#2 MARINE SCIENCES AND RESEARCH ACT 
As our terrestrial oilfields become depleted these reserves will become 
increasingly essential to our economy. 
The committee was further told that the oceanic waters contain 
more minerals than have been mined by man in all history. 
Vast deposits of manganese, cobalt, copper, iron, and nickel nodules 
lie on the deep ocean floor—one of these is off our South Atlantic 
coast—and Dr. Milner B. Schaefer testified that he expects techniques 
will be developed which will enable them to be mined commercially 
within 5 or 6 years. 
Dr. Schaefer stated the mineral resources of the sea floor appear to 
warrant modest expenditures to assess their abundance and value, 
and for engineering studies of means of mining them, and added: 
I note with great pleasure that the Senate bill, S. 2692, 
introduced by Senator Magnuson and others, contains 
authorization for various appropriate Government agencies 
to carry out the researches recommended by our Committee 
in the field of ocean resources, and also provides for means of 
coordinating the work of different agencies through a new 
office in the National Science Foundation. 
Mankind will reap many benefits from marine research other than 
those derived from harvesting the ocean’s riches. Among them will 
be added safeguards against the ocean’s destructive forces, for the 
seas can be a friend as well as a mortal foe. 
Earthquakes in Chile in the latter part of May caused tidal waves, 
or tsunamis as they are known to scientists, that sweeping up, down, 
and across the Pacific have brought death to thousands. In distant 
Japan these waves, traveling at speeds up to 440 miles per hour, cost 
at least 180 lives, in Hawaii 55, and in seattered islands throughout 
the South and Southwest Pacific possibly many others. The Philip- 
pines, Formosa, and Pitcairn Islands were among those struck. 
Property damage at Hilo, Hawaii, was estimated at $60 million and 
the damage in Japan was many times greater. 
Science cannot control earthquakes and it cannot prevent them 
from causing tsunamis, but science can convey warning which should 
reach those living on the edges of the ocean basins far in advance of 
any tidal wave. The speed of sound under water is about 4.8 times 
faster than sound waves traveling through the atmosphere. 
Normal wave action also can be destructive and annually brings 
property losses to beach residents of the United States of more than 
$15 million. The Beach Erosion Board of the Army Corps of Engi- 
neers, with extremely limited research funds, is making significant 
contributions toward mitigating this damage and the value of its 
scientific work is recognized in S. 2692 by authorizing its expansion. 
Great damage also is caused annually by sea-born hurricanes, a 
combined oceanographic-meteorological problem of great magnitude. 
From 1915 to 1955 hurricanes caused damage to “coastal property 
of the United States totaling $2.837 billion. During the 4-year period 
since then property losses have aggregated $205 million despite im- 
proved warning systems. Scientists are now gleaning new clues about 
the relationship between water temperature and atmospheric circula- 
tion that may lead to hurricane forecasts before the hurricanes them- 
selves have formed, enabling ships at sea to avoid them and shore 
dwellers ample time to prepare against them. 
