The project was initiated in March 1971, in Bordeaux, France, during an
international oceanographic congress (Océanexpo). The first meeting took place
between an American from National Oceanographic Administration (NOA),
named Bracket Hersey, and a French administrator, Claude Riffaud, who was
director of Marine Technology at CNEXO, plus Xavier Le Pichon, director of the
marine sciences department at CNEXO, and Commander Gérard de Froberville,
who represented the French Navy. These men met at the hotel Aquitania. At that
time, both France and the USA had the capability for deep sea diving with manned
submersibles, which is why these two nations took the initiative of launching a
collaborative deep-diving expedition called ‘‘French American Mid-Ocean
Undersea Survey’’ (FAMOUS). The aims of the project were to explore deepseated volcanism on a ridge segment where the separation of tectonic plates was
also the site for the creation of new crust. Up to the 70s, we had managed to obtain
a general overview of the ocean and had rediscovered the spreading plate theory.
Now we wanted to analyze the phenomenon that causes the plates to spread.
Project FAMOUS was designed to take geologists down to the source where new
crust was being generated. It was an exciting goal.
In July 1971, a few months after I had taken my job at the oceanographic center
of CNEXO in Brest, France, one morning Xavier Le Pichon came into my office to
brief me on Project FAMOUS and the cooperation he had initiated with the U.S. to
dive in the Rift Valley of the Mid Atlantic Ridge (MAR). The project was planned
to take place in the summer of 1973. When Xavier asked me if I wanted to be part
of the team, I was very pleased and honored to be asked to participate in the
project; yet, at the same time, I was worried about whether or not I would be able
to handle what people expected from me. However, despite my doubts about
myself, I did not hesitate to accept Xavier’s offer to be a part of this great
adventure.
The FAMOUS team was composed of scientists from a variety of disciplines.
There were Gilbert Bellaiche, a marine and structural geologist, Pierre Choukroune, a tectonician with experience in the Alpine and Pyrenean mountain structures,
Jean Louis Cheminée, a volcanologist experienced in island volcanism, Jean
Francheteau, a geophysician, David Needham, a marine geologist interested in sea
floor structure and sedimentary processes, and myself, a petrologist specialized in
oceanic rocks. The head of the French Scientific Team was Xavier Le Pichon, a
geophysician and one of the pioneers in the plate tectonic theory. At that time, the
only person among the scientists who had any previous experience diving inside
submersibles was Gilbert Bellaiche. He was a tall, thin, very friendly person who
worked on the coastal and deep-sea geology of the Mediterranean Sea. Based at a
CNRS laboratory in Ville-Franche-sur-Mer (French Riviera), he was one of the
few persons in the World to have dived the deepest, down to 8410 m depth, with
the bathyscaphe Archimède in the Japan Trench in 1967.
I knew most of the scientists on the team and this made me feel more comfortable. I was especially at ease with Jean Louis Cheminée whom I had met for
the first time in 1960, on top of a mountain called ‘‘Monte Zatta’’ in the Apennines
(Italy), when I was completing my fieldwork as part of my diploma called ‘‘Tesa di
172
7 Oceanic Spreading Ridges and Sea Floor Creation
international oceanographic congress (Océanexpo). The first meeting took place
between an American from National Oceanographic Administration (NOA),
named Bracket Hersey, and a French administrator, Claude Riffaud, who was
director of Marine Technology at CNEXO, plus Xavier Le Pichon, director of the
marine sciences department at CNEXO, and Commander Gérard de Froberville,
who represented the French Navy. These men met at the hotel Aquitania. At that
time, both France and the USA had the capability for deep sea diving with manned
submersibles, which is why these two nations took the initiative of launching a
collaborative deep-diving expedition called ‘‘French American Mid-Ocean
Undersea Survey’’ (FAMOUS). The aims of the project were to explore deepseated volcanism on a ridge segment where the separation of tectonic plates was
also the site for the creation of new crust. Up to the 70s, we had managed to obtain
a general overview of the ocean and had rediscovered the spreading plate theory.
Now we wanted to analyze the phenomenon that causes the plates to spread.
Project FAMOUS was designed to take geologists down to the source where new
crust was being generated. It was an exciting goal.
In July 1971, a few months after I had taken my job at the oceanographic center
of CNEXO in Brest, France, one morning Xavier Le Pichon came into my office to
brief me on Project FAMOUS and the cooperation he had initiated with the U.S. to
dive in the Rift Valley of the Mid Atlantic Ridge (MAR). The project was planned
to take place in the summer of 1973. When Xavier asked me if I wanted to be part
of the team, I was very pleased and honored to be asked to participate in the
project; yet, at the same time, I was worried about whether or not I would be able
to handle what people expected from me. However, despite my doubts about
myself, I did not hesitate to accept Xavier’s offer to be a part of this great
adventure.
The FAMOUS team was composed of scientists from a variety of disciplines.
There were Gilbert Bellaiche, a marine and structural geologist, Pierre Choukroune, a tectonician with experience in the Alpine and Pyrenean mountain structures,
Jean Louis Cheminée, a volcanologist experienced in island volcanism, Jean
Francheteau, a geophysician, David Needham, a marine geologist interested in sea
floor structure and sedimentary processes, and myself, a petrologist specialized in
oceanic rocks. The head of the French Scientific Team was Xavier Le Pichon, a
geophysician and one of the pioneers in the plate tectonic theory. At that time, the
only person among the scientists who had any previous experience diving inside
submersibles was Gilbert Bellaiche. He was a tall, thin, very friendly person who
worked on the coastal and deep-sea geology of the Mediterranean Sea. Based at a
CNRS laboratory in Ville-Franche-sur-Mer (French Riviera), he was one of the
few persons in the World to have dived the deepest, down to 8410 m depth, with
the bathyscaphe Archimède in the Japan Trench in 1967.
I knew most of the scientists on the team and this made me feel more comfortable. I was especially at ease with Jean Louis Cheminée whom I had met for
the first time in 1960, on top of a mountain called ‘‘Monte Zatta’’ in the Apennines
(Italy), when I was completing my fieldwork as part of my diploma called ‘‘Tesa di
172
7 Oceanic Spreading Ridges and Sea Floor Creation