THE OCEAN 



349 



Ooze is the name applied to those soft materials of the sea bottom 

 composed largely of the shells and other hard secretions of tiny 

 organisms which live in the water. Many of these organisms live 

 near the surface of the water, and their shells, etc., sink when they 



Fig. 275. 



Fig. 276. 



Fig. 275. The cup lead. (Challenger Report.) 

 Fig. 276. The dredge. (Challenger Report.) 



die. Oozes are named from the animals and plants which contrib- 

 ute most to them. Thus joraminiferal ooze is the ooze in which 

 shells of tiny animals called foraminifera are abundant, and 

 diatom ooze is ooze in which tests of minute plants, called diatoms, 

 abound. Foraminiferal ooze is much like soft chalk. 



Below the depth of about 2,200 fathoms, the ocean bottom is 

 covered with red clay. The particles of the clay came from many 



