Researchers from four universities have been awarded a $2-million grant from the National Science Foundation program to take to the next level the scientific drilling of large lakes for paleoclimate research.
Researchers from four universities have been awarded a $2-million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) program to take to the next level the scientific drilling of large lakes for paleoclimate research. The Global Lake 800 Drilling System (GLAD800) will be deployed to Lake Malawi at the southern end of the East African Rift Valley in a project involving researchers from Syracuse University, the University of Minnesota-Duluth, the University of Rhode Island and the University of Arizona. This recently acquired drilling rig is dedicated to recovering undisturbed scientific cores samples from the bottom of large lakes.
At nearly 2,400 feet in depth and more than seven million years old, Lake Malawi is one of the largest, deepest and oldest lakes on Earth. The archives of paleoclimatic information preserved in its quiet depths, inaccessible until now, hold promise to reveal important new clues concerning the evolution of Earth's climate.