Integrated Ocean Drilling Program water. This required the use of sonar scanning equipment and a large-scale re-entry cone. Process-oriented Earth studies continued from 1985 until 2003 aboard the "JOIDES Resolution", which replaced the "Glomar Challenger" in January 1985 as DSDP morphed into the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP). The "JOIDES Resolution" is named for the 200-year-old HMS "Resolution" which explored the Pacific Ocean and Antarctica under the command of Captain James Cook. The Ocean Drilling Program contributed significantly to increased scientific understanding of Earth history, climate change, plate tectonics, natural resources, and geohazards. ODP discoveries included validation of: National consortia and government funding agencies supported
Origin of water on Earth ocean water removed most CO from the atmosphere but levels oscillated wildly as new surface and mantle cycles appeared. Study of zircons has found that liquid water must have existed as long ago as 4.404 ± 0.008 Ga, very soon after the formation of Earth. This requires the presence of an atmosphere. The cool early Earth theory covers a range from about 4.4 Ga to 4.0 Ga. In fact, recent studies of zircons (in the fall of 2008) found in Australian Hadean rock hold minerals that point to the existence of plate tectonics as early as 4 billion years ago.