sediments over extensive areas of the Bauer Basin, and has vastly 

 increased the data base for the geology and geophysics of the 

 Nazca Plate. 



Manganese Nodules 



Approximately 25% of the deep ocean floor is known to be 

 covered by manganese nodules, aggregations of metals containing 

 varying amounts of iron, manganese, copper, nickel and cobalt. 

 This project, which started in 1972, has produced a series of 

 maps showing the w^orldwide distribution of nodules by metallic 

 content, with special emphasis on portions of the North Pacific 

 where their economic potential seems greatest. These maps pro- 

 vide a firm base on which more detailed studies can be made. 

 In addition, they have been used by delegates to the Law of the 

 Sea Conference and other international groups concerned with 

 the legal or ecological aspects of nodule exploitation. Other studies 

 are underway on the environmental conditions under which nodules 

 form and grow, their rate of growth, and changes over time. 



The Living Resources Program is aimed at increased understanding 

 of the oceanic processes affecting marine life. Its two projects are: 



Coastal U pwelling Ecosystems Analysis (CUEA) 



Coastal upwelling regions, in \vhich wind-driven currents bring 

 nutrient-rich waters from depths of tens or hundreds of meters to 

 the surface, provide roughly half of the world's fish harvest, 

 although they comprise only one percent of the total ocean area. 

 Upwelling systems represent complex interactions between the at- 

 mosphere, the sea and the marine life it contains. Understanding 

 these systems requires the combined effort of meteorologists and 

 physical, chemical, and biological oceanographers. CUEA, w^hich 

 began in 1972, is an attempt to achieve sufficient understanding 

 of upwelling ecosystems so that responses of these systems to 

 change may be predicted from monitoring a few key biological, 

 oceanographic, or meteorological 'parameters. 



Field studies of the physical aspects of upwelling were carried out 

 off the Oregon coast, and studies of the biological aspects off the 

 coast of Baja California, in 1972 and 1973. A joint effort (JOINT 



I) was conducted off the coast of northwest Africa in 1974, and 

 a study of ujDwelling in the El Nino region off Peru (JOINT 



II) begins in 1975. (The African study involved substantial inter- 

 national participation, and in the Peruvian study the South Ameri- 

 can nations are conducting the major portion of the work.) These 

 field studies aim toward development of a general upwelling eco- 



35 



