Preliminary results from the ICDP - DIVE project: Hole DT-1b (Ornavasso, Italy)

We report preliminary results from drill cores and logging from the ICDP Drilling the Ivrea-Verbano zonE (DIVE) project, Hole DT-1b in Ornavasso (Val d’Ossola, northern Italy). Characterized by pronounced geophysical anomalies, the exposed Ivrea-Verbano Zone in the Italian Alps represents an archetypal lower continental crust section. The first phase of DIVE is dedicated to the drilling and the petrological and geophysical characterization of the lowermost continental crust. Specifically, Hole DT-1b was set in the in the hinge zone of the Massone Antiform to explore the pre-Permian lithologies of the lower continental crust. Hole DT-1b was drilled using the diamond double tube continuous wireline coring method, from October 6 to December 10, 2022, and the retrieved rock cores were inspected and classified by the DIVE drilling project science team. Core recovery was effectively 100% throughout the entire drill hole. In total, 578m of the upper part of the lower continental crust in the Ivrea-Verbano Zone were drilled and cored.

Here we summarize on site visual core descriptions and preliminary geophysical logging and microbiological investigations. The cores mostly consist of amphibolites and garnet-bearing metapelites with variable presence of migmatitic structures, and with local high and low temperature shear zones, pegmatitic dikes, and open fractures.

Continuous monitoring of borehole fluids and gases (OLGA and miniRuedi devices, see EGU abstract by Dutoit and coworkers), and a suite of borehole logging measurements (see abstract by Li, Greenwood, Caspari and coworkers) were performed. They match very well the core logs performed on site (magnetic susceptibility and natural gamma radiation). The most prominent, directly observable deformation feature was a high-temperature foliation, with a dip angle between 30 and 60° in the upper part of the hole, becoming increasingly steeper in the deeper part.

Along the entire drill hole fractures and open cracks were observed, some of them filled with precipitates of quartz, carbonates, sulphides and oxides. These fractures are potentially promising hosts for microbial communities and are currently under investigation. Additional samples for microbiological studies were taken every 20m from the drill cores and are currently cultivated for further investigations.

Hole DT-1b provides detailed insights into the compositional, structural and geophysical variation of metasedimentary continental lower crust, including the distribution of sulphides. Relamination of metamorphic pelitic and mafic rocks may produce an important reservoir of sulphur bearing minerals in the lower continental crust. Further results emerging between abstract submission and the conference will be presented.