Field operation site

A reporter recently learned from the 41st Chinese Antarctic Expedition that in order to conduct in-depth research on the subglacial geological environment of the Lasman Hills in East Antarctica, during the 40th Chinese Antarctic Expedition, Jilin University and China University of Geosciences (Beijing) jointly formed a joint research team with the Russian Institute of Marine and Geological and Mineral Resources. About 25 kilometers south of Zhongshan Station, they used my country's independently developed new armored cable-suspended electric mechanical deep ice and subglacial bedrock coring drill (IBED) to successfully drill through 545 meters of ice and ice-rock interlayers, and obtained continuous ice core samples and 0.48 meters of bedrock samples.

Sino-Russian research team

During the 41st Antarctic expedition, the Chinese and Russian research team used the independently developed logging instrument to carry out borehole photography, obtained a complete temperature profile of the glacier, measured the borehole inclination and azimuth, and carried out continuous observation of the borehole shrinkage process, obtaining important in-situ glacier movement parameters. In addition, the Chinese and Russian research team also recovered about 7 cubic meters of drilling fluid from the borehole, practicing the concept of environmental protection.

Logging Tools

This is the first time that my country has carried out logging operations on the Antarctic ice sheet based on existing boreholes, obtaining key parameters such as borehole temperature, inclination, azimuth, and changes in borehole diameter. This has laid a foundation for exploring the geothermal flux at the bottom of the ice sheet at the end of Princess Elizabeth Land in East Antarctica and its dynamic evolution mechanism, and provided an important basis for revealing the evolution laws of the Antarctic ice sheet under the background of future climate change.

The Larsmann Hills region is located at the end of the Princess Elizabeth Land ice sheet and is one of the important overflow areas of the East Antarctic ice sheet. The subglacial geological environment is an important factor affecting the movement of the ice sheet. Exploring the subglacial geological environment in the Larsmann Hills region is of great significance for revealing the dynamic evolution mechanism and material balance characteristics of the ice sheet at the end of Princess Elizabeth Land in East Antarctica.