Ocean Margin Drilling - A Scientific Challenge for the 1980´s

Scientific ocean drilling worldwide over the past 12 yrs. has led to major advances in our knowledge of the geology of the deep sea floor, and has demonstrated the validity of the theory of plate tectonics. Although plate tectonics provides a valuable descriptive framework for understanding the evolution of the earth over the past 200 million years, however, many important questions remain unanswered. These focus around the themes of processes occurring at plate boundaries, the evolution of the ocean environment, and the relationship between continental and oceanic crust. The Ocean Margin Drilling Program (OMDP) represents a cooperative effort by industry, academic and government scientists to investigate these topics. The scientific objectives of OMDP may be conveniently grouped under the headings of passive and active ocean margins, ocean crust, and ocean paleoenvironment. They will be addressed by a comprehensive program involving regional marine geological and geophysical studies, drilling and coring, and subsequent downhole experiments.