Antarctic subglacial drilling rig: Part II. Ice and Bedrock Electromechanical Drill (IBED)

• Published in: Annals of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Talalay, Pavel, Li, Xingchen, Zhang, Nan, Fan, Xiaopeng, Sun, Youhong, Cao, Pinlu, Wang, Rusheng, Yang, Yang, Liu, Yongwen, Liu, Yunchen, Wu, Wei, Yang, Cheng, Hong, Jialin, Gong, Da, Zhang, Han, Li, Xiao, Chen, Yunwang, Liu, An, Li, Yazhou
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2020
• Subjects: Antarctic; East Antarctica; Zhongshan; Zhongshan Station; Annals of Glaciology; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/aog.2020.38; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0260305520000385

Abstract A new, modified version of the cable-suspended Ice and Bedrock Electromechanical Drill (IBED) was designed for drilling in firn, ice, debris-rich ice and rock. The upper part of the drill is almost the same for all drill variants and comprises four sections: cable termination, a slip-ring section, an antitorque system and an electronic pressure chamber. The lower part of the IBED comprises an auger core barrel, reamers, a core barrel for ice/debris-ice drilling and a conventional geological single-tube core barrel or custom-made double-tube core barrel. First, the short and full-scale field versions of the IBED were tested at an outdoor testing stand and a testing facility with a 12.5 m-deep ice well. Then, in the 2018–2019 summer season, the IBED was tested in the field at a site ~12 km south of Zhongshan Station, East Antarctica, and a ~6 cm bedrock core was recovered from a 198 m-deep borehole. A total of 18 d was required to penetrate the ice sheet. The retrieved core samples of blue ice, basal ice and bedrock provided valuable information regarding the Earth's paleo-environment.