The Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 200 Scientific Party wishes to thank everyone who sailed aboard the JOIDES Resolution for making the cruise so successful and enjoyable. Our particular thanks go to Captain Peter Mowat, Drilling Superintendent Scott Pederson, and ODP Operations Manager Brian Jonasson.

ODP owes much of its success to its ability to continually support shipboard scientists from diverse backgrounds who address a broad range of topics. That ODP can maintain these services leg after leg for >15 yr can be attributed to the excellence of the shipboard technical support team. The ODP technical staff on Leg 200, under the supervision of the ODP Laboratory Officer Bill Mills, was no exception. They were very competent, professional, and efficient and very adept in dealing with the range of personalities on the scientific staff.

Because the focus of Leg 200 was on basement drilling, we did not have a paleontologist on board. We appreciate the assistance of John Firth and Bob Goll at ODP/TAMU (Texas A&M University) for their postcruise paleontological analyses of sediments at Sites 1223 and 1224. Bob provided most of the observations for the "Biostratigraphy" section of the "Site 1223" chapter, and John provided most of the observations for the "Biostratigraphy" section of the "Site 1224" chapter.

The Transocean Sedco Forex team was excellent. Ship and drilling operations were carried out in a safe, professional, and efficient manner. Scott Pederson, in addition to all of his duties as drilling superintendent, provided engineering drawings of the reentry cone/casing system and of the free-fall funnel for the Initial Reports volume.

The Catemar team, under the direction of Alex Da Silva, handles the hotel services on the ship and must be commended for excellent service on the leg. The meals were of high quality with good selection and were served in a professional and efficient manner. The Christmas dinner was a particularly memorable event. Menus were printed in advance. The galley was decorated with table cloths, table ornaments, and electronic candles. The meal was served by the Catemar staff in waiter’s uniforms. This effort was well beyond the call of duty. Overall, the Catemar services were excellent and contributed substantially to the morale of those aboard the ship during the leg.

Shore-based scientists played a substantial role on the leg. We thank Dr. Mike Garcia for proposing the Nuuanu Landslide site. Dr. Fred Duennebier, Dave Harris, Jim Jolly, and Jim Babinec faithfully transmitted data from the Hawaii-2 Observatory seismometer to the ship on a daily basis during the cruise. We are grateful for the help and encouragement given to the proponents of Leg 200 by all the panel members and reviewers who steered the drilling proposals to a successful conclusion. We are also grateful to the JOIDES organization, to ODP management at TAMU, and to the administrative, academic, and research institutions from the many countries involved that provided the financial and logistical support to prepare and complete this venture, including the prior scientific work on which the leg was founded.

The skills, patience, hard work, and competence of the ODP Publication Services staff have been instrumental in the timely production of this volume.