Ter(r)ra: Risorse, Rischi, Rispetto
Padova, 15-17 settembre 2026
Sponsor Abstracts
Where we stand in scientific drilling of the ocean floor and continents
Angelo Camerlenghi1, Ilaria Mazzini2, Annalisa Iadanza3 e i membri della Commissione CNR ECORD-IODP e ICDP4
1 Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale – OGS, Trieste.
2 Istituto di Geoscienze CNR, Roma.
3 Dipartimento di Scienze del Sistema Terra e Tecnologie per l'Ambiente, CNR, Roma.
4 https://dta.cnr.it/project/iodp3-icdp/.
Angelo Camerlenghi1, Ilaria Mazzini2, Annalisa Iadanza3 e i membri della Commissione CNR ECORD-IODP e ICDP4
1 Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale – OGS, Trieste.
2 Istituto di Geoscienze CNR, Roma.
3 Dipartimento di Scienze del Sistema Terra e Tecnologie per l'Ambiente, CNR, Roma.
4 https://dta.cnr.it/project/iodp3-icdp/.
Keywords: Scientific Drilling, Eart and Life sciences, scientific drilling infrastructures.
Almost seventy years after the launch of international scientific drilling programs, for the first time four distinct programs dedicated to the exploration of the ocean and continental subsurface coexist: International Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP3, https://iodp3.org/), NSF's U.S. Sub-Seafloor Sampling Program (https://sodco.org), Deep Ocean Drilling Program (DODP https://www.iodp-china.org) and International Continental scientific Drilling Program (ICDP, https://www.icdp-online.org). This apparent organizational fragmentation coincides with a strengthening of the available scientific capacities and with a declared desire for cooperation between all programs.
The scientific objectives are shared and address some of the main challenges of Earth and Life sciences: understanding the dynamics of the lithosphere and the mantle; exploring the deep biosphere and the role of microorganisms in the subsurface; reconstructing the history of the Earth's climate, ice sheets, sea level and ocean-atmosphere-geosphere interactions; identifying the processes that regulate the cycles of the Earth System and the possible tipping points; study geological hazard such as earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides and tsunamis; assess the potential of the subsurface for the energy transition through the geological storage of CO₂ and of geothermal resources, and study offshore aquifers.
To achieve these objectives, scientific drilling is the only tool to observe and sample the subsurface, perform in situ measurements and install observatories, which are indispensable and complementary to geophysical investigations and numerical modeling.
The scientific community today has a large fleet of scientific drilling infrastructures: drilling vessels with riser system, the Japanese Chikyu and the Chinese Meng Xiang, commercial geotechnical drilling vessels for open-hole drilling and continuous coring, seafloor rigs such as the MEBO of MARUM-University of Bremen, Long Piston Coring Systems, such as those of ships Marions Dufresne and Kaimei, mobile platforms for continental and lake drilling. These are flanked by tools for downhole logging, dedicated laboratories and technical and logistical support for all phases of the projects, from the scientific co-design to implementation. All programmes also invest in the training of new generations of researchers, supporting international workshops and developing interdisciplinary networks.
Scientific drilling remains the indispensable tool for the study of the Earth. Each sample recovered preserves traces of geological, climatic and biological processes that have shaped the Earth and continue to influence its evolution. In this sense, scientific drilling is not only a great research infrastructure, but one of the most powerful tools we have to understand our planet and its future.
Almost seventy years after the launch of international scientific drilling programs, for the first time four distinct programs dedicated to the exploration of the ocean and continental subsurface coexist: International Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP3, https://iodp3.org/), NSF's U.S. Sub-Seafloor Sampling Program (https://sodco.org), Deep Ocean Drilling Program (DODP https://www.iodp-china.org) and International Continental scientific Drilling Program (ICDP, https://www.icdp-online.org). This apparent organizational fragmentation coincides with a strengthening of the available scientific capacities and with a declared desire for cooperation between all programs.
The scientific objectives are shared and address some of the main challenges of Earth and Life sciences: understanding the dynamics of the lithosphere and the mantle; exploring the deep biosphere and the role of microorganisms in the subsurface; reconstructing the history of the Earth's climate, ice sheets, sea level and ocean-atmosphere-geosphere interactions; identifying the processes that regulate the cycles of the Earth System and the possible tipping points; study geological hazard such as earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides and tsunamis; assess the potential of the subsurface for the energy transition through the geological storage of CO₂ and of geothermal resources, and study offshore aquifers.
To achieve these objectives, scientific drilling is the only tool to observe and sample the subsurface, perform in situ measurements and install observatories, which are indispensable and complementary to geophysical investigations and numerical modeling.
The scientific community today has a large fleet of scientific drilling infrastructures: drilling vessels with riser system, the Japanese Chikyu and the Chinese Meng Xiang, commercial geotechnical drilling vessels for open-hole drilling and continuous coring, seafloor rigs such as the MEBO of MARUM-University of Bremen, Long Piston Coring Systems, such as those of ships Marions Dufresne and Kaimei, mobile platforms for continental and lake drilling. These are flanked by tools for downhole logging, dedicated laboratories and technical and logistical support for all phases of the projects, from the scientific co-design to implementation. All programmes also invest in the training of new generations of researchers, supporting international workshops and developing interdisciplinary networks.
Scientific drilling remains the indispensable tool for the study of the Earth. Each sample recovered preserves traces of geological, climatic and biological processes that have shaped the Earth and continue to influence its evolution. In this sense, scientific drilling is not only a great research infrastructure, but one of the most powerful tools we have to understand our planet and its future.
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