Integrated ocean drilling projects

WA-OIG  is also involved in a variety of already completed and scheduled International Ocean Drilling Programs (IODP) through the Australian-New Zealand IODP Consortium (ANZIC). As part of a recently funded project we have started analysing the presence of microbial populations based on metagenomic data, lipid biomarkers and stable isotope geochemistry to provide clues about the environmental conditions associated with the formation of Jurassic to lower Cretaceous sediments of the petroleum-rich Northern Carnarvon Basin. Moreover, in collaboration with the Japanese Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) we will present a IODP proposal  to obtain a 3500 metre-long and 100 million-year-old sediment record at the Lord Howe Rise.

Understanding the tectonic and paleogeographic evolution of this unexplored large underwater continent located between Australia and New Zealand is one of the key goals of this project. But in the likely event that the proposal will be funded, these samples will also provide an opportunity for WA-OIG to study ocean chemistry changes at high southern latitudes from the Cretaceous onwards, and potentially extend the known limits to life beneath the ocean floor. In addition, we will be able to test fundamental evolutionary concepts of sub-seafloor microbial life over a 100 million year timeframe. By way of another example, we will be involved in coring 600 meters into the Chicxulub impact crater off the Mexican Yucatan coast in mid 2016. This is the largest impact crater on Earth and currently, the only one firmly associated with a mass extinction event (i.e. causing the extinction of dinosaurs).

In collaboration with the Department of Applied Geology & John de Laeter Centre, we will combine geological, biological and geochemical techniques to study (1) the duration of the hydrothermal system associated with the impact and its benefit for life colonisation, (2) to what extent the diversity of presumably slowly evolving bacteria in the deep biosphere reflect post-impact environmental changes, (3) the developmental history of planktonic taxa in the post-impact oceanic basin and terrestrial vegetation in the coastal hinterland, (4) and the environmental factors associated with the post-impact ecosystem responses. Additional upcoming IODP cruise in which we will be involved include the Zenith Plateau  and The Great Australian Bight.