Leg 49 of the International Phase of Ocean Drilling (IPOD) was designed with a wide spectrum of problems in mind. Topics investigated were (1) variation with time of mantle sources of spreading-center magmas, (2) aging of the volcanic layer, (3) degree of hydrothermal alteration and metamorphism of the volcanic layer, (4) lateral and vertical variation of the petrochemistry, magnetic properties, and structure of the volcanic layer, (5) north-south variability of spreading-center magmas through the North Atlantic, (6) initiation of glaciation during the late Pliocene, and (7) the influence of bottom currents originating at the Iceland-Faeroes Ridge on sediments of the ridge flank province of the western North Atlantic.

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1989 NOAA-NCEI compiled the NOAA-MMS Marine Minerals Geochemical Database from journal articles, technical reports and unpublished sources from other institutions.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 proprietary 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: Luyendyk, Bruce P; Cann, Joe R; Sharman, G; Roberts, W P; Shor, A N; Duffield, W A; Varet, J; Zolotarev, Boris P; Poore, Richard Z; Steinmetz, J C; Kobayashi, Kazuo; Vennum, W; Wood, D A; Steiner, M (1979): Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. U. S. Government Printing Office, XLIX, 1020 pp