The Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) and Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) have fundamentally changed our understanding of the Earth system. Drilling in the south Atlantic Ocean provided the critical test of the theory of plate tectonics and initiated innovative programs to investigate the products, fluxes, and processes associated with the creation, evolution, and recycling of the oceanic lithosphere. Key findings include a new and evolving understanding of the range and complexity of processes of oceanic lithosphere creation, and their probable importance in global geochemical cycles and seawater composition over time. Major questions remain about details, rates, and significance of lithospheric processes and fluxes. The expanded capabilities of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP, to begin in 2003), will offer many exciting opportunities, including a chance to assess the role of lithospheric creation in global geochemical and climatic cycles.