skip navigation link

Sedimentology, Physical Properties, and Geochemistry in the
Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project
Volumes 1-44: An Overview

edited by G. Ross Heath

WDC-A for MGG Report MGG-1

published by the National Geophysical Data Center (now the National Centers for Environmental Information)

Report MGG-1 draws together and presents, as an organized body of knowledge, an overview of laboratory techniques, methodology, definitions, and assumptions used to derive the sedimentological results presented in Volumes 1-44 of the Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. It should prove to be an extremely valuable reference volume for anyone who draws upon the vast resource of sedimentological data contained in the DSDP volumes.

A mass of information about deep-ocean sediments and sedimentary rocks is contained in the Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. Lithology, classification, biostratigraphy, sedimentation rates, mineralogy, magnetic properties, small-scale structures, shear strength, elastic properties, electrical properties, chemistry of mineral grains, organic content, interstitial water chemistry, stable isotope data -- these are only some of the types of information which have been compiled and presented in DSDP Volumes 1-44. Full utilization of the collected DSDP sediment data and evaluation of their accuracy and reliability depends, in many cases, on knowing what analytical tools and techniques, classification schemes, nomenclature, and underlying assumptions were employed in deriving the sedimentological information.

Fourteen articles authored by 18 contributors (listed below) make up the volume, edited by G. Ross Heath.

The entire report contains 236 pages, including 64 illustrations and 33 tables. It is the first in a series of reports being published for World Data Service for Geophysics, Boulder, by the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) (now the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)). This report was assembled by the Deep Sea Drilling Project staff and provided to World Data Service for Geophysics, Boulder for publication.