source:http//englsih.cas.cn    23rd, November, 2004

 With the joint support of CAS and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, a heavy layer drilling program was carried on the Tibetan Pleteau, the first research feat of its kind in this country.

Commissioned by the CAS Institute of Earth Environment, the drilling operation was performed a geological & mineral prospecting team at Dadunling in suburban Xining City, the capital of Qinghai province and the Banzi Mountain in adjacent Huzhu Tu Nationality Autonomous County from early September to early November. The drilling sites were selected by the CAS scientists on the grounds of their strong points in excellent conditions and superb location. Each of the two has a well-developed thick sediment of loess deposits and their strata have relatively clear discernibility in high resolution. In addition, the two drilling sites are located beyond the traditional reach of the sprawling Loess Plateau. So it is expected that the two can provide more tale-tell and all-round clues on the evolutionary changes of the paleo-environment. Be decipherment and scrutiny, of the data sampled from the paleo- loess cores, solid and comparable materials may be ferreted out for national policy-makers and scientists to address the worsening environmental trends at the localities.

This is the first attempt adopted by the CAS to probe the thick layer of a loess deposit on the Tibetan Plateau and some advanced technologies have been introduced to the drilling operation, which so far has been proved to be successful as the two continuous samples of the loess core 200m and 250m in length respectively have been secured. According to Prof. Lu Huayu, a guest researcher now working at the Xining-based CAS Institute of Salt Lakes, five years ago, he has been conducting the preparatory work for the drilling project and he told his interviewers, the drilling depth so far has reached more than 200 meters, the first drilling record ever set by China in this regard.