Iceland:

New Proposed Drilling at Surtsey Volcano Includes Geothermal Exploration (EOS)

Surtsey (Courtesy Sigurdur Thrainsson/UNESCO)

Surtsey, an isolated oceanic island and a World Heritage Site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, is a uniquely well-documented natural laboratory for investigating processes of rift zone volcanism, hydrothermal alteration of basaltic tephra, and biological colonization and succession in surface and subsurface pyroclastic deposits. Deposits from Surtsey’s eruptions from 1963 to 1967 were first explored via a 181-meter hole drilled in 1979 by the U.S. Geological Survey and Icelandic Museum of Natural History.

A workshop convened on Heimaey Island, Iceland, developed the scientific rationale and logistical strategies for a forthcoming proposal to fund a new drilling program at Surtsey. Twenty-four scientists from 10 countries, including representatives from the Surtsey Research Society and the Environment Agency of Iceland, attended the Surtsey Underwater Volcanic System for Thermophiles, Alteration Processes and Innovative Concretes (SUSTAIN) drilling program workshop, funded by the International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP). The collaborative investigations proposed by SUSTAIN’s scientific team focus on three ICDP research themes: volcanic systems and geothermal regimes, the geobiosphere, and natural resources—­as applied to environmentally sustainable pyroclastic rock concretes.

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