A large stone in the borehole
Today’s capture: The largest stone recovered from the 7 m borehole drilled
Today Steff and Trevor went down with the rock drill to investigate if ice
has formed in the deepest part of the borehole. If namely there is water
in the sediment there is a risk that ice formation could prevent further
drilling. Re-drilling of the 7m borehole proceeded very slowly and after
some 7 hours of reaming without reaching the bottom of the hole the drill
was taken up. Surprisingly, the drill held a 5 cm large stone (picture).
So a possible explanation for the slow penetration is that the rock was
somehow in the way.
Although we had almost clear sky during the night and morning, weather is
still rather unstable and tomorrow’s forecasted storm is still an option.
At least we got a cold night that hardened the skiway and today Lou has
been out with the tiller all day.
Lars and Christine went out to measure 12 GPS positions in a strain net located some 50 km SE of camp. It took almost 12 hours to obtain all of the GPS positions but it put an end to this seasons GPS campaign.
What we have done today:
1. Going down with drill to look for refrozen water in borehole – a stone came
up!
2. NEGIS: all well, sunny and wind 10 kts, today will be an ‘easy’ day in camp
after a couple of busy days
3. Grooming skiway with tiller
4. Measuring strain net 50 km SE of camp (12 GPS positions)
5. Sorting and packing electrical cables
Weather: Almost blue sky in the morning and sun shine! After lunch we got
back to normal with overcast and low contrast. Heavy snowfall in the
evening. Wind 12-20 knots from SW. Temperatures -5°C to -13°C.
It was great to see the sun again. Eliza shot this beautiful halo late at
Astrid, Christine, Eliza and Nanna prepared great starter (Borsch) and
For desert, Trevor’s flying pancake circus!
FL, Anders Svensson