Corinth Active Rift Development: first hole complete!

IODP Expedition 381 
View 5: what does everyone else do during logging?

So the first logging operations were completed over the weekend………….but I am only blogging about this now because unlike those offshore I don’t have to work all weekend! However, all of the team onshore are always on call to answer any queries that the offshore team have and are very good at sending virtual chocolate supplies.

Downhole logging takes place once coring has finished in a borehole (ok this can be a simplification but applies to the first hole in Corinth Active Rift Development: Expedition 381). And logging can take several days, with different toolstrings and different stages, especially when borehole conditions throw up challenges, such as was the case for this borehole. For anyone impatient, here is a photo from early on in the logging operations.

Laurent Brun and Erwan Le Ber early on in logging the first hole. credit: L. Phillpot

What does everyone else do while this is happening? Well, of course supply the loggers with chocolate………

As this is a petrophysics blog, you will have to check out the Expedition blog to find out what other participants do, but here I can discuss how EPC’s Laurence and Abah from the Science Party spent their time. Did they put their feet up and relax? No, certainly not, the gap in core arriving on the ship is often time for the hard-working MSCL operators to catch up on any backlog that has accumulated. Here, as Laurence and Abah had that under control they had plenty of time to run quality assurance and quality control (QAQC) cores through the MSCL to provide checks on the data being acquired and ensure that all sensors are operating to their optimum efficiency. This process is achieved both by using specially selected cores to act as QAQC cores, but also by using the calibration pieces that are prepared in the liners used for each specific expedition.

Laurence Phillpot preparing calibration pieces for the MSCL. credit: E. Le Ber

In summary the Petrophysics team have had a busy few days! What is really enjoyable once the team have both core petrophysical and logging data is tying this together, analysing correlations and identifying where gaps or questions in one dataset can be answered by studying another, and of course starting talks with other scientists about the data that continue into the onshore phase (in Bremen in February 2018) and beyond.

  

Jenny