Project Abstract Management and Operations of the Ocean Drilling Program 9308410 Pyle The Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) is an international program of basic research in the marine geosciences supported by the National Science Foundation, a consortium of Canada-Australia, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the European Science Foundation (representing Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey). Drilling operations began in January, 1985, following conversion of a state-of-the-art ocean drilling vessel, the JOIDES RESOLUTION, for scientific ocean drilling. The first 51 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 Weddell 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 Eocene, 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, and Japanese trenches 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 in the southwest 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 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 in the northeast Pacific. Data from these instruments are being recovered using submersibles and remote vehicles. 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 and volcanic continental margins, changes in equatorial circulation and productivity, the composition of the lower oceanic 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. The Ocean Drilling Program is managed through a contract with the Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc. (JOI). JOI has subcontracts with Texas A&M University for management of scientific support and drilling operations aboard the JOIDES RESOLUTION, and with Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory for management of logging operations. Scientific advice and direction for the program are provided to JOI through the international scientific organization, Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling (JOIDES). The long term directions for ODP drilling are established by JOIDES initiated Conferences on Scientific Ocean Drilling (COSOD). The most recent of these international meetings was held in 1987 and was attended by over 350 scientists from 20 nations. Shorter term planning evolves from the JOIDES advisory structure composed of 15 panels and committees with approximately 250 total members. The selection of actual drilling sites is in response to drilling proposals submitted to JOIDES by individuals in the international scientific community. The responsibility of Texas A&M as science operator is to collect cores from beneath the floors of the world's oceans and to assure that adequate scientific facilities are available for the analysis and preservation of these samples. In fulfilling this obligation, Texas A&M: (1) contracts for drilling operations on the JOIDES RESOLUTION; (2) develops operation plans and drilling schedules; (3) staffs the ship with scientific personnel and technicians; (4) maintains shipboard laboratories and equipment; (5) Stores, archives and disseminates samples; (6) publishes the Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program which summarize the scientific results of the program, and (7) develops new drilling and coring technology required to address the scientific program developed by JOIDES. The responsibility of the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory is to supply a full suite of geochemical and geophysical services which involve the acquisition, processing, and dissemination of in situ logging measurements. Routine logging services are performed by Schlumberger Offshore Services. ***
