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Earth Science & Geology · Recorded milestone

Ocean drilling ship

Recorded year1968

Glomar Challenger drills the seafloor and proves seafloor spreading.

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Built on

Offshore oil platformRecorded · 1947enables
Plate tectonicsRecorded · 1962enables

Led to

Deep biosphere mappedRecorded · 2018enables
First superhot-rock power plantForecast · ~2031enables
Drilling into the mantleForecast · ~2045enables

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.