Ocean Drilling Program with 15 Cruises Completed

Philip D. Rabinowitz, Audrey Meyer, Jack Baldauf

The Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) soon commences its campaign of scientific ocean drilling in the Indian Ocean aboard leg 115 of D.V. Sedco/BP 471 (JOIDES Resolution). Many of ODP's scientific and technical objectives have been addressed during our initial 15 cruises (approximately 2.5 years), For example, high-latitude drilling, initiated in the northern polar latitudes in 1985 (leg 104--Norwegian Sea; leg 105--Labrador Sea/Baffin Bay), continued in 1987 in the southern polar latitudes of the Weddell Sea and southern South Atlantic Ocean (legs 113 and 114). Another important thrust requiring a major commitment in engineering development has been in drilling and coring the oceanic crust--in particular, drilling both supported and unsupported holes in zero-age crust in regi ns with little or no sediment cover (legs 106 and 109). The establishment of natural sea-floor laboratories has also been further enhanced by continued operations at former deep DSDP crustal holes (legs 102, 109, and 111). This paper focuses on the operational and scientific successes of the past ODP cruises and identifies areas of future studies in the Indian Ocean as outlined by JOIDES.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91038©1987 AAPG Annual Convention, Los Angeles, California, June 7-10, 1987.