56 



2. Technological Complexity 



For the marine geologist, the drill is the counterpart of the land 

 geologist's sampling harimer. Sophisticated remote sensing techniques such 

 as multi-channel seismics, acoustic tomography and geopotential satellite 

 missions are still remote: the drill is the only tool which can recover 

 large-volume samples from the deep ocean floor. Data retrieved by drilling 

 provides context for these other data sets and direct proofs for hypothesis 

 testing. To put it another way, drilling results often correct, refine or 

 challenge models established by remote sensing. 



The technological challenge of finding a drill site in 20,000 feet of water 

 has been likened to hitting the mouth of a soda bottle on the sidewalk with 

 a weighted string suspended from the top of the Empire State Building. Add 

 to that the problem of applying enough torque for the drill to penetrate 

 the sediments or hard crustal materials, and to do so gently enough to 

 recover the samples with as little disturbance to the material as possible; 

 then calculate how to do all of this from a platform which is responding to 

 wind, current, and waves, and one begins to understand the technological 

 and engineering component of this program. 



JOIDES RESOLUTION is a state-of-the art commercial vessel. The shipboard 

 laboratories provide capabilities at sea which exceed all but the very 

 finest laboratories ashore. Drill string design and other rig improvements 

 may soon enable scientists to probe critical areas which were out of reach 

 of CHALLENGER: hydrothermal ly-acti ve regions, mid-ocean ridge crests, back 

 arc basins, and the high latitude polar seas. 



3. Global Operation 



The intellectual scope of ocean drilling is inherently global, seeking 

 nothing less than the origins and processes that shape the:,ec^rth .itself . 

 Operationally, too, ocean drilling takes place on the- high seas, all over 

 the world. Originally, these were places claimed by no one and presumed to 

 be without economic significance. Today, with Exclusive Economic Zones 

 extending 200 miles seaward, heightened public environmental concerns, and 

 economic interest in offshore petroleum and seabed mineral deposits, ocean 

 drilling operations have come to have economic and political implications; 

 implications which are sometimes at cross purposes with scientific 

 objectives. 



In particular, as we contemplate the possible future addition of a deep 

 riser capability and blowout preventers to the scientific inventory of the 

 OOP, drilling targets will move nearer to shore, especially into passive 

 margins. There are many compelling scientific questions to be addressed in 

 these regions. But in the margins, economic interests, and thus national 

 and commercial proprietary concerns, must also be considered. The 

 unsuccessful attempt in 1980-31 to establish the Ocean Margin Drilling 

 Program illustrates the dilemma. For industrial interests to be 

 sufficiently motivated to support this costly activity, payoff had to be 

 visible; this tended to translate to proprietary rights: geographic 

 exclusivity and limited access to tools and results. Caught between 

 mutually exclusive national and international objectives, the OMDP could 

 not be sustained. 



