he IICEAC conducts research on the surface geology, aquifer, karsticity, marine platform, coastline processes, geological risks, contamination, etc. Studies include geophysical surveys, drilling and coring, borehole logging and geological mapping in the state of Yucatan, marine platform and Yucatan peninsula.
Projects include marine geophysical surveys in the Chicxulub crater and the Yucatan platform, drilling projects, geophysical surveys, ring of cenotes, Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary, Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum and Cretaceous and Cenozoic paleoclimates.
IODP-ICDP Drilling Expedition 364
The marine drilling project IODP-ICDP Expedition 364 investigated the structure and stratigraphy beneath the peak-ring. The project was developed by an international group of 30 researchers from different institutions, with support from the international Ocean Discovery (IODP) and Continental Drilling (ICDP) projects, the government of Yucatan and the UNAM National University. The M0077A borehole drilled through the post-impact sediments into the impactites and a thick section of basement rocks. The drilling aimed to investigate the formation mechanism of peak-rings and test the mechanisms proposed that involve either rim material transported during the collapse stage or the uplift and lateral transport of deep crustal rocks.
The finding of mid crustal rocks and shallow depths around 700 m deep support the crustal uplift models.