20 AUGUST 2025 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Exploring Beneath the Ocean for Potential Aquifers Adapted from Information by the Colorado School of Mines In the 1960s, scientists were quite baffled when data indicated fresh, or freshened, water was located under the ocean floor. Scientists have since been trying to figure out how it got there and just how long it’s been there. Recently, an international team of scientists decided to take a closer look at the fresh water beneath the ocean floor and take samples. Brandon Dugan, Professor and Associate Department Head of Geophysics at Colorado School of Mines, and Karen Johannesson, Professor of Geochemistry at the University of Massachusetts Boston, are leading the international expedition. “We have anecdotal evidence of offshore freshened groundwater from samples and marine geophysical surveys. We have used this evidence to develop hypotheses on timing and mechanism of emplacement,” said Dugan, a Hydrogeologist. “It is exciting to use established scientific ocean drilling approaches with modern data analyses to provide direct tests of our hypotheses. Overall, this work offshore New England will help us better understand offshore freshened groundwater around the world.” Even though the existence of these waters has been known for decades, they remain virtually unexplored. Teams are planning to conduct groundbreaking research during this exploration mission. The project is a collaboration between the International Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP³) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). For the first time, scientists will take water and sediment samples from beneath the ocean on the New England Shelf with the intention of understanding and exploring the offshore aquifer system. One of the key priorities is to gain more knowledge about the origin of freshened groundwater in offshore aquifers so they can confirm or dismiss existing hypotheses. For example, one theory is the water could have charged the aquifers when sea levels were lower than it is today. Another idea is it was possibly created under an ice sheet or proglacial lake during a glacial period like the ones that existed approximately 450,000 and again around 20,000 years ago. “To date, we know very little about the dynamics of these shoreline-crossing groundwater systems and the age of the water in these systems, and even less about their influence on cycling of nutrients and trace elements and their isotopes,” said Johannesson. A special platform consisting of the liftboat L/B Robert, equipped with a small drilling rig, is being used to access the sediments below the ocean floor at up to three locations on the New England Shelf offshore from the coast of Massachusetts. Sediment cores and water samples will be taken at a maximum depth of around 1800 feet below the ocean floor and will be examined by researchers from various disciplines across the international scientific community. More than 40 science members from 13 nations will take part in the exploration project. Once the samples are collected, the science team will meet at the Bremen Core Repository at MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen in Germany, in January 2026. The team will split, sample, and analyze the sediment cores and interpret the data collected. The cores will then be archived and after a one-year moratorium period, they will be accessible for additional research by the scientific community. Meanwhile, all expedition data will be open access and the resulting outcomes will be published. Science and European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling Science Operator Team. Photo courtesy of Everest@ECORD_IODP3_NSF. EXB WTR
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