Design, Construction, Calibration, and Deployment of the Next Generation of Heat Flow Piston-coring Shoe for Scientific Drilling

University Of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA

Investigators

Abstract

This is a project to develop a new tool for use in measuring in-situ temperatures as part of piston coring operations during scientific ocean drilling (an .APC tool.). Two earlier generations of APC tools have had a long and productive history during the Deep Sea Drilling Project and the Ocean Drilling Program, but new tools are needed for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). The new tools will take advantage of recent advances in electronics and computing capabilities and will improve on the quality of acquired data and in interpretations based on these measurements. Previous generations of APC tools have included a sensor and logger package installed within the piston core cutting shoe; the new development will also include design and creation of a new top sub that will permit deployment of two instruments during a single tool lowering, allowing determination of a thermal gradient.