Leg 45 of the Deep Sea Drilling Project was the inaugural cruise of the International Phase of Ocean Drilling. Its primary scientific objective was to develop an understanding of the composition, structure, and origin of oceanic crust by drilling as deeply into it as technology would permit. The feasibility of drilling deep into the oceanic crust was demonstrated during Leg 37 when one hole was drilled 586 meters into basaltic volcanic rocks near the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at about 37 °N. The areas of principal interest for Leg 45 were survey areas AT-5, situated near 23 °N, 46 °W and AT-6 near 23 °N, 43°W. The two survey areas are on opposite sides of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, south of the Kane fracture zone. During Leg 45, Holes 395 and 395A were drilled in survey area AT-5 and Hole 396, was drilled in survey area AT-6.

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1989 NOAA-NCEI compiled the NOAA-MMS Marine Minerals Geochemical Database from journal articles, technical reports and unpublished sources from other institutions.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: Zolotarev, Boris P; Rhodes, M; Prosser, Egfrid; Natland, James H; Lawrence, James R; Johnson, Harlan; Graham, Andrew L; Fujii, Toshitsugu; Bougault, Henri; Melson, William G; Rabinowitz, Philip D (1979): Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, U.S. Government Printing Office, XLV, 717 pp