Ice Core Drilling on Mt. Wrangell, Alaska 1982,

Abstract

Glacier ice in the summit caldera of Mt. Wrangell (62 deg N; 144 W, 4000 m above sea level) has a mean annual temperature of about -20 C, an annual accumulation of 1 to 1.3 m water equivalent and thicknesses on the order of 500 m. This paper deals with a pilot project, done in 1982, using the PICO lightweight drill which performed very well. We obtained 43.5 m of core which is being analyzed for microparticle content, total beta activity and stable isotope O18/O16 ratios. The light weight was a major asset in transporting the drill by helicopter to the summit and in moving it by sledge on the surface. It was easy for one man to raise and lower the drill to depths of 30 m. At a depth of about 40 m the time required for an individual roundtrip run to retrieve core was 45 minutes. Core lengths greater than 1 m were common when using the 2 m core barrel and core quality was excellent.

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1984
Accession Number
ADP004809

Entities

People

  • C. S. Benson

Organizations

  • University of Alaska Fairbanks

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Drilling
  • Drills
  • Helicopters
  • Lightweight
  • Microparticles
  • Sea Level
  • Thickness
  • Tools
  • Weight
  • Workshops

Readers

  • Mathematics or Statistics
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Polar and Arctic Studies