Antarctic subglacial drilling rig: Part I. General concept and drilling shelter structure

• Published in: Annals of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Pavel Talalay, Youhong Sun, Xiaopeng Fan, Nan Zhang, Pinlu Cao, Rusheng Wang, Alexey Markov, Xingchen Li, Yang Yang, Mikhail Sysoev, Yongwen Liu, Yunchen Liu, Wei Wu, Da Gong
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press 2021
• Subjects: Ice engineering; Glacier geology; Ice coring; Subglacial exploration geophysics; Meteorology. Climatology; QC851-999; Antarctic; East Antarctica; Zhongshan; Zhongshan Station; Annals of Glaciology; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2020.37; https://doaj.org/article/756a09a560bf4d0ca1dff57dc19a2191

Drilling to the bedrock of ice sheets and glaciers offers unique opportunities for examining the processes occurring in the bed. Basal and subglacial materials contain important paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental records and provide a unique habitat for life; they offer significant information regarding the sediment deformation beneath glaciers and its effects on the subglacial hydraulic system and geology. The newly developed and tested Antarctic subglacial drilling rig (ASDR) is designed to recover ice and bedrock core samples from depths of up to 1400 m. All of the drilling equipment is installed inside a movable, sledge-mounted, temperature-controlled and wind-protected drilling shelter and workshop. To facilitate helicopter unloading of the research vessel, the shelter and workshop can be disassembled, with individual parts weighing <2–3 tons. The entire ASDR system weighs ~55 tons, including transport packaging. The ASDR is designed to be transported to the chosen site via snow vehicles and would be ready for drilling operations within 2–3 d after arrival. The ASDR was tested during the 2018–2019 summer season near Zhongshan Station, East Antarctica. At the test site, 2-week drilling operations resulted in a borehole that reached bedrock at a depth of 198 m.