Grant: Major Resources Support Program - Infrastructure

In this proposal, a consortium of NSERC funded scientists, called CCDP (Canadian Continental Drilling Program), are seeking funding to continue Canada's membership in the International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP). The ICDP is an international organization that promotes the use of scientific drilling as a tool to address a broad range of problems in the Geosciences. Drilling projects have included studies that range from lake sediment coring to understand climate variations in the Quaternary through hard rock drilling to obtain continuous records of the Paleoproterozoic environmental changes, from sampling of materials from active volcanoes and large faults to rocks damaged by large impacts, and from hydrocarbon gas hydrates to supercritical water geothermal energy sources. ICDP has now supported 28 past or currently active drilling campaigns on 5 continents, including the 2002 Mallik gas hydrate research well in the Mackenzie delta. To date NSERC scientists have been or are currently active in ICDP supported projects in California, China, Ghana, Finland, and Argentina, and are included as key participants in potential ICDP drilling projects in Idaho, Turkey, Norway, and Russia. ICDP directly funded workshops in Wolfville, Mallik and Sudbury. Research themes conducted in the frame of ICDP are of global significance and have the potential for important benefits to the Canadian society and industry. They include themes such as global change, geohazards, CO2 sequestration, energy and mineralogical resources. ICDP projects, workshops and training courses serve as excellent training vehicles exposing students to technical and scientific advancements at high levels, to the full range of the geosciences, and to international level collaborations. Continuation of Canada's membership to ICDP will allow Canadians to participate in projects around the world, and just as importantly with ICDP involvement to make larger projects on Canadian soil possible in the future. The project also aims to build a strong network of Canadian Earth scientist, to assist the clearinghouse and outreach activities at the CCDP secretariat.