HGS Guest Night 2006; Associated Article: ODP Drilling Program

About the ODP Drilling Program
We asked Jeff Fox about the history of the Ocean Drilling Program and he referred us to several websites and written summaries of the drilling program. Basically, it all began in 1961, with "Project Mohole" which unsuccessfully attempted to drill to the mantle in 11,700 ft of water with a record 29,860 ft of drill string off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. (reference: Horton, EE, "Preliminary Drilling Phase of Mohole Project 1" AAPG Bulletin 45, no 11, Nov 1961 pages 1789-1992.) The Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) began in 1968, using the Glomar Challenger drillship. The DSDP project is famous for the information it provided on the study of the Gulf of Mexico seafloor. The first mission in August 1968, drilled in Sigsbee Knoll, GOM, and found a shallow salt dome with oil shows, a discovery quickly noted by the oil and gas exploration community.
The DSDP program was originally funded by the U.S., but in 1976, expanded to include scientists from other countries including France, Japan, the Soviet Union, the UK and West Germany. In 1974, on DSDP Leg 39, drilling found core evidence of the Earth’s 24,000 year processional cycle and opened up the study of long term global climate change. Other achievements of DSDP program include the DSDP Leg 60- drilling of the Mariana Trench, Pacific Ocean, in 23,079 ft of water, and recovering a core of gas hydrate of the Coast of Costa Rica in 1982.
 
In 1985, the scientific deep ocean drilling program entered a new technological stage when the Glomar Challenger was replaced by the drillship JOIDES Resolution, and the program was placed inside an multinational organization called managed by JOI (Joint Oceanographic Institutions, composed of 18 U.S. organizations). JOIDES stands for Joint Oceanographic institutions for Deep Earth Sampling. The JOIDES Resolution is a converted oil and gas drillship that has seven floors of onboard laboratories to sample and examine and test deep sea cores. The drillship can house up to 50 scientists and 65 crew members. The Resolution both stores cores and contains geophysical equipment that studies the earth’s magnetic record, and seafloor topography.
The 20-plus year-old JOIDES Resolution ship was upgraded in 2003, and is still undergoing renovations to upgrade its capabilities and enable it to continue coring until about 2013. The next step in the IODP drilling program is the introduction of a new drillship, the Japanese ship Chikyu, which will be flexible enough to drill in 13,000 ft using a riser, and 39,000 ft of water without using a riser (see explanation below). The Chikyu could start operations in a few years, but is not ready for expeditions now. One area of research the Japanese vessel will concentrate on is seismically active zones. The program will place permanent monitors to track tilt, strain, and stress in Pacific earthquake zones. Key nations that support the research include Japan, Australia, Canada, Korea, and European nations including France, Germany, the UK and Iceland. Fox said in an interview that more nations want to enter the scientific alliance: particularly India, Brazil, and Russia. There are a few areas of the world the IODP would like to expand coring programs, like the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, S. Vietnam, Philippines and the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, but political problems have intervened.