During the fourth and fifth legs of Scan Expedition, drill Sites 53 and 60 were surveyed and Site 59 was traversed. In addition to the drill site surveys, several other areas across the Mariana Arc System were investigated in some detail, guided by reconnaissance work aboard the R/V Argo from the previous year. The remarkable similarities in the occurrence and relative positions of a wide range of structural features in western Pacific arc systems strongly suggest a common mechanism of origin. The area in which crustal deformation related to island arc tectonism is occurring, more extensive and complex than generally recognized, is defined as the active island arc system; this includes not only the trench and volcanic chain, but also the deep basin and submarine ridge on the concave side of the active volcanoes.

From 1983 until 1989 NOAA-NCEI compiled the NOAA-MMS Marine Minerals Geochemical Database from journal articles, technical reports and unpublished sources from other institutions. At the time it was the most extended data compilation on ferromanganese deposits world wide. Initially published in a propriatory format incompatible with present day standards it was jointly decided by AWI and NOAA to transcribe this legacy data into PANGAEA. This transfer is augmented by a careful checking of the original sources when available and the encoding of ancillary information (sample description, method of analysis...) not present in the NOAA-MMS database.

Supplement to: Karig, Dan (1971): Site Surveys in the Mariana Area (Scan IV). In: Fischer, A.G.; et al., Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, 6, Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, 6, U.S. Government Printing Office, VI, 681-689