(1) Chinde Point core Panorama during setup: left LacCore tent; center is Ruen drill rig, right is water tank; in background is the Painted Desert (Painted Desert Mb. and Owl Rock Mb., Chinle Fm.) and Pilot Rock (a Neogene maar remnant).
Check out the time lapse video posted for November 15!
(2) Ruen Drilling and LacCore staff arrived on site in the morning and set up (3, 4, 6, 7. IDS arrived with the core orientation device shortly therafter and the soilds remover for the drilling fluids (5). The LacCore tent (4) houses the heated space in which the oriented core is curated, and the core metadata is curated and digitally recorded.
To maximimize the ability to recover the magnetic polarity stratiigraphy the core hole has been deviated to 30° from the vertical and 135° azmuthally (3, 7), a concept developed by Dennis Kent (CPCP PI, Rutgers University and LDEO).
By the end of the day the site was almost ready for coring to begin.
(2) Drilling crew arrives at Chinde Point
(3) Site near end of day
(4) LacCore core handling tent
(5) Setting up the solids removal system
(6) Ruen drill rig raised to 60°
(7) Ruen drill rig at sunset