OCEAN CURRENTS. 



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that a body of water with a depth of 2,000 fathoms, and of 

 infinite extension, would have adopted in 200,000 years the 

 same motion in a horizontal direction as the surface water, 

 provided that a constant motion of the surface water in this 

 direction had been in force. 



Before we apply this theory to the currents, which were 

 established by my conclusions, I Avish to refer to another 

 essay of Zoeppritz on the configuration of the coast and the 

 formation of the bottom of the ocean as factors, by which 

 the direction of an ocean current is mainly influenced. 



I will try to explain his view on this subject by the fol- 

 lowing diagram taken from his publication : 



If a straight coast line 

 a 6 be touched by two cur- 

 rents s and s\ which have 

 the same velocity and the 

 same width, then those 

 parts of them which are 

 deflected inward, will form 

 a new current Gs between 

 the two former ones, and 

 give it the opposite direc- 

 tion. 

 '5 It is clear that if a cur- 

 rent strikes such a coast 

 line in an oblique direc- 

 tion, as we find it on our 

 coast according to my maps, 

 a deflection of this liquid 

 "* "^ mass will follow princi- 



pally in one direction, the one opposite to the original direc- 

 tion of the current. 



If we admit that the general direction of the cold and the 

 warm current along the coast of California is southeasterly, 

 then the force and direction of this large body of water 

 will cause an eddy current running northward. 



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