Operational aspects of borehole deployment of a marine seismic system in deep water

Conference · Tue May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1984 · Proc., Annu. Offshore Technol. Conf.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6316191

Foss, G N; Wallerstedt, R L

During a 1983 expedition sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a coalition of institutions, agencies and private firms combined various facets of marine technology to place a large instrument package in a dedicated borehole in the South Pacific Ocean. The drillship GLOMAR CHALLENGER was used as the deployment vehicle to leave the instrumentation, equivalent to a seismological observatory, in 5620 m (18,439 ft) of water along with a companion ocean floor recording package for subsequent recovery. A history of development and events leading to this culmination is presented, along with a description of the vessel and equipment used in the deployment. Operational procedures, techniques, problems and successes are discussed. The technology now exists for the implantation of large instrumentation or other packages in new or pre-existing boreholes in virtually any water depth. All phases of the operation may be accomplished by a single dynamically-positioned floating drilling rig. Procedures and equipment described in this paper have potential applications in geophysical and geochemical exploration, geophysical and hydrogeologic research, national defense, waste disposal and many other fields.

• OSTI ID: 6316191
• Report Number(s): CONF-8405208-
• Journal Information: Proc., Annu. Offshore Technol. Conf.; (United States), Vol. 2; Conference: 16. annual offshore technology conference, Houston, TX, USA, 7 May 1984
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
MARINE SURVEYS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
EMPLACEMENT
SEISMIC SURVEYS
BOREHOLES
DEPTH 3-6 KM
DRILLING RIGS
EXPLORATION
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
OFFSHORE PLATFORMS
OPERATION
PACIFIC OCEAN
POSITIONING
SEA BED
SHIPS
CAVITIES
DEPTH
DIMENSIONS
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
SEAS
SURFACE WATERS
SURVEYS
US ORGANIZATIONS
423000* - Engineering- Marine Engineering- (1980-)