MARINE BOTTOM DEPOSITS 



No general review of the subject of marine bottom 

 deposits will be attempted here but a sufficient 

 number of references to literature will be given to 

 show the present status of mapping the material 

 on the sea-floor. Nearly all, if not all, modern 

 research expeditions have systematically collected 

 samples of the sea bottom, and reports on the ma- 

 terial obtained have either been written or are in 

 preparation. Since the later reports utilize the 

 information contained in the earlier publications, 

 it is necessary to mention only recent reports. 

 Although the material collected by modern expedi- 

 tions has been or is being utilized, it must be recog- 

 nized with regret that there are enormous collections 

 of marine bottom samples procured by earlier ex- 

 peditions that have not been critically studied — 

 for example, there are thousands of such samples in 

 the United States National Museum awaiting study. 

 There have been far too few students of marine 

 bottom deposits. The only large museum that has 

 on its staff a member whose major duty is to study 

 marine bottom samples is the British Museum of 

 Natural History. Several of the oceanographic 

 institutions have specialists on the subject attached 

 to their staffs, but the researches of most of the 

 investigators are incidental to other activities. 



For the Atlantic Ocean the most comprehensive 

 reports are those on the results of the Meteor 

 Expedition. Two of them, by Correns and his 

 associates' have been pubhshed. The study of the 

 samples obtained in the south Atlantic was en- 

 trusted to 0. Pratje, who has published one Lieferung 

 on his results,- and it is understood that another 

 part will follow. Until now no chart presenting the 

 results for the entire Atlantic has appeared. 



Three reports on collections made by the Dis- 



> Correns, Carl W., A. Die Verfahren der Gewinnung 

 und Untersuchung der Sedimente: Die Sedimente des 

 aquatorialen Atlantischen Ozeans, Wissench. Ergeb. 

 Meteor, vol. 3, 3d pt., 1st Lief., pp. 42, 193.5. 



Schott, W. 15., Die Foraminiferen in dem aquatorialen 

 Teil des Atlantischen Ozeans: Ibid., 1st Lief., pp. 43-134, 

 3 Beilagen, pis. 1, 2, 1935. 



Correns, Carl W., C. Zusammenstellung der Untersuch- 

 ungs Ergebnisse nach Stationen geordnet; D. Auswertung 

 der Ergebnisse, mit Beitriigen von V. Leinz und O. K. 

 Radczewski: Ibid., 2 d Lief., pp. XH, 135-298, pis. 3, 4, 1937. 



^ Pratje, O., Gewinnung und Bearbeitung der Boden- 

 proben: Die Sedimente des Siidatlantischen Ozeans, 

 Wissensch. Ergeb. Meteor, vol. 3, pt. 2, 1 Lief., 1935. 



covERY II and William Scoresby have appeared.' 

 Two papers by Thorp are cited in a footnote.* 

 The second paper by Thorp is concerned with only 

 shallow-water deposits of the kind indicated in the 

 title. It contains references to all important litera- 

 ture on the subject, for both the Atlantic and Pacific 

 Oceans. 



For the Pacific and Indian Oceans, W. Schott^ 

 has given a comprehensive review, accompanied by 

 a bibhography, of the subject up to the end of 1934. 

 Thorp, in the short paper cited below,^ describes the 

 shallow-water calcium-carbonate deposits of another 

 area in the Pacific. Of the Discovery Reports 

 already published only the one Neaverson, already 

 noted, deals with Pacific sediments. An extensive 

 report by Roger Revelle on the bottom samples 

 collected in the Pacific by the Carnegie is now in 

 press as a publication of the Department of Terres- 

 trial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington. P. H. Kuenen has in preparation a 

 report on the marine bottom samples collected by 

 the WiLLEBRORD Snellius in the Netherlands 

 East Indies. The specimens collected by the 

 Mabahiss are being studied by J. D. H. Wiseman, 

 who has published an interesting article on volcanic 

 rock dredged from the bottom off Providence Is- 

 land' and the paper by him and R. B. S. Sewell, 

 "The floor of the Arabian Sea," already cited, con- 



' Matthews, L. Harrison, The marine deposits of the 

 Patagonian continental shelf: Discovery Reports, vol. 9, 

 pp. 175-206, pis. 2-14, 1934. 



Moore, Hilary B., Faecal pellets from marine deposits: 

 Discovery Reports, vol. 7, pp. 17-26, 1 text-fig., 1933. 



Neaverson, E., Sea-floor deposits, L General characters 

 and distribution: Discovery Reports, vol. 9, pp. 295-350, 

 pis. 17-22, 1934. 



' Thorp, E. M., Descriptions of deep-sea bottom samples 

 from the western north Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea: 

 Scripps Inst. Oceanogr. Tech. Bull., vol. 3, pp. 1-31, 5 

 text-figs., 1 chart, 1931. 



Thorp, E. M., Calcareous shallow-water marine deposits 

 of Florida and the Bahamas: Carnegie Inst. Washington 

 Pub. no. 452, pp. 37-143, 14 text-figs., 5 pis., Dec. 1935. 



* Schott, W., Die Bodenbedeckung des Indischen und 

 Stillen Ozeans: in G. Schott's Geographic des Indischen 

 und Stillen Ozeans, pp. 109-122, pi. 5, 1935. 



' Thorp, E. M., The sediments of the Pearl and Hermes 

 Reed (Midway Islands): Jour. Sed. Petrol., vol. 6, pp. 109- 

 118, 1 fig., 1936. 



' Wiseman, J. D. H., The petrography and significance 

 of a rock dredged from a depth of 744 fathoms, near to 

 Providence Reef, Indian Ocean. Linn. Soc. Zool. Trans, 

 ser. 2, vol. 19, pp. 437-443, 3 text-figs., 1936. 



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