Having been stopped by chert in the Maestrichtian at Site 47, a site was looked for which would give an adequate Cenozoic thickness for satisfactory spudding-in, yet promised to lead from this into an older part of the section. This is the first record of Middle Maestrichtian in pelagic carbonate facies from the Northwest Pacific and surrounding lands, a matter of paleontologic-biostratigraphic importance.

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1989 NOAA-NCEI compiled the NOAA-MMS Marine Minerals Geochemical Database from journal articles, technical reports and unpublished sources from other institutions.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: Heezen, Bruce C; Fischer, A G; Boyce, Robert E; Bukry, David; Douglas, Robert G; Garrison, Robert E; Kling, S A; Krasheninnikov, Valery A; Lisitzin, Alexander P; Pimm, Anthony C (1971): Site 48. 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, 145-169