2008 January 24 (Day 37)
Weather: Fine but Cloudy
Site: C0007 (NT1-03A) (33°01’ N, 136°47’ E)

Following three coring runs with 0 to <1% recovery under a wide array of drilling/coring parameters, we ran the deplugger to try to maximize the chances of recovering material. Drilling and coring parameters indicated extremely fast rates of penetration under almost no weight on bit and very low pump rates. Minor amounts of recovered material in the last two cores suggested that the formation was very sandy and unconsolidated, and based on this information, seismic and nearby LWD data suggesting a thick package of sand in the lower section of this site, plus the increasingly poor hole conditions, we decided to stop coring in this hole. We are currently attempting to find fossil age markers in material from the deepest cores.