Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project - Volume 1

This volume covers Leg 1 of the cruises of the Drilling Vessel Glomar Challenger. The Glomar Challenger departed Orange, Texas, on July 20, 1968, completed acceptance trials on August 11, 1968, and concluded the work of Leg 1 in Hoboken, New Jersey, on September 23, 1968. During this campaign, eleven holes were drilled at seven different sites. As a result of the pioneering character of this work, many new records for drilling in deep water from a dynamically positioned vessel were established. These include: drilling in a water depth of 5,354 meters (17,567 feet), use of a drill pipe length of 5,650 meters (18,523 feet), and penetration beneath the sea floor of 770 meters (2,528 feet). Scientific achievements of Leg 1 include the recovery of the oldest rocks (uppermost Jurassic) yet found in the deep ocean, discovery of petroleum and typical salt dome cap rock in the deep ocean, and demonstration of the important role of turbidites and radiolarian chert and hard limestone strata in deep-sea sedimentary deposits.