Planning studies were begun in 1975 for a major study of metallogen- 

 sis and tectonic patterns in the East Asian island arc. A compilation of 

 existing data was started and is expected to result in the production of a 

 working atlas of marine geological and geophysical characteristics for 

 this region. The major field studies for this program will commence in 

 1976 under the aegis of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commis- 

 sion (IOC) and the Committee for Coordination of Joint Prospecting for 

 Mineral Resources in Asian Offshore Areas of the Economic. Scientific 

 and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. U.S. efforts under this 

 program are likely to focus on the Banda, Phillipine. and Sunda Arcs. 



In its IDOE environmental quality program, the NSF initiated a 2-year 

 study of the transfer of pollutants from the West Coast of North America 

 into the open Pacific Ocean. This study, using cadmium as a tracer, 

 should improve our understanding of the routes through which pollu- 

 tants move from coastal to open-ocean regions. 



The Controlled Ecosystem Pollution Experiment (CEPEX) completed 

 the engineering field-testing of its environmental enclosures in Saanich 

 Inlet, British Columbia, in 1975. CEPEX preliminary findings from 

 petroleum hydrocarbon experiments conducted in conjunction with 

 these field tests were very striking. The research suggests that hydrocar- 

 bon concentrations in the water column decrease within a few days after 

 their introduction. Furthermore, there appear to be shifts in the relative 

 distribution of species of plankton, with some sensitive species dying off 

 and resistant species increasing in number. There was actually an over- 

 all enhancement of primary productivity among some organisms at low 

 levels of contamination of the water column by petroleum hydrocar- 

 bons. 



Both U.S. and foreign institutions completed their initial analysis of 

 samples collected during the Pacific Geochemical Ocean Sections Study 

 (GEOSECS) expedition. These samples had been collected from the 

 research ship, Melville, during the period from August 1973 to June 1974. 



The NSF-sponsored International Southern Ocean Studies initiated 

 studies of the Circumpolar Current in the Drake Passage and the 

 western Scotia Sea. These studies were directed at delineating the path, 

 baroclinic structure, and property distributions of the Circumpolar Cur- 

 rent and determining its spatial relation to the Polar Front. This work 

 was undertaken in cooperation with scientists and vessels from Argen- 

 tina and Chile. Simultaneously, expeditions from Poland and the Soviet 

 Union conducted related surveys, and the real-time exchange of data 

 was achieved among these expeditions. 



In June 1972, representatives from 113 nations attended the United 

 Nations Conference on the Human Environment, in Stockholm, 

 Sweden, and developed a plan of action for preserving and enhancing 

 the human environment. The conference resulted in the creation of 



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