Zhiqin Xu1,2, Jingsui Yang2, Chengshan Wang3, Zhisheng An4, Haibing Li2, Qin Wang1, and Dechen Su2
1State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
2Laboratory for Continental Tectonics and Dynamics, Institute of
Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China
3School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of
Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
4State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of
Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710061, China
Received: 24 Oct 2016 – Revised: 10 Mar 2017 – Accepted: 13 Mar 2017 – Published: 31 May 2017
Abstract. Continental scientific drilling can be regarded as a telescope into the Earth's interior
because it provides process insight and uncompromised samples of rocks, fluids, and even sampled from the deep biosphere from the Earth's surface to great depths. As one of the three founding members of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), ICDP China has made great achievements in many scientific drilling-related research fields. Based on the ICDP participation it attracted global attention of scientists and set up not only the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling (CCSD) Program in 2001 but also a growing number of ambitious drilling projects in the country.
The 5158 m deep borehole of the CCSD project at Donghai County in the Sulu ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic terrain demonstrates that large amounts of crustal rocks of the South China Block have been subducted to at least 120 km, followed by rapid uplift. After successful completion of drilling at Donghai, several continental scientific drilling projects were conducted with funding of the Chinese government and partially with support of ICDP, resulting in a total drilling depth of more than 35 000 m. These projects encompass the Continental Environmental Scientific Drilling Program of China, the Scientific Drilling Project of Wenchuan Earthquake Fault Zone, the Continental Scientific Drilling Project of Cretaceous Songliao Basin, and the Program of Selected Continental Scientific Drilling and Experiments. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the ICDP and the 15th anniversary of the CCSD Program, this paper reviews the history and major progress of the CCSD Program.
Citation:
Xu, Z., Yang, J., Wang, C., An, Z., Li, H., Wang, Q., and Su, D.: Fifteen years of the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling Program, Sci. Dril., 22, 1-18, https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-22-1-2017, 2017.