The direct impetus for international cooperation on creating international legislation to regulate the legal status of sea and ocean bottoms lying outside of national jurisdiction was the presentation made at the First UN Committee by the Maltese Ambassador, A. Pardo. In 1967, he called for the establishment of new legal measures for these regions and for them to be recognized as ucommon human heritage. On December 17, 1970, the General Assembly of the UN voted in favor (108 ayes and 14 abstentions) of the declaration of principles regarding sea and ocean bottoms and undergrounds that are outside of national jurisdiction. On December 10, 1982, the UN Convention, which restrictively regulates the exploration and exploitation of deep-sea bottoms, was ratified with a majority of votes from developing nations. On July 28, 1994, the General Assemble of the UN voted in favor of a resolution regarding agreement for the implementation of part XI of the UN Convention on marine law of December 10, 1982 (known as the New York Accord).
The structural pattern developed within metre to microscopic scale thrust and strike-slip fault zones exposed in the Palaeogene flysch rocks of the Fore-Dukla Thrust Sheet in the south-eastern part of the Silesian Nappe, Outer Carpathians, Poland, reveals evidence for upper crustal deformation and fluid flow. Syntectonic dawsonite [NaAlCO3(OH)2] indicates the following series of deformational events within the fault zones: i) detachment and buckle folding resulting from movement along thrust faults; ii) faulting as a compensation of the shortening, resulting in the fault propagation folding, breakthrough thrust faulting and imbrications; and iii) strike-slip faulting. The microstructural pattern coupled with the growth of a related sequence of carbonate minerals within the fault zones, followed by present-day dawsonite precipitation and tufa formation, indicate a continuing influence of fluids within the Silesian Nappe up to and including modern time. Structural observations at metre to microscopic scales coupled with EDS mapping of rocks indicate that dawsonite is a unique tool for the reconstruction of subsequent deformation in the Fore-Dukla Thrust Sheet.