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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.

4 GSA Today | March-April 2019