The vessel proceeded directly to the Global Positioning System coordinates of Site 1078, where a beacon was deployed at 2105 hr on 2 September. The bit was positioned at 436.5 m, where Hole 1078A was spudded at 0040 hr on 3 September. The seafloor depth was established at 627.2 meters below sea level (mbsl) by drill-pipe measurement (DPM). APC Cores 175-1078A-1H through 8H were taken from 0 to 77.1 mbsf (Table 1; also see expanded core summary table on CD-ROM, back pocket, this volume), which was considered APC refusal (recovery 100.4%). During the firing of Core 8H, a lock pin failed and left part of the sinker bar assembly and the core barrel at the bottom of the drill string. It required three wireline fishing attempts to recover the sinker bar hardware and another wireline trip to recover the full core barrel. The Adara heat-flow shoe was deployed with Cores 3H (26.5 mbsf) and 6H (55.0 mbsf). An XCB core (175-1078A-9X) advanced the hole to 77.1 mbsf with 20% recovery. This was considered the total depth of the hole. The drill string was pulled back with the bit clearing the seafloor at 0800 hr on 3 September, thereby ending Hole 1078A.
The vessel was offset 30 m to the south, and Hole 1078B was spudded at 0837 hr on 3 September. The seafloor depth was established at 426.1 mbsl by DPM. APC Cores 175-1078B-1H through 14H were taken from 0 to 130.1 mbsf (Table 1), with 130.1 m cored and 125.7 m recovered (96.6% recovery). Cores were oriented starting with Core 3H. The Adara heat-flow shoe was deployed with Cores 11H (101.6 mbsf) and 14H (130.1 mbsf). The drill string was pulled out of the hole and cleared the seafloor at 1810 hr on 3 September, ending Hole 1078B.
The vessel was offset 30 m to the south, and Hole 1078C was spudded at 1905 hr on 3 September. The seafloor depth was established at 426.0 mbsl by DPM. APC Cores 175-1078B-1H through 14H were taken from 0 to 128.8 mbsf (Table 1) and were deepened with the XCB to 165.2 m, with 165.2 m cored and 149.6 m recovered (90.5% recovery). Cores were oriented starting with Core 3H. The drill string was pulled out of the hole and cleared the seafloor at 05.35 hr on 4 September, ending Hole 1078C.
Once again, the vessel was offset 30 m to the south, and Hole 1078D was spudded at 0605 hr on 4 September. The seafloor depth was established at 427.4 mbsl by DPM. APC Cores 175-1078B-1H through 14H were taken from 0 to 126.8 mbsf (Table 1), with 126.8 m cored and 116.7 m recovered (92.1% recovery). Cores were not oriented. The drill string was pulled out of the hole and cleared the seafloor at 1300 hr on 4 September, ending operations at Site 1078.