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Holes in the Bottom of the Sea:

                        History, Revolutions, and Future Opportunities






          Suzanne OConnell, Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut 06459, USA,
          soconnell@wesleyan.edu


          ABSTRACT                           about plate tectonics, ocean chemistry,   (Scripps Institution of Oceanography
            No other international scientific col-  evolution, life in harsh environments,    [SIO]) and Harry Hess (Princeton
          laboration has contributed as much to our   and climate change.       University), both AMSOC members,
          knowledge of Earth processes as scientific   Scientists from across the world have   proposed to drill a deep hole to sample
          ocean drilling (SOD). These contributions   benefited from and contributed to the pro-  Earth’s mantle below a zone of seismic
          include geophysical surveys, core sam-  gram. Geophysical site survey data, cores,   velocity change, the Mohorovicic
          ples, borehole well logs, and sub-seafloor   and associated information are available to   Discontinuity (Moho): “Project Mohole.”
          observatories. After more than half a    the global scientific community to study   The National Science Foundation (NSF)
          century, involving thousands of scientists   and sample. More than 1000 international   may have been in favor of the project,
          from around the world, SOD has been   scientists, ranging in age from early career   because the 1957 International Union of
          instrumental in developing three geosci-  to retired, are proponents on active propos-  Geodesy and Geophysics Resolution 11
          ence revolutions: (1) plate tectonics,    als for upcoming drilling.  recommended that the Moho be drilled.
          (2) paleoceanography, and (3) the deep   This article, by no means comprehen-  The Soviet Union said they had the equip-
          marine biosphere. Without SOD, it is   sive, highlights parts of the history and a   ment and were looking for a place to drill
          unlikely that our current understanding    few major discoveries of SOD. More    (Bascom, 1961). They had just launched
          of Earth processes could have developed.   complete histories are available in Ocean   the Sputnik satellite. Their technological
          Building upon prior scientific results,    Drilling: Accomplishments and Challenges   advance alarmed many Americans
          the current science plan is guided by four   (National Research Council, 2011), Earth   and spurred investment in U.S. science
          interlinked themes: Planetary Dynamics,   and Life Processes Discovered from   and technology.
          Climate and Ocean Change, Biosphere   Subseafloor Environments: A Decade of   Despite the difficulties of SOD,
          Frontiers, and Earth in Motion. SOD has   Science Achieved by the Integrated Ocean   AMSOC, with NSF funding, took on the
          also been a leader in international collabo-  Drilling Program (IODP) (Stein et al.,   challenge. Many technological improve-
          rations and the open sharing of samples,   2014), and Koppers et al. (2019). GSA Data   ments were necessary for such a project:
          data, and information. Results from SOD   Repository Table S1 (see footnote 1)    a drilling platform that could hold station
          expeditions are open access and available   provides URLs to detailed, preliminary   in deep water and under different wave
          online. Almost 2.5 million samples have   information for all SOD expeditions and   and wind conditions (dynamic position-
          been taken from over 360 km of core   legs, including co-chief scientists, sites   ing), a way to retrieve cores through drill
          located in three repositories. Today about   cored, and year.         pipe so that the drill pipe could stay in
          half the members of scientific teams,                                 place, and a sturdy drill bit that could
          including co-chief scientists, are women.   HISTORY                   operate for days, even weeks. The first
          This program is needed in the future for                              drilling was accomplished in 1961 with the
          geoscientists to continue exploring our   Pre-JOIDES (Joint Oceanographic   barge, CUSS I (Continental, Union, Shell,
          planet to understand how it functions and   Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling)  and Superior). Unfortunately, after a prom-
          to create predictive models.         SOD may be said to have originated   ising start, organizational difficulties, and
                                             with the International Geophysical Year   loss of political support, Project Mohole,
          INTRODUCTION                       (1957–1958), and an organization with the   deemed too expensive, was abandoned in
            Scientific ocean drilling (SOD) cele-  unlikely name American Miscellaneous   1966 (Hsü, 1992).
          brated its 50th birthday in 2018. As of   Society (AMSOC). AMSOC included men
          December 2018, 283 expeditions (formerly   at pivotal positions at oceanographic insti-  The Glomar Challenger
          called legs) have been completed and   tutions, oil companies, the Office of Naval   Not everyone agreed that drilling a
          >1600 sites have been drilled (see Fig. S1   Research, and the United States Geological   single deep hole in igneous rock was the
          in the GSA Data Repository ). These sites   Survey. Bascom (1961) provides details   best initial SOD research objective. In
                               1
          represent <0.0005% of the ocean floor,    about AMSOC and the development of   1962, Cesare Emiliani (University of
          yet have provided essential information   their discussions about SOD. Walter Munk   Miami) proposed that a drilling vessel be


          GSA Today, v. 29, https://doi.org/10.1130/GSATG380A.1. Copyright 2019, The Geological Society of America. CC-BY-NC.
          1  GSA Data Repository item 2019051, Table S1 and Figures S1–S7, is available online at www.geosociety.org/datarepository/2019.

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