NEW AGE OF THE SEA — YE AGE R 395 



oceans to weather and climate. Even knowledge about the origins of 

 the oceans themselves, their evolution and the changes which may be 

 expected are little known and understood." 



A long-held desire of geologists all over the world has been access 

 to earth's interior — to that area below the crust. The U.S.-proposed 

 Project Mohole,^ w^hich contemplates ocean drilling, may provide it. 

 This program gets its name from the Mohorovicic discontinuity which 

 represents the interface between the familiar crust and the as yet 

 unseen mantle. Because what lies beneath the earth's crust, 7 to 15 

 miles from the surface, is of such vital importance to the understand- 

 ing of the origin and geophysical processes of the earth. Project 

 Mohole is designed to drill through the crust into the mantle. 



The reason for the approach through the sea is simple. Thus far 

 the deepest successfiTl drilling [for oil] has been limited to about 

 26,000 feet, far short of the 100,000 feet at which discontinuity is 

 estimated to lie below the surface of continental masses. In the 

 oceans, however, the discontinuity rises to within 15,000 feet of the 

 ocean bed. It is thus proposed to undertake the drilling at sea so 

 as to reduce by a significant amount the depth of hole required. 



The answers to come from these and other phases of the growing 

 drive toward ocean sciences will possibly provide us with the first 

 basically accurate understanding of the globe on which we live. What 

 such understanding will mean in terms of material and economic 

 effect, or in terms of mental and physical effect, can only be surmised. 

 It will not be insignificant. 



Each of the searches discussed in the foregoing contributes to the 

 others and each, in some degree, is dependent on the others. Taken as 

 a group, however, and in light of their common denominator, they 

 would seem to herald a coming Age of the Sea second to none in 

 earth's history. 



3 See the following article In this Report. — Editor. 



