printable version - European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling

4 509° 27 14 N54° 20 31 WFollowing the foundation of the Deep Sea Drilling Project(DSDP) in 1966, the vessel Glomar Challenger took to theseas for the first time in 1968. The scientific community wasamazed by the first samples from the sub-ocean floor, andthe results of the DSDP research were to change the way inwhich scientists viewed the history of our planet. This pioneeringwork contributed to the discovery that new oceaniccrust is continually building in the middle of the oceans, thatthe Mediterranean Sea once dried out and that Australia andNew Zealand were once joined to the Antarctic.