MARINE BOTTOM SAMPLES OF LAST CRUISE OF CARNEGIE 



of the amounts of nitrogen in the samples and of the per- 

 centages of calcium carbonate in certain of them; to Dr. 

 J. A. Cushman, of the Cushman Laboratory for Fora- 

 miniferal Research, for identifications of the foramini- 

 fera separated from sixteen samples; to Dr. M. W. de 

 Laubenfels, of the Department of Zoology and Museum, 

 Pasadena High School, for a report on the sponge spic- 

 ules found in the samples; to Mr. Austin H. Clark, of 

 the United States National Museum, for his examination 

 of echinoid spines; to Dr. R. S. Bassler, of the United 

 States National Museum, for examination of bryozoan 

 and other remains; to Dr. C. I. Alexander for the ge- 

 neric identification of ostracod shells; and to Dr. C. S. 

 Ross, of the United States Geological Survey, for his op- 

 tical identification of beidellite in a sample of red clay. 

 Chemical analyses of thirty samples collected by the 

 United States Coast and Geodetic Survey ship Surveyor , 

 had previously been made at the request of Dr. Vaughan 

 by Mr. J. H. Fairchild, of the United States Geological 

 Survey, and the author is grateful for permission to use 

 these as supplementary material. Mr. W. H. Dore, of 

 the University of California, Department of Agriculture, 

 kindly supervised the making of the X-ray powder dia- 

 grams, and to him the author is also grateful for much 

 previously unpublished data and for personal discussions 

 of the results of the X-ray analyses. Professors Adolf 

 Pabst and N. L. Taliaferro, of the Department of Geolo- 

 gy of the University of California, generously gave valu- 

 ible assistance in the X-ray studies. The author is 



greatly indebted to Dr. G. F. McEwen, of the Scripps In- 

 stitution of Oceanography, for his advice and assistance 

 with regard to statistical problems. Miss Esther C. 

 Allen assisted in the determination of total carbon diox- 

 ide in certain of the samples; Dr. Eaton MacKay and Mr. 

 Richard Barnes, of the Scripps Metabolic Clinic in La 

 JoUa, kindly made certain calcium determinations; Dr. 

 E. M. Thorp, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 

 made the original photographs of the sand grades of the 

 samples on which the illustrations in plates I to XII are 

 based. The writer is also grateful to Dr. Thorp for ad- 

 vice with regard to the identification of organic remains 

 and for a study of sample 89, a calcareous beach sand 

 from Easter Island. The charts and figures in the text 

 were made by Mr. E. C. LaFond, and the writer is 

 grateful for his ingenuity and conscientiousness. Dr. R. 

 H. Fleming, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 

 gave much assistance and encouragement in the prepa-- 

 rationof the report, and the writer thanks both him and 

 Miss Ruth Ragan, without whose constant assistance the 

 manuscript would not have been completed. To Profes- 

 sor A. O. Woodford, of Pomona College, the writer owes 

 thanks for thoughtful criticism of the manuscript. The 

 writer is greatly indebted to his wife, Ellen C. Revelle, 

 for her help in many ways, and particularly in the prep- 

 aration of the tables. For some of these, such as those 

 on the color and physical characteristics of the samples, 

 and on the distribution of calcium carbonate in Pacific 

 deep-sea sediments, she is largely responsible. 



REVIEW OF OTHER INVESTIGATIONS^ 



It is said that the first attempted deep-sea sounding 

 in the Pacific was made in 1521 by the explorer Magel- 

 lan. Using a sounding line less than 200 fathoms in 

 length he failed to reach bottom and concluded, accord- 

 ing to Murray and Hjort (1912), that he had arrived at 

 the deepest part of the ocean. Over three hundred years 

 later, in 1839 to 1842, the first successful deep-sea 

 soundings in the Pacific were made by the United States 

 exploring expedition, of which J. D. Dana (1849) was a 

 member. Not until 1855 was an actual sample of the 

 bottom of the deep sea in this ocean obtained by Lieuten- 

 ant Brooke, U.S.N., on board the U.S.S. Vincennes in the 

 Coral Sea, west of the New Hebrides, at a depth of 2150 

 fathoms. This sample (probably a red clay) was exam- 

 ined by Bailey, who says in a letter to Maury (1859), 

 "The sounding from 2150 fathoms, although small in 

 quantity, is not bad in quality, yielding representatives 

 of most of the great groups of microscopic organisms 

 usually found in marine sediments. The predominant 

 forms are siliceous spicules of sponges .... the dia- 

 toms are very few in number .... the foraminifera are 

 very rare." 



Later in the year 1855 three specimens of the "ooze 

 and bottom of the sea" were obtained by Brooke in 

 depths of 900 to 2700 fathoms in the Kamtchatka Sea. 

 These were also described by Bailey (1856), who notes 

 the predominance of siliceous shells of diatoms in the 

 deposits and the absence of foraminifera. He remarks 

 that "all the specimens contain some mineral matter, 

 which diminishes in proportion to the depth and which 

 consists of minute angular particles of quartz, horn- 

 blende, feldspar and mica." 



Ehrenberg (1860) also described samples collected 



by Brooke in the Pacific on this expedition, at depths of 

 3300 and 2600 fathoms, the latter sounding being between 

 California and the Hawaiian Islands. 



The next successful attempt to collect deep-sea bot- 

 tom samples in the Pacific was carried out by Seiden- 

 burg (1861) on the Dutch ship Z. M. Cachelot in 1858 in 

 the Banda Sea. Five of these samples, collected at depths 

 between 1782 and 4860 meters, were examined and de- 

 scribed by Harting (1864). He noted the presence of 

 many species of foraminifera, radiolaria, diatoms, and 

 sponges, and pointed out the absence of foraminifera, at 

 great depths, which he rightly believed to be surface 

 dwelling. 



The broad foundations of the study of marine bot- 

 tom deposits, as of nearly all other aspects of modern 

 oceanography, were laid by the circumnavigating voyage 

 of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1872 to 1876. The 

 report on the specimens of bottom deposits collected by 

 this expedition was published in a classic volume by 

 Murray and Renard (1891), who, in addition to detailed 

 study of the deposit samples collected by the expedition, 

 also examined over 12,000 samples from all parts of the 

 world. Murray, in 1876, had published a preliminary re- 

 port on the Challenger samples. The route of the Chal - 

 lenger in the area investigated by the Carnegie is shown 

 on chart 1. Starting with a point north of the Admiralty 

 Islands, the Challenger sailed north to Japan, thence 

 westward approximately along the 36th parallel to a point 



^For a list of all shipswhich have carried on oceano- 

 graphic work in the Pacific since 1800, see H. Bencker 

 (1930) and R. de Buen (1930 and 1934). 



