476 BOUNDARIES OF THE SEA 



is ignored. However, the more you realize the magnitude of the 

 faikire, the more stimulating tliis introduction should be for en- 

 suing discussions. My theme will be also partly a plea for research 

 into special problems, but it should be taken as a request to the 

 nongeologica! oceanographer to offer reviews of knowledge al- 

 ready available on certain subjects and to present them in such 

 a form that the geologist can follow the argument. 



Exceptional Position of the Geological Oceanographer 



In the brotherhood of oceanographers the marine geologist oc- 

 cupies a somewhat divergent position. It is important to point 

 this out before starting a tour of inspection in the borderlands of 

 his domain. All other marine scientists study their subject prin- 

 cipally to learn more about the sea and its floor. The chance of 

 physical or chemical oceanographers discovering something im- 

 portant to their mother science is remote. Their main reason for 

 keeping in contact with developments in that branch of learning 

 is to avoid missing new lines of attack or new techniques that can 

 be applied to the ocean. The \'ast majority of biologists can ignore 

 marine biology without fear of missing important developments 

 in their own domain. 



For the marine geologist, however, the stimulus to study the 

 ocean originally came from hard rock geology, and land geologists 

 always will continue to demand results of their marine colleagues. 

 It is one of the m^ajor tasks of the stratigraphic geologist to read 

 the facies of ancient rocks; this jargon means to deduce from the 

 present properties and fossil content of a rock the conditions pre- 

 vailing during sedimentation. As the vast majority of stratified 

 rocks are of marine origin, the stratigrapher is constantly occu- 

 pied with the study of former sea floors. Until about World War I 

 he could not be bothered, and, especially, he could not afi^ord to 

 study the present sea floor, so he was wont to deduce from his rocks 

 what submarine conditions must be like. The information he 

 gathered from the present day seas was limited to beaches and the 

 scanty results of deep-sea expeditions. The latter information has 

 been mainly of negative value because it turns out that deep-ocean 

 sediments are practically Lacking on the continents. 



