seafloor conditions and off-vertical placement. This project will also provide the engineering foundation for a planned 50- meter rock coring capability.