056 HowIt Works http://www.howitworksdaily.com
SCIENCE
Thismobilelaboratoryis designedto
spendmonthsatsea
Anatomy of a
scientific drillship
©I
ustrat
on
by
Adr
an
Mann
Thederrickis thetallestpartoftheship
©Getty
©Ar
ito
Saka
guchi
&IODP
/TAM
U
The JR requires calm seas in order to drill
down for sediment samples
It takes 65 crew
members and up to
50 scientists to run
© Alamy each expedition
AR ZONE!
SCAN HERE
AR ZONE!
Derrick
A 62-metre
towerholdsthe
machinerythat
raisesand
lowersthedrill.
Coredeck
Sedimentcoresgotothecore
deckforprocessing.They’re
sampled,photographedand
recordedhere.
Helideck
A helicopterpadatthe
backoftheshipallows
peopletocomeandgo
whiletheJRis atsea.
Holddeck
Thecrewkeepfood
suppliesin coldstorage
in theholddeckatthe
bottomoftheship.
Moonpool
A seven-metrehole
opensintothesea
underthederrick,
allowingthedrillstring
todropthrough.
Drillstring
Thisstringof
hollowmetalpipes
sendsa powered
drillbitintothe
oceanfloor.
Fo’c’s’ledeck
Fo’c’s’leis shortfor
‘forecastle’.It’sunderthe
coredeckandcontains
chemistry,microbiology,
palaeontologyand
x-raylabs.