Daily Report for IODP Expedition 311, October 7, 2005

LOCATION: Site U1327 (CAS-01B)

SCIENCE UPDATE: Operations continued in Hole U1327E, a special tools hole, by advancing the hole by drilling to 217.7 mbsf, and the HRC was deployed, which recovered a complete core under pressure. Two additional XCB cores (15X and 16X) were taken through the depth interval of the BSR. The IR-scan of Core U1327E-15X revealed a 3-m-thick low temperature thermal anomaly at the core depth of the seismically identified BSR at about 219 mbsf. The IR cold-spots in Core U1327E-15X were subsampled for interstitial water analysis and microbiology characterization. A 5-cm-thick sand section from this low temperature interval had a measured pore water salinity of only 5. The hole was advanced by drilling to 246 mbsf and the PCS was deployed, which recovered a complete core (Core U1327E-17P) under pressure. The PCS deployment at 246 mbsf marked the end of pressure coring at Site U1327, which concluded with ten total pressure core deployments with eight containing cores under pressure (4 PCS, 3 HRC, 1 FPC). Hole U1327E was drilled to a total depth of 300 mbsf and then was prepared for wireline and VSP logging. Adverse ship heave conditions, exceeding 3.0 m, delayed the start of the downhole logging program until near midnight.