9320477 Pyle The Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) is an international program of basic research in the marine geosciences supported by the National Science Foundation, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, a consortium of Canada and Australia, and the European Science Foundation (representing Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey). Scientific drilling operations began in 1985, following conversion of a state-of-the-art commercial drilling vessel, the SEDCO/BP 471, for scientific drilling. Renamed the JOIDES Resolution, the vessel carries fifty scientists, students, and technicians from the member countries on each of its two-month cruise legs. The Resolution is a unique international resource, representing the only scientific facility capable of coring sedimentary and crustal material in the world's oceans. Additionally, the ODP has developed a geochemical and geophysical logging capability which is unsurpassed in industry or academia. The ODP is managed through a contract between NSF and the Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc. (JOI). JOI has subcontracts with Texas A&M University for management of scientific support and drillship operations, and with Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University for management of the logging program. The first 52 legs of the program have examined the history of global climate change in the equatorial and polar regions, the early stages of continental rifting, fluid flow in sediments of active margins, and the composition and alteration of the oceanic crust. Sediment samples cored from the Norwegian Sea, eastern equatorial Atlantic, and Wedell Sea record synchronous change to glacial conditions approximately 3 million years ago which marked the beginning of northern hemisphere glaciation. Drilling on the Antarctic margin has traced the history of continental glaciation back to at least the early Oligocene and possibly late Eocen e, 42 million years ago. Drilling results in the northwest Indian Ocean are being used to correlate the initiation of monsoon circulation with uplift of the Himalayas. Seismic reflection records from rifted continental margins often record parallel, dipping reflectors. ODP drilling on the Norwegian margin has shown that these reflectors are basalt flows that form during continental rifting and gradually change in chemistry from continental to oceanic as rifting proceeds. Drilling along the Antilles, Peruvian, Japanese trenches, as well as the Cascadia margin off Canada and Oregon, has documented the importance of fluid transport to the deformation and alteration of margin sediments. New ODP developments in drilling and instrument technology have allowed coring of unsedimented oceanic crust. A 500-meter core into the lower oceanic crust of the Indian Ocean records the successive formation and solidification of magma chambers along the Indian Ocean spreading center. A major surprise was the high magnetization of these lower crustal rocks, which is at odds with existing models for the formation of sea-floor magnetic anomalies. In the eastern equatorial Pacific ODP has initiated attempts to use mining drilling techniques to drill young ocean floor. Although the initial drilling results were disappointing, development of this new technology for ocean drilling will be continued. Deployment of down-hole instrument packages for long-term measurement of crustal conditions and processes are an important new objective of the program. In recent years, close collaboration with Global Seismic Network planning has lead to initial deployment of long-period, digital seismometers in ODP boreholes. Temperature and pressure sensors have been deployed in holes drilled into an active hydrothermal system on the Juan de Fuca Ridge and a modern accretionary wedge on the Cascadia Margin in the Northeast Pacific. Data from these instruments are being recovered using submersib les and remote vehicles. Additional experiments will be deployed in boreholes drilled in the Atlantic Ocean in 1994. The Ocean Drilling Program began a four year drilling program in the Atlantic Ocean in early 1993. The major scientific problems to be addressed during this period include oceanographic and climate change of the Arctic during the Neogene, the formation of rifted continental margins, changes in equatorial circulation and productivity, the composition of the lower crust, the history of sea-level fluctuations during non-glacial periods of the Tertiary, and the formation of metal-rich sulfide deposits along the Mid- Atlantic Ridge. Although drilling operations are supported by the six members of the ODP, each member country independently provides support for the research efforts of its scientists participating in the program. This award will continue support to the Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc. to provide a number of services in support of the U.S. Scientific community involved in the ODP. These activities include: (1) Planning activities to refine the major long-range objectives of the ODP and develop the optimal drilling strategies needed to achieve these objectives. These activities include support for workshops, U.S. participation in JOIDES (Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling) panels and committees, and U.S. participation in international conferences on scientific ocean drilling. (2) Small contracts in support of site augmentation and data syntheses. This provides support for the participation of U.S. scientists on non-U.S. site surveys and site specific science on ships of opportunity. (3) Educational programs that target students at all levels: particularly a strong graduate fellowship program that encourages PhD candidates to conduct research related to ODP and encourages their participation on drilling legs. (4) Initial operati onal support for a wireline re-entry system, developed by the program enabling scientists to use DSDP and ODP boreholes for downhole experiments after the drillship has left the area. (5) Support for U.S. scientists participating on the shipboard scientific team and for necessary follow-up studies related to publication of the Initial Report for each drill leg. (6) Support the dissemination of ODP results. This includes symposia enabling scientists to discuss ODP drilling results and to publish symposia results volumes. (7) Support for the administration required by the U.S. Science Support Program, including a national advisory committee to provide guidance and focus for U.S. science activities associated with ODP. ***
