Ocean Drilling Program Hole 910D was drilled on the crest of the southern
Yermak Plateau at 80°15.881'N, 6°65.424'E, in 567.7 m water depth.
This hole consists of three cores recovered with the advanced hydraulic piston corer (APC) and
15 cores recovered with the extended core barrel (XCB), penetrating to a total depth of 160.6
meters below sea floor (MBSF). Three earlier holes were drilled at this site, but two of them
(Holes 910A and 910B) failed to penetrate through a stiff horizon at about 20-24 mbsf, and a
third hole (Hole 910C), drilled using the rotary core barrel (RCB), yielded poor core recovery in
the upper 200 mbsf.
As a first step in the study of individual core sections from Hole 910D,
non-destructive, whole-core X-ray examinations were performed at the Atlantic Geoscience
Center of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. Using a
high-resolution video monitor, X-ray images of almost 96 m of core were visually examined and
described; these X-ray images were simultaneously recorded on video tape for further digital
processing and interpretation.
Videotaped X-ray images of the Hole 910D core sections have been used to
identify the relative position and size of individual clasts (>2 mm in diameter) and coarse
sand layers, and to identify extensively bioturbated intervals, represented by burrow traces in these
cores. Solid particles >2 mm in diameter, were counted for successive 10-cm intervals of
core using the video X-ray images. The X-ray images provide ground truth" for making
comparisons with other nondestructive measurements made on these cores using sensors mounted
on the multisensor track (MST), and for identifying changes in depositional environments at this
site.
Date of initial receipt: 6 July 1995
Date of acceptance: 5 February 1996
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