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Drilling operations, Nam Co, Tibet, June 2024

NamCore drilling platform from shore

The ICDP drilling platform seen from the hill next to our field camp. photo by Robin Pardey

NamCore field camp bay

The field camp was established North of the lake in a quiet bay, not so far from a dirt road used by local sheppards.

NamCore field camp

Visitor in the camp

Yaks were sometimes visiting us at the camp

Heading out for gravity coring

Qiangqiang Kou has worked on many lakes on the Tibetan plateau. He is part of the project here too, and leading us on the lake to get some short cores.

The Nam Co field lab

We set up a field lab in one container to prepare the material for sampling DNA, pore water, and sediments from core catchers.

Drone view of the drilling platform

Photo by Curtis Li

Brecciated lake sediment core section

Photo credits : ICDP

DNA and methane sampling off shore

The day team busy sampling a freshly drilled core on the platform. Wilhelmine Klamt, Giulia Ceriotti and Qiangqiang Kou were part of the 1st scientific team on day shifts.

The offshore drilling and science teams

Drillers from the Sichuan Resources Group (in blue) and the scientific teams (day and night shifts) meeting on the platform (credit ICDP)

Stormy day during night shift

Paul Moser Roegla, Andy Henderson, Ryan O'Grady and Camille Thomas, enduring one of many storms in the science shed of the drilling platform.

Night shift drilling and science team

Photo: Andy Henderson

The almost complete NamCore field team

photo: ICDP

Pre-drilling preparation, May 2024

Official start of Aliisa Laakkonen, PhD student at the University of Bern

Drilling organization in Nam Co, September 2023, Tibet

1st DIGESTED workshop in Kastanienbaum, Switzerland.

DNA lab set up in Bern

ICDP conference, August 2023

Our science team arrived in Lhasa, on the Tibetan Plateau. We spent 5 days there, to accomodate to the altitude, and test our material. We also visited the Potala palace, former home of the Dalai Lamas.

The DIGESTED team met for a team-building and drilling preparation workshop at EAWAG, in Kastanienbaum, near Lucerne. We got to learn more about Nam Co, chatted about everyone's needs, wishes, expectations and got to know each other better around fondue and pizzas. Next: drilling in June !

Students Aliisa Laakkonen, Gaétan Sauter and Deborah Rast near boat and coring device onshore Lake Arnon.

Deborah and Camille detaching the corer from the core liner

Rhizons sticking out the core for pore water sampling

Aliisa Laakkonen started her PhD project on the microbial traces and diagenetic imprint of Nam Co. We went to Lake Arnon (BE, Switzerland) with Géetan Sauter and Deborah Rast (Sediment Dynamics group in Bern) to train on sensitive geomicrobiology sampling and gather a first data set to work on before the ICDP drilling planned for June 2024.

We have a new DNA/RNA extraction lab for environmental samples ready at the Institute for Geology, Uni. Bern.

The first samples have been extracted from lake Arnon, and we are enhancing the workflow and protoole to be ready for the Tibetan samples in summer.

Hendrik Vogel & Torsten Haberzettl were up on the Tibetan Plateau to meet and discuss with Chinese scientists and contractors. They settled for a field camp site and containers that will host ca. 50 scientists at 5000 m asl. in June 2024

Hendrik Vogel, Torsten Haberzettl and Camille Thomas were invited to the ICDP conference at GFZ Potsdam. Torsten gave an overview of the future NamCORE project while Camille Thomas presented a poster on the DIGESTED project. A lot of networking and fruitful discussion on how to advance together to further science through continental drilling

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Drilling operations, Nam Co, Tibet, June 2024

Pre-drilling preparation, May 2024

Official start of Aliisa Laakkonen, PhD student at the University of Bern

Drilling organization in Nam Co, September 2023, Tibet

1st DIGESTED workshop in Kastanienbaum, Switzerland.

DNA lab set up in Bern

ICDP conference, August 2023

social media

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