The Woodlark Basin is a young marginal basin in the western Pacific that is both propagating westward into the Papuan Peninsula of New Guinea and being subducted eastward beneath the Solomon Islands (Fig. F1; Weissel et al., 1982). Extension is confined to a narrow region by the rheologically stronger oceanic lithosphere of the Solomon Sea to the north and the Coral Sea to the south. The pole of opening is nearby; therefore, major variations in the kinematic parameters and structural development (both continental and oceanic) are found within a small area. The spatial progression from continental rifting to seafloor spreading is kinematically equivalent to, and allows a study of, the temporal evolution of the rift-spreading system. These qualities make the Woodlark Basin an excellent place to study continental rifting, the initiation of seafloor spreading, and the evolution of a young ocean basin.

The purpose of this report is to document and display the marine geophysical and seismological data that were used to define the processes to be investigated and the location of the sites to be drilled during Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 180. We first discuss the data and processing methods, then illustrate the regional topographic, seismicity, magnetic, and gravity data products, and finally, present the multichannel seismic (MCS) reflection data proximal to the drilled sites.