After a few difficult days with several attempts to drill and recover the sediments of the clay pan PAG, the team reached 41m with full recovery. The tough environment and sediments brought some major difficulties with it. The drill team changed from sonic-drilling to conventional drilling. A thick cemented tephra layer at 31m stopped the first drill hole.

A second attempt, however, was successful and was drilled through this tephra. The team reached yesterday 41m and will continue to gain the whole sediment sequence of this closed basin, approximately up to 60-70m.

Full-working drill rig of SUPEREX Photo: Damián López		Arrival of the drill convoy to the clay pan through difficult terrain Photo: Damián López
Operating drill-rig		A hangar tent was installed with a second smaller tent inside for core handling. This is necessary, as the retrieved sediment cores were packed into black foil under infrared light to allow dating via OSL.