APPLICATIONS OF OCEANOGRAPHY IN PEACE AND WAR 



Man's use of the ocean has greatly in- 

 creased in recent years, and it may be ex- 

 pected to increase in the years to come as 

 we learn more and as we improve our tech- 

 nology. The ocean is an immense reservoir 

 of natural resources: minerals, power, fuel, 

 water, food, and other organic products. In 

 addition its great size and vigorous metab- 

 olism make it a useful receptacle for the dis- 

 posal of the waste products of civilization. 

 Finally, it affords a medium for transporta- 

 tion and a means of national defense. 



THE OCEAN AS A SOURCE OF POWER 



In areas where the tidal range is large, as 

 in Passamaquoddy Bay, utilization of the 

 rise and fall of the tide for hydro-electric 

 power is practical from an engineering point 

 of view. The enormous energy of ocean 

 waves can be exploited for power purposes 

 in certain areas, particularly along exposed 

 coasts on the western side of continents. It 

 may eventually be possible to exploit the 

 difference in temperature between surface 

 and deep waters in low latitudes through 

 the use of low pressure steam engines. The 

 last two potential sources of power are not 

 of major engineering interest at present 

 because power can be obtained more cheap- 

 ly from coal and from the hydroelectric 

 development of rivers. 



The amount of uranium in the oceans 

 could be made to furnish power at the 

 present world rate of consumption for near- 

 ly a million years, but the concentration of 

 uranium per unit volume of water is so low 

 that it might take more power to extract 

 the uranium from sea water than could be 

 obtained from it. 



THE OCEAN AS A SOURCE OF CHEMICALS 



Although it is not now economically fea- 

 sible to utilize many important minerals 

 present in great dilution in sea water, it is 

 to be presumed that when high grade de- 



posits on land are worked out methods of 

 extraction from the sea will be developed. 

 The oceans are at present the principal 

 source of bromine and magnesium. In fact, 

 if the latter were to replace iron the supply 

 would still be sufficient for over ten million 

 years. We may anticipate some such sub- 

 stitution if the standard of living throughout 

 the world becomes equal to that of the 

 United States today, because the increased 

 consumption of iron would exhaust present 

 supplies in about seventy-five years. 



If, on the other hand, iron and steel con- 

 tinue as the basic metals of our industrial 

 civilization, the extensive manganese de- 

 posits of the deep sea floor may eventually 

 be utilized. This substance, essential in 

 steel working, is present in minute traces 

 in sea water, but occurs as crusts, often 

 several inches thick, of manganese dioxide 

 over the rocky summits of submarine moun- 

 tains. On one such sea mount in the central 

 Pacific, twenty miles long and ten miles 

 wide, it is estimated that there are fifty 

 million tons of manganese, ten times the 

 present annual world production. 



Sodium chloride, iodine, potassium, phos- 

 phate and vanadium are now obtained 

 largely from deposits laid down beneath 

 the sea in past geologic ages. A consider- 

 able portion, however, of the world require- 

 ments for sodium chloride and iodine now 

 come directly from the ocean. Some sub- 

 stances present in the sea in relatively small 

 amounts, such as gold, radium, and iron, 

 will probably continue to be obtained 

 chiefly from rocks of non-marine origin. 

 Contrary to popular belief, the quantity of 

 gold in sea water is not sufficient to make 

 everyone a millionaire. If it were all ex- 

 tracted and divided equally, each man, 

 woman, and child would receive an amount 

 worth about four thousand dollars. 



Although the plant resources of the ocean 

 are only exploited on a small scale, a very 



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