OPERATIONS

Five holes were drilled at this site (Table T1), under good weather conditions. Wind speed was 5-24 kt, gusting to 29 kt; seas were 4-9 ft; swell was 6-15 ft; and the prevailing sea-surface current was from the north at ~0.5-0.9 kt. Hole 1245A was drilled to a depth of 380 mbsf without coring on 18 July 2002 to obtain the initial LWD data for this site. We returned to this site from 6 to 13 August to core Holes 1245B-1245E (Table T1).

The APC temperature (APCT) tool was run ten times and the Davis-Villinger Temperature Tool (DVTP) was run three times at this site. The pressure core sampler (PCS) was run six times, and five deployments were recovered core under pressure. Four deployments of HYACINTH were made at Site 1245, two each with the Hydrate Autoclave Coring Equipment (HYACE) Rotary Corer (HRC) and Fugro Pressure Corer (FPC). Technical and operational difficulties prevented these cores from being recovered under full pressure for further analysis (see "Downhole Tools and Pressure Coring"). No in situ pressure measurements were made at this site.

Hole 1245A was drilled to obtain the initial LWD data for this site (see "Downhole Logging"). Drilling proceeded at ~25 m/hr to total depth (TD) at 380 mbsf without difficulty, and real-time data were transmitted to the surface at a rate of 6 Hz. Given calm heave conditions, the real-time data record was changed to increase the depth resolution of formation evaluation logs with less emphasis on high-resolution weight-on-bit and torque measurements. Mud pump noise affected the data transmission to a lesser extent than at Site 1244. No sliding tests were conducted for the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR-MRP) tool. Total bit run was ~28 hr.

Hole 1245B was cored to 473.7 mbsf using the APC and XCB (Table T1). Special tool deployments (see Table T2 in the "Leg 204 Summary" chapter) included five APCT tool and three DVTPP, three PCS from which two PCS cores were successfully recovered under pressure, and one HRC. The HYACINTH FPC (Core 204-1245B-18Y) recovered core; however, the flapper on the corer failed to close. Whirl-Paks and PFT were used for microbiology Cores 204-1245B-23X, 24X, 26X, 31X, 38X, 43X, and 49X. Hole 1245B was terminated at a total depth of 473.6 mbsf.

Hole 1245C was cored to 198.7 mbsf using the APC and XCB. Special tool deployments (see Table T2 in the "Leg 204 Summary" chapter) included five APCT, three PCS, and three Drill String Acceleration (DSA) tool runs. Whirl-Paks and PFT were used for microbiology Cores 204-1245C-1H, 2H, 4H, 5H, 7H, 9H, 12H, 15X, 17X, 20X, 22X-26H, and 28X.

Hole 1245D was cored to 24.0 mbsf using the APC. These three cores were recovered for microbiological and chemical whole-round sampling. Whirl-Paks and PFT were used in all cores. No special tools were deployed in this hole.

Hole 1245E was drilled without coring with the RCB/center bit to 473.7 mbsf, followed with RCB coring to 540.3 mbsf. Hole conditions deteriorated and we were unable to clean up the hole below that point; therefore, we began to pull out for the prelogging wiper trip. At this point, the pipe became stuck and was not freed even after releasing the bit. After ~15 hr, preparations were made to sever the pipe; however, the pipe was successfully released and the hole was not abandoned. Logging in the upper 300 mbsf with the triple combination (triple combo) and Formation MicroScanner (FMS)-sonic wireline tool strings were successful (see "Downhole Logging").

The first helicopter rendezvous at this site occurred at 1308 hr on 13 August. Arriving passengers included Herbert Leyton, Schlumberger vertical seismic profile (VSP) engineer, and Roy Davis, Ocean Drilling Program (ODP)/Texas A&M University (TAMU) photographer. Departing passengers included Bill Gwilliam from the Department of Energy (DOE)/National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Floris Tuynder, HYACINTH Fugro FPC engineer, and Dean Ferrell, ODP/TAMU senior electronic designer. Ben Bloys from Chevron-Texaco did not arrive because of weight limitations. A second trip of the helicopter brought Ben Bloys along with initial batch of VSP surface equipment. The remaining three-component VSP tools arrived on a third helicopter trip on 14 August. However, the plans for conventional, offset, and walkaway seismic lines were abandoned when the downhole seismometer would not clamp in Hole 1245E and the hole continued to collapse.

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