Ecology of the past

ICDP UK KICK OFF MEETING (3rd July 2012)

On Tuesday the UK participation in the International Continental scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) was officially launched at the British Geological Survey (Keyworth). The ICDP is designed to help scientists with the aquisition of samples to answer fundemental questions related to geological and enviornmental science. Now that the UK has membership to the ICDP, thanks to investment from the BGS, UK based scientists can take more of a lead in developing projects. Having worked on two projects based on ICDP sediments (Lake’s Titicaca and Bosumtwi) I am delighted by this development and hope over the next few years to be able to get involved in further exciting research.

The kick off meeting provided insight into how the ICDP works (Uli Harms) and examples of on-going projects at various stages of development:

• Melanie Leng presented information on the Lake Ohrid project which will be drilled later this year,
• Philip Barker presented information on the DeepChalla workshop which will be happening later this year,
• Henry Lamb provided insights into the Hominin sites project which is scheduled to drill multiple locations in 2013,
• Paul Pearson presented an example of how ICDP and Integrated Ocean Dilling Program (IODP) projects might be intergrated (Tanzania Drilling Project),
• Stephen Hesselbo talked about opportunities to revisit classic geological sites to gain new insights in the Mochras revisited proposal,
• Mike Branney showed how drill cores can be used to investigate super eruptions, and
• Damon Teagle presneted information the use of drill cores to explore plate boundary changeson the Alpine Fault.

Clearly there is a strong involvement of UK based scientists in ICDP based science. This investment by the BGS can only strengthen this further. I thought that the meeting was super useful and it was interesting to see what else is already going on. The two things which struck me most were: 1) the diversity of the projects, and 2) the timescales of the planning stage.

Congratulations to the UK convenors  (Philip Barker, Melanie Leng, Joanna Morgan and John Ludden) who have got this started. Now it is time for the rest of us to get our thinking hats on and to start talking to each other…!!!

Any ideas for projects and collaborations please get in touch!