6 THEOCEANFLOOR 



the Atlantic, but he also notices that a new Atlantean 

 continent has risen out of the sea, dividing the remaining 

 ocean into two parts. This "New Atlantis" is the present 

 gigantic submarine Mid- Atlantic Ridge, with its crest at 

 an average depth of about 10,000 feet. We have special 

 reasons to be grateful that this strange sea change is not 

 likely to occur in our politically unsettled times. One 

 shudders at the international complications which might 

 ensue from the rivalry between East and West for the 

 possession of such a seaborn continent. 



The remaining black surface on the map is divided 

 between two parallel Atlantic Oceans, the present 

 eastern and western Atlantic Valleys, with their low- 

 lands spread 5,000 to 10,000 feet below the level of the 

 ridge between them. Closer inspection shows one, 

 possibly even two, sounds or channels cutting through 

 the Mid- Atlantic continent. The northern one is more 

 hypothetical, whereas there is little doubt regarding the 

 existence of the southern channel, situated just under 

 the Equator. This is the famous Romanche Channel, 

 which runs quite close to the equally famous Romanche 

 Deep, a curious cavity in the sea bottom accidentally 

 discovered in 1883 by the French survey ship "La 

 Romanche." We further notice a transverse ridge, the 

 Walvish Ridge, which runs northeast from the South 

 Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha toward Walvish 

 Bay on the west coast of Africa. It acts as a submarine 

 barrier or water divide, holding back the ice-cold 



