DSDP Leg 26, is the fifth cruise of D/V Glomar Challenger in the Indian Ocean, and the first cruise of Phase III of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. The Indian Ocean is the smallest of the three major ocean basins but appears to be geologically the most complex. The sites drilled on Leg 26 were selected to try to elucidate a number of specific problems of both local and broad regional significance, as well as to add to the general knowledge of the area. In particular: a) To locate the oldest sediment in the Indian Ocean and thus possibly the date of the initial breakup of Gondwanaland (Sites 250, 256, 257); b) To determine the effects of the initiation of the Circumpolar Current on southern Indian Ocean sedimentation (Sites 250, 252, 256, 257, 258); c) To determine the history of spreading of the Southwest Branch of the Indian Ocean Ridge and the history of the crust and oceanic sedimentation in that general region (Sites 250, 251, 252).

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1989 NOAA-NCEI compiled the NOAA-MMS Marine Minerals Geochemical Database from journal articles, technical reports and unpublished sources from other institutions.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: Doyle, Patricia S; Boltovskoy, Esteban; Herb, Rene C; Thierstein, Hans R; Hyndman, Roy D; Horvath, George J; Leidy, Rosanne D; McKelvey, Barrie C; Kempe, D R C; Rodolfo, Kelvin S; Davies, Thomas A; Luyendyk, Bruce P (1974): Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, U.S. Government Printing Office, XXVI, 1129 pp