9. Is there gold or other precious elements in the ocean? If 

 so, how much? 



Yes, there are traces of many valuable elements in the ocean, includ- 

 ing gold and silver. The trouble is that these are present in very minute 

 concentrations. For example, there is not enough gold in a cubic yard 

 of sea water to cover the period at the end of this sentence, and it would 

 be worth less than 0. 1 of a cent. Its extraction would cost more than the 

 value of the gold. 



Although analyses of sea water samples from various parts of the 

 ocean differ only slightly when a volume of one cubic yard of sea water 

 is considered, extrapolations for the amount of gold in a cubic mile mag- 

 nify substantially the analytical differences and geographic variations. 

 Carson calculates93 million dollars worth of gold in a cubic mile; Pincus 

 sets the value at 20 thousand dollars. 



After the First World War, Germany seriously considered extracting 

 gold from the ocean to pay the war debt. The idea was endorsed and 

 supported by the distinguished chemist Fritz Haber. One of the main 

 goals of an extended series of expeditions by the METEOR, which 

 crossed and recrossed the North and South Atlantic repeatedly between 

 1924 and 1928, was to investigate the feasibility of gold recovery from 

 the ocean. Although the quantity of gold found was less than expected 

 and the cost of extraction prohibitively high, the METEOR collected 

 much valuable oceanographic data. 



If a "cheap" industrial method of extracting uo\d from the sea is ever 

 developed, gold would lose much of its value. 



Carson, R. L. 



The Sea Around Us, Oxford University Press, 1951; Mentor Books 



(Paperback), 1954. 

 Clarke, Arthur C. 



The Challenge of the Sea, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960. 

 Pincus, Howard J. 



Secrets of the Sea, Oceanography for Young Scientists, American 



Education Publications, Inc., 1966. 



