Scientific Ocean Drilling History

Ocean drilling expeditions, spanning five decades and taking place during successive ocean drilling programmes, have transformed the understanding of our planet.

By giving access to some of Earth’s most challenging environments, they have enabled scientists to be able to collect data and samples of sediment, rock, fluid and living organisms from below the sea floor. These have been used to address some of the most fundamental questions about Earth’s evolution, closing knowledge gaps, and generating new questions and challenges. Technological innovations by scientists and engineers have developed and improved sampling and in-situ measurement and/or monitoring tools that are now widely employed in geosciences, both in academic and industrial sectors.

Long-term borehole observatories have provided data through which generations of researchers can build on the legacy of scientific ocean drilling, collecting new samples and deploying new instruments as technology and ideas evolve. Equally importantly, scientific ocean drilling has fostered enduring international collaboration, trained new generations of students and scientists across scientific disciplines, and engaged the public worldwide in scientific discoveries.

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1940

Advancement in Piston Coring

Advances in piston coring in the 1940s allowed research ships to routinely recover long sediment sections from the seafloor. These ocean bottom sediments, accumulating slowly over geologic time, contain microscopic fossils whose chemistry is a proxy for ancient ocean conditions. Piston coring was used on expeditions such as the worldwide cruise of the Swedish research vessel Albatross to begin studying the rich and varied planetary history captured at the bottom of the world’s oceans.

1961

Project MoHole

In 1961 when dynamic positioning was successfully used to keep the drilling platform CUSS I on target in strong a current, scientific drilling took root as a feasible technology to study Earth’s subseafloor geology. Project Mohole, a concept proposed to the U.S. National Science Foundation, considered the feasibility of drilling through the geological boundary identified by an abrupt change in rock physical parameters (Mohorovičić discontinuity) that marks the transition from thin oceanic crust to the mantle, Earth’s main interior layer.

1966

Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP)

The next phase of scientific ocean drilling, the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP 1966-1983), began in 1966 using the Drilling Vessel Glomar Challenger. This pioneering vessel conducted drilling and coring operations in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans as well as the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The Glomar Challenger also advanced the technology of deep-ocean drilling.

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1983

Ocean Drilling Program (ODP)

In 1985, the JOIDES Resolution replaced the Glomar Challenger at the start of the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP 1983-2003). ODP was truly an international cooperative effort to explore and study the composition and structure of the Earth’s subseafloors. The JOIDES Resolution conducted 110 expeditions for ODP at 2000 drill holes located throughout the world’s ocean basins.

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2003

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP)

The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP 2003-2013) built upon the international partnerships and scientific success of the DSDP and ODP by employing multiple drilling platforms financed by the contributions from 26 participating nations. These platforms - a refurbished JOIDES Resolution, the new marine-riser equipped Japanese Deep Sea Drilling Vessel Chikyu, and specialized Mission Specific Platforms - were used to reach new areas of the global subsurface during 52 expeditions. The IODP 2003-2013 Legacy Document Archive contains reports, minutes, and other documents from the program’s panels and advisory bodies.

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2013

International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP)

Launched in October 2013, the IODP partners continued in their collaboration via the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP 2013-2024). Represented by 21 nations, whose scientists were selected to staff IODP research expeditions throughout the world’s oceans, IODP conducted 55 expeditions, and drilled 697 drill holes across the world’s seafloor. Continuing to utilise the JOIDES Resolution, the Chikyu, and specialised Mission Specific Platforms, IODP made significant contributions to our understanding of Earth’s processes, providing crucial insights into Earth’s past and present, informing future research on climate change, geological hazards, and the potential for life in extreme environments.

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2025

International Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP3)

The International Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP3) will continue to collaborate with global partners to implement the 2050 Science Framework and to push forward ocean research and discovery through offshore ocean expeditions and large scale research projects utilising the ocean drilling archives. Read more about the science, operations, and structure of the current IODP3 throughout this website.