Glomar Challenger
{{Short description|American research drilling ship}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=File:GlomarChallengerBW.JPG |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country= United States |Ship flag= {{USN flag|1968}} |Ship name= Glomar Challenger |Ship namesake= |Ship owner= Global Marine Inc. |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Levingston Shipbuilding Company, Orange, Texas |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=October 18, 1967 |Ship launched=March 23, 1968 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired=August 11, 1968 |Ship in service=1968 |Ship out of service=1983 |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification={{IMO Number|6904636}} |Ship motto= |Ship fate=Scrapped, c. 1983 in NYC Shipyard |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Ship class= |Ship type=Deep sea drilling platform |Ship tonnage= |Ship displacement= |Ship length= {{Convert|400|ft | abbr=on}}
|Ship beam= {{Convert|65|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draft= {{Convert|20|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion= |Ship speed= {{Convert|12|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range= |Ship endurance=90 days |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship crew= |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors=ITT Model 4007AB Satellite Navigation System |Ship EW= |Ship armament= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes=Could drill to a depth of {{Convert|22500|ft|abbr=on}}, in a water depth of up to {{Convert|20000|ft|abbr=on}}. }} |
The Glomar Challenger was a deep-sea research and scientific drilling vessel designed for oceanography and marine geology studies. It was used in the Deep Sea Drilling Project for obtaining sediment cores from the ocean floor.{{cite book | last1=Bates | first1 = Robert L. | last2 = Jackson | first2 = Julia A. | title=Dictionary of Geological Terms | publisher=Anchor | publication-place=Garden City, N.Y | date=1984-04-11 | isbn=0-385-18101-9 | page=215 | edition = 3rd}}
The drillship was designed, owned, and operated by Global Marine Incorporated (now Transocean) specifically for a long term contract with the American National Science Foundation and University of California Scripps Institution of Oceanography. It was built by Levingston Shipbuilding Company in Orange, Texas and launched on March 23, 1968.{{cite web |url=http://www-odp.tamu.edu/glomar.html |title=Ocean Drilling Program: Glomar Challenger drillship |publisher=Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University |access-date=15 January 2025}}
Glomar is a truncation of Global Marine, while the name Glomar Challenger is a tribute to the 19th century oceanographic survey vessel {{HMS|Challenger|1858|6}}.
== Purpose ==
The Glomar Challenger was built to help Harry Hess test the theory of seafloor spreading, which predicts that the age of rock samples increases with distance from the mid-ocean ridge.
Accomplishments
Starting from August 1968, the ship was embarked on a 15-year-long scientific expedition, the Deep Sea Drilling Project, criss-crossing the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between South America and Africa and drilling core samples at specific locations. When the age of the samples was determined by paleontologic and isotopic dating studies, this provided conclusive evidence for the seafloor spreading hypothesis, and, consequently, for plate tectonics.
During 1970, when doing research in the Mediterranean Sea while supervised by Kenneth Hsu, geologists aboard the vessel brought up drill cores containing gypsum, anhydrite, rock salt, and various other evaporite minerals that often form from drying of brine or seawater. These were the first solid evidence for the ancient desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea, the Messinian salinity crisis.
Fate and legacy
In November 1983, after 15 years in operation, the Glomar Challenger's active duty ended, and she was later scrapped. Her successor, JOIDES Resolution, was launched in 1985.
See also
References
;Notes
{{reflist}}
;Bibliography
- {{Cite book |first=Kenneth |last=Hsu |authorlink=Kenneth Hsu |title=The Mediterranean Was a Desert: A Voyage of the Glomar Challenger |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1987 |isbn=0-691-02406-5}} (About the campaign that discovered the salt residues under the Mediterranean.)
External links
{{commons category|IMO 6904636}}
- [http://www-odp.tamu.edu/glomar.html Glomar Challenger: Drillship of the Deep Sea Drilling Project]
- [http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/ships/html/sh_038600_glomarchalle.htm Ships of the World: Glomar Challenger] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060307211008/http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/ships/html/sh_038600_glomarchalle.htm |date=2006-03-07 }}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20050425221214/http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank/programs/html/platforms/html/Glomar_Challenger.html USGS CMG Platform (Glomar Challenger) Data and Metadata]
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