Drilling is an indispensable tool for modern geosciences addressing a large variety of topics from deep-time Earth processes and their interaction with an early atmosphere, to understanding the entire full chain from geohazards to the processes shaping the Earth’s present condition. The benefit of continental scientific drilling for helping us to understand these processes is well documented by the long-running International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP). The main research questions driving the program are shaped by the key themes summarised in the ICDP Science Plan 2020-2030 that include:
- geodynamic processes,
- geohazards,
- georesources and
- environmental change.
Another important future development is the realisation of land-to-sea (L2S) drilling campaigns that include, for example, the holistic assessment of natural hazards, the interplay between fresh and seawater along coastlines, the transition between continental and oceanic crust, ice-sheet dynamics or the formation of sustainable georesources.
The SPP 1006 provides opportunities for cutting-edge research on ICDP drilling data and samples, basic research on core material, development and preparation of scientific drilling projects, pre-site surveys, development and use of ground-breaking drilling devices and logging tools, and innovative experiment techniques for long-term measurements. Proposals submitted under SPP 1006 must have a very clear link to a future, ongoing or past drilling campaign.
Proposals must be written in English and submitted to the DFG by 23 September 2025. Proposals are to be submitted solely via the elan portal in order to ensure proposal-related data is recorded and documents are securely transmitted. If this is the first time you are submitting a proposal to the DFG, please note that you must register in the elan portal before you can submit your proposal. You must do so by 16 September 2025. You will normally receive confirmation of your registration by the next working day.
