Ice drilling for blasting boreholes in deep seismic surveys (JARE-43) by steam type drilling system

• Main Authors: Atsushi Watanabe, Norio Ishizaki, Morio Yanagisawa, Hiroki Miyamachi
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: National Institute of Polar Research 2003
• Subjects: geo; Antarctic; Austral; East Antarctica; Mizuho; Mizuho Plateau; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.15094/00009257; https://doaj.org/article/8a836c065bbf426f924112471019943b

A seismic exploration was accomplished in the austral summer of 2001-2002 by the 43rd Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE-43) along a profile oblique to that held by JARE-41 on the Mizuho Plateau, East Antarctica. We used a steam type drilling system to obtain seven blasting boreholes. We spent 7 to 8 hours to make an enough depth of the hole for one shot point. The holes were 35 to 40 cm in diameter and 23.5 to 28.7 m in depth. The average drilling speed was 3.25 m/hr.