SUBMARINE MOUNTAINS 85 



ing Meinesz developed a theory of the East Indian strip, which 

 has appealed to many geologists, and a special study by Pro- 

 fessor H. H. Hess shows this theory to apply well also to the 

 West Indian strip. According to the theory, each strip repre- 

 sents a young, largely submarine mountain chain of the first 

 rank. This idea is so new that it is still missing in most geolog- 

 ical textbooks and is not yet fully appreciated by men of science 

 in general. 



Figure 48 is a diagrammatic cross-section copied from the 

 memoir by Professor Vening Meinesz. It illustrates his theory 



FIGURE 48. SECTION ILLUSTRATING THE ROOT THEORY OF THE STRIPS OF 

 NEGATIVE GRAVITY ANOMALY. 



of the negative "strip." The stippled band at the top represents 

 a thin, superficial, sialic layer of the earth's crust. The shaded 

 band beneath represents the rest of the crust, its stronger part, 

 with density taken to be 2.7 times that of water. The third 

 layer, with assumed density of 3.3, extends indefinitely down- 

 ward, and represents the weak earth-shell corresponding to our 

 vitreous substratum (which, however, should have, at top, a 

 density no greater than 3.1). The continental land of Asia is 

 situated to the left of the section; the deep ocean, whether 

 Indian or Pacific, is situated to the right, at and beyond the 

 depression marked "Deep." Professor Vening Meinesz sup- 

 poses that the crust under the surface of Asia was pushed or 

 pulled bodily toward the ocean. He further supposes that, as 

 Asia slowly traveled toward the ocean, the middle layer of the 



