Géosciences Montpellier
Université de Montpellier
Campus triolet cc060
Place eugène bataillon
34095 montpellier cedex05
FRANCE
Where to find us
Projects and Collaborations
List of collaborations, projects, and funding sources
International Scientific Drilling
Ocean Scientific Drilling
Ocean scientific drilling programs began in the 1960s, initiated by the United States, and have evolved over the decades to (1) become increasingly international and (2) remain relevant to both science and society. Recurring research themes include past climate change (to better understand future evolution), the deep biosphere (characterizing microbial communities living beneath the seafloor), and geological hazards (such as tsunami generation mechanisms). Note: To learn more about ocean scientific drilling, see the excellent book: Guertin, Laura, et al.Scientific Ocean Drilling: Exploration and Discovery through Time. Penn State Pressbooks, 16 Sept. 2024, psu.pb.unizin.org/sciod/)
Since 2003, the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD, https://www.ecord.org/) has contributed to these programs. ECORD is a consortium of 15 partners (14 European countries – Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom – as well as Canada). This consortium and other international partners fund and participate in the IODP (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program 2003-2013; International Ocean Discovery Program 2013-2024, https://www.iodp.org/) et IODP³ (International Ocean Drilling Programme depuis 2025, https://iodp3.org/).
Part of the Drilling Measurement and Experimentation team is part of the European Petrophysics Consortium (EPC). EPC provides the personnel, equipment, and expertise necessary for collecting petrophysical data from core samples and geophysical data from wells. With our partners (British Geological Survey and Marum), we form the ECORD Science Operator (ESO) and contribute to the organization of offshore expeditions and data acquisition. In this context, CEEL tools were deployed to collect data during the following expeditions:
- IODP 310 : Tahiti Sea Level (publication using data: Inwood et al. 2008)
- IODP 313 : New Jersey Shallow Shelf (publications using data: Inwood et al. 2013, Lofi et al. 2013, Miller et al. 2013, Basile et Monteverde 2014)
- IODP 325 : Great Barrier Reef Environmental Changes (publications using data: Yokoyama et al. 2011)
- IODP-ICDP 364 : Chicxulub K-Pg Impact Crater
- The Chicxulub impact crater, formed approximately 66 million years ago, is associated with the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs. The expedition aimed to drill into this crater to understand its formation mechanisms, both on Earth and on other rocky bodies. CEEL tools have contributed to characterizing the crater (Morgan et al. 2016, Riller et al. 2018, McCall et al. 2020) by collecting physical properties of drilled rocks and wall images from a 1,334-meter borehole below the seabed (Lofi et al. 2018).
- IODP 381 : Corinth Active Rift Development
- IODP-NSF 501 : New England Shelf Hydrogeology
- Offshore freshened groundwater has been observed, directly or indirectly, beneath the seabed. Geologists, hydrogeologists, geochemists, and modelers study this groundwater, known as Offshore Freshened Groundwater (OFG), to understand its emplacement processes (extent, age, transport). Expedition 501 aimed to drill along a passive margin off the coast of New England and to sample the waters for analysis. CEEL’s tools were deployed, including, for the first time on an ECORD expedition, a nuclear magnetic resonance instrument to characterize the porosity of the sediments.
Continental Scientific Drilling
- CEEL tools have also been deployed during scientific drilling on land with the International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP) :
- ICDP OODP : Scientific Drilling in the Samail Ophiolite, Sultanat d’Oman (publications using data: Lods et al. 2020)
- ICDP DFDP : Deep Fault Drilling Project, Nouvelle-Zélande (publications using data: Sutherland et al. 2017, Townend et al. 2017, Janku-Capova et al. 2018, Massiot et al. 2018, Jeppson and Tobin 2020)
Données
Data Data from the IODP-IODP³ programs are available on the Lamont-Dehorty Earth Observatory LogDB, website by searching for the shipment number.
Data from the ICDP OODP are available here.
ICDP DFDP data are available upon request via the project website.
Experimental Sites (Aquifers, CO₂, etc.)
Several study and observation sites are monitored by the TMP team as part of national and international programs. Some of the geophysical and borehole hydrodynamic data acquired using CEEL tools within these programs contributes to the databases of two observatories:
- OSU OREME :the Mediterranean Environmental Research Observatory, one of whose missions is the continuous observation of the Mediterranean natural environment;
- lSNO H+ : the National H+ Observation Service, a research infrastructure dedicated to the study of groundwater, whose mission is to coordinate a network of experimental sites providing relevant data (including time series and long-term experiments) for understanding aquifers.
CEEL tools are used to characterize and/or monitor different sites:
| Site | Thème | Lithology | Labeling | Publications/reports | Project | |
| Maguelone | Hérault, France | Aquifers, saltwater intrusions, CO2 | Silicoclastic | OREME | Lofi et al. 2013, Pezard et al. 2016 | ALIANCE, MUSTANG |
| Roussillon | Pyrénées-Orientales, France | Aquifers, saltwater intrusions | Silicoclastic | OREME | Petelet-Giraud et al. 2016, Caballero et al. 2022, Pezard et al. 2022 | Gain d’Sel, Dem’Eaux, AQUIMER |
| Thau | Hérault, France | Aquifers, saltwater intrusions | Carbonate, karst | Ladouche et al. 2023, Widhen et al. 2023 | Dem’Eaux | |
| Ploëmer | Morbihan, France | Aquifers, saltwater intrusions | Granite | OREME / H+ | Belghoul et al. 2010 | ALIANCE |
| Argentona | Spain | Aquifers, saltwater intrusions | Silicoclastic | OREME | Palacios et al. 2020, Martínez-Pérez et al. 2022 | |
| Campos | Spain | Aquifers, saltwater intrusions | Carbonate, karst | OREME / H+ | Van Meir et al. 2006, Pezard et al. 2009, Hebert et al. 2011, Garing et al. 2013 | ALIANCE |
| Svelvik | Norway | CO2 | Silicoclastic | OREME / | Denchik et al. 2014 | CO2 FieldLab |
| Lodève | Hérault | gravity instabilities | ? | Denchik et al. 2018 | ||
| Larzac | Aveyron | Aquifers | Carbonate, karst | OREME / H+ | ||
Localisation des sites instrumentés par Géosciences Montpellier et actuellement rattachés à l’OSU-OREME. Des données de géophysique et hydrologue en forage sont régulièrement acquises sur ces sites. La plupart d’entre eux sont également équipés d’observatoires permanents du sous-sol.
Other interventions
- CEEL tools are also deployed on an ad hoc basis, outside of projects, to add value to existing wells. Several wells were drilled in the Rochechouart impact crater during a 2017 campaign (Lambert et al. 2017). Our tools were deployed there to acquire in situ data (publication using the data: Quesnel et al. 2021) .
Staff
Scientific manager :
Johanna LOFI
E-mail : johanna.lofi [at] umontpellier.fr
Technical manager :
Gilles HENRY
E-mail : gilles.henry [at] umontpellier.fr
Philippe PEZARD
E-mail : philippe.pezard [at] umontpellier.fr
Philippe GOUZE
E-mail : philippe.gouze [at] umontpellier.fr
Laurent BRUN
E-mail : laurent.brun [at] umontpellier.fr
Muriel GEERAERT
E-mail : muriel.geeraert [at] umontpellier.fr
Gérard LODS
E-mail : gerard.lods [at] umontpellier.fr
Fadl RAAD
E-mail : fadl.raad [at] umontpellier.fr
Erwan LE BER
Courriel : erwan.le-ber [at] umontpellier.fr
Simon BARRY
Courriel : simon.barry [at] umontpellier.fr
Location
Building 22
Campus Triolet
Address :
GEOSCIENCES MONTPELLIER
Université de Montpellier – CC 60
Place Eugène Bataillon
34095 MONTPELLIER Cedex 5
FRANCE
Vehicles access :
475 Rue du Truel
34090 MONTPELLIER