Scientists Drill Into Clear Lake to See Future
“We know that climate change is happening now” said Cindy Looy, a UC Berkeley plant pathologist who oversees the drilling project team. “By understanding how it affected plant life long ago, when changes were even stronger, we’ll be better able to predict the future.”
Looy’s drillers have been working for a week, and from a platform on Clear Lake’s upper arm they have pulled up 500 feet of 3-inch coring, which they are cutting into 10-foot chunks. The drilling will stop Sunday at 650 feet, a depth that will yield evidence of 130,000 years of life in the region, Looy said. Then a duplicate core will be drilled nearby a few days later so comparisons can be made.
UC Berkeley scientists are drilling into some of the world’s oldest sediment deposits in Clear Lake in Lake County in hopes of learning how plants and animals respond to climate change. Photo: Erik Castro
There go those pesky scientists again, proving once again the Earth has been around a very long time.