This volume provides a review and synthesizes the accomplishments of the past decade of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program. More importantly, it defines opportunities for scientific advancement through future drilling projects addressing a broad range of disciplines in the Earth Sciences. In addition there is a review of all past projects that were supported by the ICDP, as well as of technical aspects associated with continental drilling.

The Workshop on Continental Drilling for Scientific Purposes addressed the questions of how to maximize the scientific value of current and planned continental drilling efforts of Federal agencies and industry and how to supplement these efforts with holes drilled solely for scientific purposes. The subjects treated by Workshop panels included: basement structures and deep continental basins - broad and specific questions related to understanding the earth's continental crust; thermal regimes - basic understanding of geothermal systems; mineral resources - basic understanding of ore-forming processes; earthquakes - basic understanding of earthquakes and faulting mechanisms; drilling technology - development of drilling and logging equipment capable of operating at high temperatures (up to 500 C).