Download Australasian Regional IODP Workshop in 2017 for building new

Version of 1 March, 2017
Australasian Regional IODP Workshop in 2017 for building new IODP proposals
Sydney University, 13-16 June, 2017
1. Background
With JOIDES Resolution leaving the Pacific in 2019, it is timely to start building new IODP proposals
or reinvigorate old ones to ensure that there are numerous proposals in this globally important region
approved to drill when the vessel is likely to next return to this region – e.g. in the early 2020s. The
approach of regional workshops worked exceedingly well for the Indian Ocean (2011)* and the
Southwest Pacific Ocean (2012)**. The regional focus got together many key players, and led to a
number of excellent proposals being submitted, which could be drilled as a group, thus making
logistical sense. The results exceeded our expectations, with many expeditions already completed in
the Indian Ocean, and a major series of expeditions scheduled in the Southwest Pacific Ocean.
However, new ideas are always developing for future drilling, and this workshop will trigger work on
exciting new proposals.
The workshop will cover all possible platforms and not just the JOIDES Resolution. European-funded
alternative platforms are very suitable, for example, for work in shallow-water reefal areas and on the
Antarctic continental shelf. We have high hopes that IODP Proposal 871, for the use of the Chikyu to
drill deep into the Cretaceous on the Lord Howe Rise, will come to fruition as a CPP, and such a result
would provide strong encouragement for those hoping to use the Chikyu elsewhere in the Australasian
region.
We believe the workshop will catalyse excellent new proposals to address global geoscience questions
collaboratively, including those questions of the current IODP Science Plan. Because of the already
strong demonstration of diverse interests in IODP exploration in the region, the workshop has a very
strong basis. It will identify synergies, improve integration, discuss additional opportunities and
establish the robust international alliances that are essential for strong research proposals.
2. Scientific Objectives
The geographic scope of the proposed Workshop is the eastern Indian Ocean, the Southwest Pacific
Ocean, and the adjacent Southern Ocean. The four Science Plan Themes are those to be used for the
workshop. The importance of the Southern Hemisphere in the narratives of global plate tectonics and
oceanography is well-established, but is understudied. This is in large part due to the vastness of the
oceans in this region, and another round of IODP drilling from Australasian (and nearby) ports will
improve our understanding of these topics. Sampling of plateaus and ridges will not only provide a
great deal of information about their origin but also about paleoceanography and paleoclimate. Drilling
the Antarctic margin will further increase our understanding of global and regional questions related to
the Antarctic climate evolution, and land and sea ice extent, and periods of global warming.
Geomicrobiological questions can be addressed on a number of expeditions, including perhaps
carefully targeted, dominantly microbiological, expeditions to areas of unusual past conditions.
Petrological/geochemical studies of ocean, backarc and arc crust, and of uplifted mantle remain a high
priority, as do those of geological hazards.
Southwest Pacific Ocean extending to the Antarctic margin. This region has had a complex tectonic
history, with plate boundary interactions resulting in an assemblage of deep oceanic basins, volcanic
arcs, back-arc and fore-arc basins, continental ribbons and emerged and submerged carbonate
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platforms. The proposed workshop will identify the leading scientific ideas, hypotheses and questions
for this region that are pressing and require ocean drilling. The region's extensive plateaus and basins
can provide crucial sedimentary records to help understand the developing interactions between the
tropics and Antarctica, and between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Furthermore, Australia has been
one of the two major land masses undergoing northward migration during the Cretaceous through the
Cenozoic (the other being India) with resulting fundamental changes in the tectonic and climatic
development of Earth and its biota.
Tectonic questions to be addressed include 1) the formation of ancient and modern compressional
island arc complexes and subduction zones extending from Papua New Guinea to the Antarctic margin
and 2) the formation of spreading systems and the resultant major basins and back-arc basins
throughout the region. Related questions include the development and nature of hydrothermal systems
and mineralisation in tectonically active regions. Paleoceanographic questions can be addressed at
various places, including on the Antarctic margin and on the Campbell Plateau south of New Zealand.
The Antarctic Margin legs to be drilled between 2018 and 2020 (Expeditions 373, 374 and 379) will
provide an unprecedented transect of marine-based Antarctic Ice Sheet history. An extension of these
histories into the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean to document climatic/oceanic connection
between low- and high-latitudes remains an overarching goal of the paleooceanographic community.
The Eastern Indian Ocean extending to the Antarctic margin. The Indian Ocean may be the most
complex of the world’s major oceans. The tectonic evolution of this region (such as large igneous
provinces and Himalayan orogeny) has and still has exerted remarkable control on the global climate.
Furthermore, the region hosts two of the world’s thickest accumulations of sediment (Indus and
Bengal Fans). Many global questions in the Indian Ocean, including those related to the uplift of the
Himalaya and the onset of the Asian monsoon have been addressed by the recent JOIDES Resolution
drilling program, but new questions are always arising.
In the eastern Indian Ocean, including the Southern Ocean south of Australia, there are many targets of
tectonic, petrological or paleoceanographic interest. The deepwater Cretaceous basins west of
Australia are related to a very complex spreading history, and drilling the basins and the related ridges
and plateaus would provide information of regional importance, also being part of a global story. The
Indian Ocean Geoid Low lies south of Sri Lanka and is concentrated broadly between the Laccadive
and NinetyEast Ridges from 10N to 10S, where is coincides with a diffused plate boundary. It is not
active, but recent studies have shown a lot of strain accumulation and crustal shortening due to IndiaEurasia collision. The maximum Geoidal deficit of around 100m is the largest on Earth and makes this
anomalous feature scientifically very interesting. The post-collision sediment section as well as the
basement is expected to hold the key to a better understanding of key structural parameters. Having
cores and hard rocks from this region would certainly help constrain the genesis and evolutionary
history of these major features, providing a better understanding of the eastern Indian Ocean.
Along the Antarctic margin unanswered questions of past climate history and ice extent can be well
addressed, with margins of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet near Totten Glacier now thought to be
suspectibile to past warm water incursions and marine-ice sheet collapse into the Aurora Subglacial
Basin. The early continental breakup history, as represented just south of Australia, provides various
interesting scientific opportunities, including the possibility of drilling directly into mantle rocks in and
near the Diamantina Zone as well as the crust of the Australian Antarctic Discordance providing a
globally unique sampling of a mantle cold spot by an oceanic ridge.
The diffused plate boundary in Indian Ocean is not an active one.
3. Planned output
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During and following the workshop, we are now planning the following outputs, to not only
communicate the results of the workshop to the broader community. but to guide future drilling
through IODP. These include:
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A full workshop report for ANZIC and other websites
A report for EOS
A report for Scientific Drilling
Preliminary proposals for various IODP expeditions
4. Agenda
The themes of the Australasian Workshop will be those of the IODP Science Plan
 Climate and ocean change
 Biosphere Frontiers
 Earth Connections
 Earth in Motion
A Chair and co-Chair have been selected for each Theme, covering varied scientific and regional
expertise. The chairs may be supported by small sub-committees. A generalised agenda is set out
below. A detailed draft agenda is now available.
Day 1
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Morning plenary with an hour of scene setting, plus lengthy overview papers on local broad
aspects of research themes by acknowledged experts
Early afternoon plenary covering existing live proposals
Later afternoon thematic breakout sessions with short presentations (10-15 minutes) on
possible projects
Day 2
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Short morning plenary setting with theme chairs setting out progress in theme breakouts
Thematic breakout sessions with project presentations continued perhaps to afternoon tea
Subgroups nurturing new or existing projects. Each subgroup will generate a written
proposal plan/discussion document for theme chairs and future use
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Morning plenary where theme chairs report back on their activities leading to general
discussion
Afternoon final planning sessions
Day 3
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Day 4
Morning plenary: more of the above if needed after further input
5. Participants
We believe, based on the experience of the Southwest Pacific IODP workshop in Sydney that about
70-80 participants are ideal and we can expect about that number of participants. The numbers will
clearly be restricted by the funding available. Our aim is to cover all major IODP disciplines, because
this will be a very broad workshop, and we expect a good number of participants with local expertise
in at least one of the three geographical areas: eastern Indian Ocean, the Southwest Pacific Ocean, and
the adjacent Southern Ocean including the Antarctic margin.
The convenors are:
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Neville Exon, Australian National University, Canberra
Karsten Gohl, Alfred Wegener Institut, Bremerhaven
Mike Gurnis, Caltec
Stuart Henrys, GNS Science, Wellington
Fumio Inagaki, JAMSTEC
Rob McKay, Victoria University, Wellington)
Dietmar Mueller, University of Sydney, host of conference)
Dhananjai Pandey, NCAOR, India
Amelia Shevenell, University of South Florida
Jessica Whiteside, University of Southampton
The theme chairs and co-chairs are:
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Climate and Ocean Change: Tim Naish (Victoria University Wellington, New Zealand), Tina
van de Flierdt (Imperial College, London).
Biosphere Frontiers: Steven D'Hondt University Rhode Island, USA), Verena Heuer
(MARUM, Germany).
Earth Connections: Mike Coffin (University of Tasmania, Australia), Marguerite Godard
(Géosciences Montpellier)
Earth in Motion: Laura Wallace (GNS Science, New Zealand), Shuichi Kodaira (Jamstec,
Japan).
The chair will be the main thematic point of contact for people interested in coming to the workshop.
Each theme chair will be supported by a co-chair, who will be chosen to complement the chairs. Small
theme subcommittees, consisting of a mix of experienced scientists and up-and-coming scientists, are
to be established.
Partial lists of those in each theme who will be contacted in January to alert them to the workshop are
provided in Section 10.
6. Travel and location
Travel costs will be provided by the participating scientists, their host institutions, by national IODP
bodies or by IODP groupings such as ECORD or ANZIC. The conference dates will be 13 to 16 June,
2017.
The location will be at Sydney University and the host will be Dietmar Mueller. Sydney is the main
Australian hub for international flights. We intend to book a conference hotel nearby at an estimated
cost of $US150 per day per person for bed and breakfast. An icebreaker reception on the evening of 13
June and a conference dinner on 15 June will be funded by ANZIC.
7. Advertising
The workshop will be advertised on all appropriate IODP web sites. ANZIC will host a central website
http://iodp.org.au/event/australasian-iodp-regional-planning-workshop/. All advertising should
acknowledge sources of financial support.
8. Budget Summary and Budget Justification
8.1 Estimated meeting costs:
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Venue arrangements at the University of Sydney (4 Days)
US$ 15,000
(includes venue charges, A/V, accommodation, refreshments, dinner etc.)
International Travel support
US$ 76,500
Domestic Travel support
US$ 20,000
Miscellaneous Administrative Expenses
US$ 20,000
Total
US$ 131,500
8.2 Anticipated financial support:
Financial support from ANZIC/Sydney University: secured
Requested travel support from USSSP: proposal submitted
Requested travel support from MagellanPlus: proposal submitted
Requested travel support from JAMSTEC: proposal submitted
Requested travel support from India-IODP: secured
Total
US$ 40,000
US$ 40,000
US$ 16,500
US$ 20,000
$US 15,000
US$ 131,500
8.3. Budget justification
The budget is based on fixed costs for a conference of 80 scientists from around the world, as
exemplified by the Southwest Pacific IODP Workshop in 2012. Actual costs will be better defined in
early 2017.
9. ANZIC contacts
General organisational matters: Neville Exon ([email protected])
General scientific matters: Rob McKay ([email protected])
10. References
*S. J. Gallagher, N. Exon, D. Pandey, S. Rajan, M. Coffin and K. Takai, 2012. New frontiers in
scientific drilling in the Indian Ocean. Scientific Drilling 14, 60-63.
**Stephen J. Gallagher, Neville Exon, Maria Seton, Minoru Ikehara, Christopher J. Hollis, Richard
Arculus, Steve D’Hondt, Clinton Foster, Mike Gurnis, James P. Kennett, Rob McKay, Alex
Malakoff, Jim Mori, Ken Takai, Laura Wallace, 2014. Exploring new drilling prospects in the
Southwest Pacific. Scientific Drilling, No.17, 45-50.
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