THE BEGINNING OF SCIENTIFIC OCEAN DRILLING (SOD): MOHOLE, CUSS I AND THE GLOMAR CHALLENGER

Like many outstanding ideas in science, defining the need for a drilling program to provide data to understand Earth’s evolution, was a long-term process. Early proponents included Charles Darwin (atolls), G.K. Gilbert (Georgia, heat flow) and T.A. Jaggar (holes in the oceans). Scientific Ocean Drilling (SOD) as we know it today, originated during the International Geophysical Year (IGY), and with the American Miscellaneous Society (AMSOC), AMSOC an organization of geoscientists, founded by Harry Hess (Princeton University) included men in key positions at the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the USGS, oceanographic institutions and oil companies. The original plan was to drill a deep hole to sample the Earth’s mantle below a zone of seismic velocity change, i.e., the Moho: project Mohole.

Many technological innovations were necessary for such a project: a drilling platform that could hold station in deep water (dynamic positioning), a way to retrieve cores through drill pipe so that the drill pipe could stay in the hole, and a drill bit that could operate for days, even weeks. The first drilling was accomplished in 1961 with the barge CUSS-I. Despite initial success, the program was abandoned in 1966 due to organizational complications and lack of funding.

A different project to drill multiple cores (LOng COres), spearheaded by Cesare Emiliani (University of Miami) and Maurice Ewing (LDO, now Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, LDEO) gained support. In 1964, 5 U.S. oceanographic institutions (LDEO, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), University of Miami, University of Washington &Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) established JOIDES (Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling). In 1965, 14 holes were cored in the Atlantic Ocean using dynamic positioning. The value of multiple holes throughout the ocean basins was established. In 1967, Global Marine was contracted to design a ship for the purpose of scientific ocean drilling, with SIO as the prime contractor of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP), using the Drilling Vessel Glomar Challenger.

The research and program continue as the International Ocean Discovery Program with the drilling vessel, JOIDES Resolution. Cores recovered via this effort have fundamentally changed and continue to change our understanding of Earth processes.