Visit to the KTB

As part of the recently started ERC project ICED, Georgina and Lily visited to the KTB borehole, Windinscheschenbach (Bavaria) to collect a range of calibration samples. The KTB borehole was drilled between 1987 and 1995 reaching a depth of 9 km and temperatures of over 300 °C. Because this region has been tectonically stable over 10s of millions of years, these samples have experienced stable temperatures and thus provide an excellent calibration set for thermochronometry. These samples will be used to confirm the performance of the electron spin resonance (ESR) thermochronometry method.

Lily happy amongst the sample cores.
The drill rig used to sample the main KTB borehole (our samples are from the test borehole, which was located nearby).