This publication was prepared by the Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, as an account of work performed under the international Ocean Drilling Program, which is managed by Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation. Funding for the program was provided by the following agencies at the time of drilling:

Australia/Canada/Chinese Taipei/Korea Consortium for Ocean Drilling: Department of Primary Industries and Energy (Australia), Natural Resources Canada, National Taiwan University in Taipei, and Korean Institute for Geology, Mining and Minerals

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Federal Republic of Germany)

European Science Foundation Consortium for Ocean Drilling (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey*)

Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer (France)

Marine High-Technology Bureau of the State Science and Technology Commission of the People’s Republic of China (People’s Republic of China)

National Science Foundation (United States)

Natural Environment Research Council (United Kingdom)

University of Tokyo, Ocean Research Institute (Japan)

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation, the participating agencies, Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc., Texas A&M University, or Texas A&M Research Foundation.

Abbreviations for names of organizations and publications in ODP reference lists follow the style given in Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index (published by American Chemical Society).

The Leg 174AX Initial Reports volume, which includes the Bass River Site, was published in December 1998.

Cover photograph is by ODP Photographer John Beck.