UKSBSPR18074 - Antarctic Offshore Drilling Project

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CLOSING DATE FOR SUBMISSION OF BIDS IS 13th JUNE 2018 14:00PM (GMT) PLEASE DONT CONTACT THE BUYER DIRECTLY MAXIMUM BUDGET FOR PROJECT IS $9,750,000 (USD) Client requires a marine drilling and coring capability and suitable vessel to operate offshore for a drilling and coring campaign in Antarctica for up to a 2 months period between mid-December to mid-February 2019 or 2020. The client is particularly interested in using seabed drilling technology, although other options will be considered. Along the George V and Adélie Land (GVAL) shelf of Antarctica, shallowly-buried strata contain a record of Antarctica's climate and ice history, from the lush forests of the Eocene greenhouse to the dynamic ice sheet margins of the Neogene. The main objective of this Expedition is to obtain a detailed stratigraphy from key intervals above and below regional erosional and downlap surfaces to date and characterize major episodes of ice sheet advance and retreat. To achieve these scientific goals, multiple short boreholes, utilising the offset continuous coring technique will be employed. The boreholes are located along a slope transect inside the Mertz Polynya, starting in deep water 1070m closest to the ice edge, shallowing to 500m further offshore