--> ABSTRACT: Scientific Exploration of the Pacific Basins by the Ocean Drilling Program, by A. W. Meyer, J. G. Baldauf, A. T. Fisher, L. E. Garrison, T. R. Janecek, P. D. Rabinowitz; #90097 (1990).

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ABSTRACT: Scientific Exploration of the Pacific Basins by the Ocean Drilling Program

A. W. Meyer, J. G. Baldauf, A. T. Fisher, L. E. Garrison, T. R. Janecek, P. D. Rabinowitz

The Ocean Drilling Program has recently completed five cruises in the western Pacific to investigate the Southeast Asia basins (Leg 124), Bonin-Mariana Arc-Trench (Legs 125-126), and Japan Sea (Legs 127-128). Overall goals of the program were to determine the stratigraphic history of the basins in these regions with implications for both tectonic and paleoceanographic events. Specific tectonic goals include documenting the history of the forearc terranes, the timing, process, and products of rifting, and the development and composition of backarc environments. Specific paleoceanographic objectives include documenting variations in the rate of surface productivity, the origin of deep, intermediate, and surface water masses, and oceanographic response to the above noted tec onic events.

Scientific exploration of the western Pacific will continue with seven cruises currently scheduled to investigate the old Pacific Crust (Leg 129), Ontong Java Plateau (Leg 130), Nankai Trough (Leg 131), Northeast Australia (Leg 133), Vanuatu (Leg 134), and Lau basin (Leg 135). In addition, one cruise (Leg 132) is scheduled to provide time for engineering development. Scientific drilling in these regions will include both paleoceanographic and tectonic objectives. Paleoceanographic objectives include documenting the history of the Mesozoic Superocean; the high-resolution history of the post-Eocene oceans; and the sedimentary response to global sea-level changes. Tectonic objectives include documenting the deformational process that affects accretionary prisms in zones of subduction; in estigating crustal generation and the composition of basement, and determining the tectonic history of these regions including the time transgressive character of basin opening and its relationship to magmatic evolution and the vertical tectonic history.

Following drilling in the western Pacific region, preliminary plans are currently being developed for the Ocean Drilling Program to explore the eastern Pacific margins.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90097©1990 Fifth Circum-Pacific Energy and Mineral Resources Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 29-August 3, 1990