THE SEA-FLOOR DEPOSITS 



I. GENERAL CHARACTERS AND DISTRIBUTION 



By E. Neaverson, D.Sc, F.G.S. 



(Plates XVII-XXII) 



INTRODUCTION 



IN 1929 142 samples of sea-floor deposits, collected during voyages of R.R.S. 

 'Discovery' and R.R.S. 'William Scoresby', were sent to Professor P. G. H. Boswell 

 for examination by himself and his colleagues on the staff of the Department of Geology, 

 University of Liverpool. Before the writer's part of the task was completed additional 

 samples collected on later voyages became available, and descriptions of this material 

 are now incorporated in this report. Most of the samples are numbered according to 

 the observation stations on the voyages, thus giving a chronological arrangement, which 

 is retained in the detailed descriptions of the samples. In an account of the distribution 

 of the sediments a regional classification is more convenient. Such is shown in the 

 accompanying table, the regions being defined on the basis of maps which are appended 

 to the official Station Lists. Sixteen of the earlier samples are not numbered, but the 

 latitude and longitude of the localities are recorded. These samples are now indicated 

 by the letters A to P, and are placed in their appropriate position in the geographical 

 classification. 



The purpose of this report is to record the general characters and distribution of the 

 sea-floor deposits before the samples are used for a detailed mineralogical analysis. The 

 station numbers are those given in the official Station Lists; the localities of the 

 'William Scoresby' are distinguished by prefixing the letters WS to the number. 

 Precise determination of organic species is not attempted here ; such detail is not con- 

 sidered to lie within the scope of a report on general characters of the sea-floor deposits. 

 In many cases, however, genera of diatoms, Foraminifera and Radiolaria are noted 

 where they are abundant or otherwise conspicuous. Similarly the specific identification 

 of minerals is left over for the future report on the mineralogical characters of the 

 deposits. Casual reference, however, is made to certain minerals when they are 

 especially significant or abundant. Such references are, for example, to the abundance 

 of well-formed crystals of hypersthene at stations around the Falkland Islands (p. 305) ; 

 the plentiful occurrence of volcanic glass in deposits around the South Shetland Islands 

 (p. 308) ; the abundance of glaucophane in deposits from the western part of Bransfield 

 Strait (p. 309); and the sporadic occurrence of phillipsite at several localities in the 

 southern oceans. 



