Environmental Quality Program 



This program consists of long-term, integrated research in 

 marine pollution and geochemical processes. There are three 

 major studies in the program: Geochemical Ocean Sections 

 Study (GEOSECS), which examines the concentration, injec- 

 tion, and transport of the chemical constituents of the ocean in 

 surface and deep water; Baseline Studies, which are designed to 

 establish the concentration of selected important pollutants in 

 biota, seawater, and sediments; and Pollutant Transfer Studies, 

 which investigate the rates, mechanisms, and pathways by which 

 pollutants are transported to the oceans and by which they move 

 through the biota, seawater, and sediments. 



Geochemical Ocean Sections (GEOSECS) 

 Study 



This international cooperative program applies geochemical 

 and hydrographic measurements to the study of circulation and 

 mixing processes in the world oceans. The GEOSECS research 

 plan is to measure in detail the oceanic constituents at all depths 

 along Arctic to Antarctic sections, in the Atlantic and Pacific 

 Oceans, to provide, for the first time, a set of more than 40 

 physical and chemical parameters determined from the same 

 water samples. These data not only will provide the input for 

 quantitative studies of oceanic mixing but will serve as a base 

 line for the concentration levels of metals and fission products 

 in the deep sea. 



Three types of stations will be routinely occupied during 

 the GEOSECS cruises: (1) Salinity-temperature-depth (STD) 

 stations for continuous hydrographic data; (2) regular stations 

 where hydrographic data are collected with the STD and water 

 samples are collected with Nansen and Niskin bottles for analyses 

 of dissolved gases, nutrients, suspended matter, and trace metals; 

 and (3) large-volume stations where, in addition to the above 

 analyses, very large water samples are collected for radiochemi- 

 cal analyses. In all, about 40 different types of analyses will be 

 performed on the samples collected by GEOSECS. 



Research based on the GEOSECS cruises will be carried out 

 at many institutions throughout the world for several years. The 

 sampling transect of the Pacific Ocean will be conducted from 

 the RV Melville of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography 

 during the period July 1973 through April 1974. U. S. institu- 

 tions participating in GEOSECS are listed on page 1 of the 

 I DOE Progress Report: January 1970 to July 1972. 



Figure 1.— GEOSECS. Leg 1 of track of RV 

 KNORR, July 18 to August 7, 1972. 



The RV Knorr of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti- 

 tution began the GEOSECS program Atlantic Ocean cruise on 

 July 18, 1972. 



The Knorr cruise had nine legs. 



Leg 1. From Woods Hole to Reykjavik, Iceland (fig. 1). 

 A total of 13 stations were occupied on this leg: excellent 

 weather allowed 6 stations to be completed in addition to the 7 

 originally planned. D. W. Spencer was chief scientist. 



Leg 2. Arctic Ocean from Reykjavik to Reykjavik, Ice- 

 land (fig. 2). This leg began and ended from the same port, and 

 10 stations were completed. Again good weather allowed three 

 extra stations to be completed in the area of the Norwegian 

 Sea overflow into the Atlantic. D. W. Spencer was chief scientist. 



Leg 3. Reykjavik, Iceland, to Bridgetown, Barbados 

 (fig. 3). A total of 12 stations were occupied, 2 more than 

 originally planned. Station No. 26 was a reoccupation of sta- 

 tion No. 1 from Leg 1. W. S. Broecker was chief scientist. 



Leg 4, Bridgetown, Barbados, to Recife, Brazil (fig. 4). 

 Despite several lost days due to a dock strike in Barbados, 14 

 stations were completed on this leg, which was double the 

 number originally planned. H. Craig was chief scientist. 



Leg 5. Recife, Brazil, to Buenos Aires, Argentina (fig. 

 5). A total of 17 stations were occupied on this leg, 7 more than 

 originally planned. Five of the extra stations were surface sta- 

 tions occupied to measure radon across the Continental Shelf. 

 W. S. Broecker was chief scientist. 



Leg 6. Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Ushuaia, Argentina 

 (fig. 6). A total of 14 stations were occupied on this leg, includ- 

 ing 7 extra STD stations. Because of bad weather and other 

 conditions, the proposed cruise was altered somewhat and this 



