Why deep drilling in the Colônia Basin (Brazil)

Abstract. The Colonia Deep Drilling Project held its first International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) workshop in September 2014 at the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil). Twenty-seven experts from six countries discussed the feasibility and the expectations of a deep drilling in the structure of Colonia located at the southwestern margin of the city of Sao Paulo. After presenting the studies performed at the site during the last decades, participants focused on the objectives, priorities and detailed planning for a full deep-drilling proposal. An excursion to the site and new auger coring showed the importance of the Colonia site for studying the evolution of a tropical rainforest and to evaluate the interplay between the South American summer monsoon, the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the southern Westerlies belt during the last 5 million years. In addition, deep drilling will eventually solve the still unresolved issue of the origin of the structure of Colonia as a result of meteorite impact or endogenous processes.