GRIND (Geological Research through Integrated Neoproterozoic Drilling) is an interdisciplinary, international collaboration of researchers whose overarching goal is to create deep understanding of one of the most pivotal intervals in Earth history. We are supported by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) and our aim is to acquire an archive of fresh drill core from key Neoproterozoic successions worldwide. The first phase of GRIND is focused on the Ediacaran-Cambrian Transition (GRIND-ECT) in Namibia, Brazil and China.
Our guiding principle is the open exchange of information and ideas in an environment that provides scientists, especially early career researchers, the ability to do their work without concerns about competition. As such, scientists working within GRIND commit to:
- coordinating their research plan with the Central Science Team and Science Theme leaders;
- making their data and findings freely available to all workers associated with GRIND’s projects and, after a three-year period, with the broader scientific community; and
- engaging in timely and open discussion about their research with all participating scientists.
We want to see the widest possible range of techniques and approaches brought to bear on the cores and welcome all researchers and research groups to apply to GRIND. Our Central Science Team and Science Theme leaders will work with participating Science Team Members (STM) to ensure development of coordinated and complementary research plans. Scientists interested in becoming a participating STM with access to the cores and samples during the initial three-year moratorium period afforded to each drilling project are asked to raise funding through independent efforts for their own scientific analyses and a portion of the drilling costs. Following the moratorium, both the data and core materials will be available to the broader scientific community. The Central Science Team will work to ensure that a portion of the core will be archived in perpetuity in both the host country and at the Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR, German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources) in Berlin-Spandau, Germany.
During the initial three-year moratorium, data are available to the STM. Data and sample management are critical to the success of GRIND and all underpinning baseline information about the cores is curated through ICDP’s Drilling Information System (DIS). Sample usage must be specified (type of analysis, destructive, non-destructive, thin section, etc.) and only used by the STM as specified in the specific sample request form; all materials not consumed in the analyses must be returned at the end of your project period. At the end of the moratorium, GRIND data will become freely accessible to the worldwide Earth Science community. The moratorium period will begin at the date of the sampling party, which will occur after the cores have been characterised at the BGR core facility in Germany.
For more information, and to express interest in working with samples from GRIND-ECT cores, please complete the GRIND-ECT Expression of Interest form.
Geological Research through Integrated Neoproterozoic Drilling 