306 OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 



The astronomical theory of abundance of elements is based almost 

 entirely on the gases that you see in the sun or the stars. You can 

 use spectography but the heavier elements do not show up very well. 

 We do not know their abundance and really we are trying to find out 

 what the universe is made of and what the earth, in particular, is made 

 of. That is the primary objective. No doubt, a great many inter- 

 esting things will come out of this but, practically, I do not see very 

 much coming out of it. You can grab for various odds and ends that 

 might be practical, but aside from technology, I do not tliink it is 

 going to be very much. 



Mr, Miller. Thank you very much, sir. 



Mr, Bascom. Mr. Chairman, may I say that I probably should 

 have said Professor Hess, chairman of the Geology Department of 

 Princeton University, who is now on 2 weeks' Naval Reserve duty. 



Mr. Miller. Dr. Lyman, would you like to express yourself on 

 this? 



STATEMENT OF JOHN LYMAN, DIRECTOE, OCEANOGRAPHIC 

 DIVISION, U.S. NAVY HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE— Resumed 



Mr. Lyman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



I am Dr. Lyman, of the Navy Hydrographic Office. 



It is a great pleasure to have this opportunity to speak before this 

 committee again this morning. I do not think that I can add much 

 to what has already been said on tlie chemistry of water and what 

 is under tlie ocean, but I think that I could second Mr. Bascom's 

 remarks that if this project goes through to completion it will cer- 

 tainly contribute greatly to the technology of oceanography and in- 

 crease our ability to handle heavy weights on the ocean floor. It 

 would be a great step forward in the U.S. oceanographic program. 



Mr. Miller. Thank you very much. 



Do any of you gentlemen have questions of any of these gentlemen? 



(No response.) 



Do you want to add anything more ? 



Mr. LiLL. We have some slides we thought maybe you would be 

 interested in seeing. 



Mr, Miller, Please proceed. 



Mr. Bascom. In the prepared statement, I noted that there were 

 two principal barges which are at least self-contained and are now 

 capable of doing drilling in shallow water to fairly large depths. 



This first slide shows the Nola I. 



At this time I guess it still is drilling off tlie delta of the Mississippi 

 River in quit<>i shallow watei', about 35 or 40 feet deep. All of the 

 elements of a deep drilling rig are present in this one and it seems as 

 though it would be possible to modify either this rig or the other one 

 in such a way as to hold it still in deep water and go on down and 

 drill into the sediments. 



The Nola I is now set up and designed to drill 15,000 feet. Ob- 

 viously, if we could get it out into water only 12,000 feet deep, we 

 would have some kind of a capability for going as nnich as 3,000 feet 

 into the bottom of the ocean. 



The Nola. I has the curious characteristic in that it drills over the 

 side. It looks unstable although it really is not. As you see in this 



