104 



THE FLOOR OF THE OCEAN 





LA CAMARGUE:.- 



11111 





Littora 



ME D /TE R R A N E A N 



SEA 



20 Kilometers 



FIGURE 55. MAP OF THE MEDITERRANEAN DELTA OF THE RHONE RIVER. THE 

 ARROWS INDICATE THE DIRECTION OF THE LOCAL DOMINANT CURRENT IN 



THE SEA. 



the capes is a cusp, projecting oceanward, as it were in the 

 teeth of the breakers. Between the cusps are the long, bay-like 

 re-entrants with their own beach lines and graceful curves. 

 The whole assemblage of topographic forms is unique in both 

 scale and rhythm, and it is natural to attribute them to a com- 

 mon cause. Forty-five years ago Cleveland Abbe, Jr., suggested 

 the cause — the Gulf Stream, the speediest of the major sea 

 currents that pass continental shores. 2 



Figure 56 illustrates Abbe's reasoning about the remarkable 

 phenomenon. 



From southern Florida to the latitude of Cape Hatteras the 

 Stream has an axial velocity of three to five miles an hour, 



