Unlocking Earth’s Climate Secrets: Drilling the Iberian Margin Sediment Core

The Earth’s climate has been in a constant state of change since its inception, and scientists around the world have been working tirelessly to unlock its secrets. One way they’re doing this is by drilling into the ocean floor, which scientists have discovered contains a rich archive of geological and biological information about the Earth’s past. By extracting and analyzing sediment and rock cores from deep under the sea, researchers are gathering a wealth of information about past climate conditions, ocean circulation patterns, and the evolution of life on our planet. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the process of drilling for Earth’s climate secrets buried under the sea and explore the valuable insights they’re providing for our understanding of the planet’s history and future.


Scientists on a drilling mission aboard the JOIDES Resolution research vessel are collecting sediment cores from as deep as 1,600ft beneath the seafloor to gain a better understanding of the Earth’s climate over the past three to four million years. The mission is focused on the Iberian margin of the Atlantic Ocean, where sedimentation rates are believed to be 10 times faster than in other regions. The cores contain information that will help researchers establish global climate at specific times in the planet’s history, and provide information that may help inform future climate models. The work was inspired by a discovery by pioneering scientist Nick Shackleton, who showed that sediment cores from beneath the ocean provided details about polar air and water temperature similar to ice cores from the poles.