KEMS-112 electromechanical ice core drill

Design of the KEMS-112 electromechanical ice core drill (Russian abbreviation of core electromechanical drill, number 112 means final hole diameter) and results of drilling, bore-hole and core study, carried out on Vavilov Glacier, Severnaya Zemlya, and at Vostok Station, East Antarctica, are described. Characteristics data and description of the KEMS-112 drill suspended on cable and the surface technical devices are given. In 1984,1986 and 1988, the KEMS-112 drill was used for core drilling on Vavilov Glacier up to the depths of 89,152 and 461m. The last bore-hole reached the bed of the glacier and pierced subglacial frozen rocks to the depth of 2.3m. In 1989 at Vostok Station a deep bore-hole, drilled by a thermal drill, was deepened by the KEMS-112 drill from the depth of 2428m up to 2546m.