SD Scientific Drilling SD Sci. Dril. 1816-3459 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/sd-17-45-2014 Exploring new drilling prospects in the southwest Pacific Gallagher S. J. 1 Exon N. 2 Seton M. 3 Ikehara M. 4 Hollis C. J. 5 Arculus R. 2 D'Hondt S. 6 Foster C. 7 Gurnis M. 8 Kennett J. P. 9 McKay R. 10 Malakoff A. 5 14 Mori J. 11 Takai K. 12 Wallace L. 13 The School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra 0200, Australia Earthbyte Group, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia Center for Advanced Marine Core Research, Kochi University, Nankoku 783-8502, Japan GNS Science, Lower Hutt 5040, New Zealand Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA Geoscience Australia, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara CA 93106, USA Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand Earthquake Hazards Division, Kyoto University Kyoto 611-0011, Japan Subsurface Geobiology Advanced Research (SUGAR) Project, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology (JAMSTEC), 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, TX 78713, USA retired 29 04 2014 17 45 50 Copyright: © 2014 S. J. Gallagher et al. 2014 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://sd.copernicus.org/articles/17/45/2014/sd-17-45-2014.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://sd.copernicus.org/articles/17/45/2014/sd-17-45-2014.pdf

A major International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) workshop covering scientific ocean drilling in the southwest Pacific Ocean was held in Sydney, Australia, in late 2012. The workshop covered all fields of geoscience, and drilling targets in the area from the Equator to Antarctica. High-quality contributions and a positive and cooperative atmosphere ensured its success. The four science themes of the new IODP science plan were addressed. An additional resource-oriented theme considered possible co-investment opportunities involving IODP vessels. As a result of the workshop, existing proposals were revised and new ones written for the April 2013 deadline. Many of the proposals are broad and multidisciplinary in nature, hence broadening the scientific knowledge that can be produced by using the IODP infrastructure. This report briefly outlines the workshop and the related drilling plans.

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