11 OCTOBER 2026 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Fresh Water Under the Sea Adapted from Information by the British Geological Survey A science team has directly documented and extensively sampled a freshened water system beneath the ocean floor off the coast of New England in the USA. This major breakthrough comes from the first analyses of sediment cores recovered during a joint collaboration between the International Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP3) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Expedition 501 (See Exploring Beneath the Ocean for Potential Aquifers in the August 2025 issue of WorldWide Drilling Resource®). The cores retrieved during offshore operations between May and August of last year were sent to Bremen Core Repository at the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences of the University of Bremen in Germany (MARUM). “We greatly appreciate being able to conduct this advanced research at MARUM, supported by its world-class laboratories, exceptional facilities, and dedicated staff,” said Cochief Scientists Professor Brandon Dugan of Colorado School of Mines, in the USA With just over 2860 feet of core, taken from deep below the seafloor, it is now being analyzed and sampled by the science team. The expedition’s scientists teamed up during January and February of this year to uncover new insights into the formation, evolution, and significance of this newly documented, sub-seabed, freshwater system. The vision of this venture went beyond just collecting sediment cores. Scientists also sampled water stored within the sediments, from sandy layers acting as aquifers, to clay layers known as aquitards that keep the water in place beneath the seafloor. Although roughly 70% of the surface of earth is covered by water, large volumes of water are belowground. During the expedition, the science team successfully documented and sampled freshened water within a zone about 650 feet thick below the seafloor. Many coastal communities depend on land-based aquifers for their freshwater supply. In many parts of the world, the aquifers continue offshore and contain zones of “freshened” water beneath the ocean floor. Scientists have known these offshore systems existed since 1976, but they have remained unexplored until now. The methods used during IODP3 and NSF Expedition 501 expanded the understanding of offshore freshened groundwater systems; not only just off the coast of New England, but for similar hidden water aquifers around the world. The expedition’s initial findings are highly relevant due to many coastal communities being dependant on groundwater for their freshwater supply. The cores recovered during the expedition will be archived and made accessible for further scientific research to the scientific community after a one-year moratorium period. All expedition data will be open access in the IODP3 Mission Specific Platform “MSP” data portal in PANGAEA, and resulting outcomes will be published. With the Munsell Soil Color Chart, the cores are described visually, as accurately as possible, in color and structure. Credit: Diekamp@ECORD_IODP3_NSF.
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