Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater Drilling Declared Major Success(Forwarded)

Office of Communication
U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey
119 National Center
Reston, VA 20192

Contact: Gregory Gohn
Phone: 703-648-4382

News Release: January 13, 2006

Crater Drilling Declared Major Success

More than a mile-long core retrieved

Following three months of around-the-clock work, the Chesapeake Bay Impact
Crater Deep Drilling Project successfully completed its operations,
extracting more than a mile long segment of rocks and sediments from the
Earth. On Dec. 4, the drill bit reached a final depth of 5,795 ft (1.1
miles, 1.77 kilometers) within the structure of the crater.

The impact crater was formed about 35 million years ago when a rock from
space struck the Earth at hypersonic speed. Scientists have only recently
begun to explore the consequences from that distant event and learn how it
has greatly affected the population living in southeastern Virginia today.

"The drilling project was a major success," said Greg Gohn, a U. S.
Geological Survey (USGS) scientist in Reston, Va. "We recovered a nearly
complete set of core samples from the top of the crater fill to the crater
floor." USGS and the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program
(ICDP) are the project's sponsors.

Gohn is a co-principal investigator of the drilling project, along with
Christian Koeberl of the University of Vienna in Austria, Kenneth Miller
of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, and Uwe Reimold, at Humboldt
University in Berlin, Germany.

"This is one of the most complete cores ever obtained in an impact
structure," said Koeberl, "and will allow us to understand a
shallow-marine impact event at an unprecedented level."

The team successfully recovered the complete succession of post-impact
sediments above the crater, the entire sequence of rocks broken up during
the impact, and rocks from the crater floor. These samples will allow the
project's international science teams to research the post-impact
environment, impact-related processes, and the impact process itself. In
addition, the team completed geophysical down-hole logging to collect
additional data, such as the temperature gradient within the corehole.

Important in this multidisciplinary venture is the analysis of the
groundwater reservoir in the Chesapeake Bay impact crater. Findings have
direct implications for the millions of people living in the area along
Virginia's eastern shore and to future development. Several teams from the
U.S. and Europe are investigating the microbial life present in the impact
crater, part of intriguing recent studies of life in exotic environments.

"The post-impact sediments record the recovery of the continental-shelf
target area from devastating impact mega-tsunamis to the passive
continental shelf and coastal plain that continues today," said Ken
Miller, who chairs the Department of Geological Sciences at Rutgers
University. "Comparison of the section in Virginia with more complete
sections sampled in New Jersey and Delaware will yield new insight into
global sea-level changes and the distribution of water-bearing units in
the coastal plain."

The drillsite is located on private land in Northampton County on
Virginia's Eastern Shore. The site was chosen because of its location
above the central part of the buried crater. Drillsite activities began
with extensive site preparations in July 2005. The drill rig arrived in
early September, and scientists recovered the first core sample on
September 15th.

Cores are being stored at the USGS in Reston, VA and will be photographed
and documented during the next 3 months. In March 2006 members from all
international teams will gather at the USGS to obtain samples of the core
for their various studies.

ICDP and USGS provided the initial funding for the drilling project. The
project received supplementary funding in late November from ICDP and
USGS, and from the Solar System Division of the NASA Science Mission
Directorate, which allowed drilling to continue into December. The
National Science Foundation, Earth Science Division, is supporting the
post-impact studies.

DOSECC (Drilling, Observation, and Sampling of the Earth's Continental
Crust) managed the drillsite operations, and Major Drilling America, Inc.
performed the core drilling. DOSECC is a nonprofit corporation whose
mission is to provide leadership and technical support in subsurface
sampling and monitoring technology for scientific and societal importance.

The International Continental Scientific Drilling Program is a
multinational program which funds and supports geosciences in the field of
Continental Scientific Drilling. The ICDP has currently a total of 13
member countries and two corporate affiliates. The GFZ Potsdam in Germany
serves as Executive Agency for the ICDP.

The USGS serves the nation by providing reliable scientific information to
describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property from
natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral
resources; and enhance and protect our quality of life.

Relevant Web URLs:

* ICDP/Chesapeake
http://chesapeake.icdp-online.org
* USGS/Chesapeake Crater
http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eespteam/crater/
* DOSECC
http://www.dosecc.org/