Universita di Padova, Italy

Leg 172 achieved or exceeded most of its initial objectives. At all sites, high sedimentation rates throughout the Pleistocene allowed the precise tracking of ocean and climate changes such as the evolution to the 100 ka world from the 40 ka world. Sequences which extended to the Middle Pliocene were recovered at several sites and will permit the study of the origin of the Northern Hemisphere glaciations. Millennial and perhaps centennial-scale climatic changes should be resolvable at some sites. Records of the Earth's magnetic field provide some high resolution signals with previously unseen variability. Preliminary shipboard results have also brought new insights about the geographic extent of gas hydrates, and new definitions of first and last occurrences of foraminiferal datum.