Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project - Volume 76

This volume covers Leg 76 of the cruises of the Drilling Vessel Glomar Challenger. The drilling capacity of the Glomar Challenger and the perfected reentry technique permit drilling at more modest yet-still demanding sites, such as Site 534 on Leg 76, in attempts to further our knowledge of the older stratigraphy of the western North Atlantic Ocean and eastern North American continental margin. This was one of the prime objectives of Leg 76, that is, the penetration through Horizon D to the basement as far landward in the Jurassic magnetic quiet zone as possible. A second important objective was drilling into and testing with the pressure core barrel (PCB) the gas hydrates thought to exist on the Blake Outer Ridge. To address these two rather different, broad objectives, two sites were drilled on Leg 76: Site 533 on the Blake Outer Ridge and Site 534 in the Blake-Bahama Basin. Glomar Challenger departed from Norfolk, Virginia in October 1980 and Leg 76 ended in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in December 1980.