World closing gap with America in ocean drilling.(The Dallas Morning News)

DALLAS _ If earth science were the Tour de France, the United States might have won the distance legs only to see Japan zoom ahead in the speed sprint.

For four decades, U.S. scientists have led the race to drill holes at the bottom of the sea. The ultimate prize: understanding Earth's past and perhaps divining its future.

But next year, the yellow jersey of ocean drilling passes from a U.S.-led team to a triumvirate of U.S., European and Japanese teams. How smoothly that handoff goes could profoundly affect the prestige of U.S. earth science _ and the research future of Texas A&M University.

Much of what scientists know about our planet flows from the $50 million-a-year Ocean Drilling Program. Rocks extracted from the seafloor have confirmed the theory of plate tectonics, revealed how deadly earthquakes and volcanic eruptions happen, and uncovered the mercurial nature of the world's climate.

Ocean drilling is "the most successful program in natural sciences in the history of the Earth," said ocean-drilling expert Jamie Austin of the University of Texas' Institute for Geophysics.

Despite its significance, ocean-drilling research is suffering from U.S. science cutbacks and budgetary flatlining. But in Japan, it's getting a budget boost.

In January, the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center ...