4. What is the rate of sediment deposition on the sea floor? 



Probably the most accurate method of dating sediments is the radio- 

 carbon method. Red clay accumulates on the bottom of the deep ocean 

 at a rate of half a centimeter or less every 1 ,000 years. Calcareous oozes 

 may accumulate twice as fast. 



The average deposition rate in the Atlantic is probably twice that in 

 the Pacific, because much of the Pacific is far from the land which serves 

 as a sediment source. 



Very long cores (about 60 feet) brought up from the ocean floor con- 

 tain sediments deposited over a time span of nearly 2 million years. 



Deposits near land are so variable that no meaningful figures can be 

 given. 



Ericson, David B. and Goesta Wollin 



The Deep and the Past, Alfred A. Knopf, 1964. 

 King, Cuchlaine A. M. 



Oceanography for Geographers, Edward Arnold Ltd. (London), 1962. 

 Yasso, Warren E. 



Oceanography, A Study of Inner Space, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 



1965. 



