98 THE NAVY OCEAN SCIENCE PROGRAM 



gravity fields, magnetic fields, heat-flow rates, acoustical propa- 

 gation properties, and electrical conductivities of the crustal 

 and subcrustal structures. Factors that affect the deflection of 

 the vertical, for example, which have considerable application in 

 geodesy and undersea warfare, include variations of sedimentary 

 thickness, crustal thickness and densities, and upper-mantle 

 depths and densities across such geologic features as oceanic 

 trenches, sea mounts, and large escarpments. 



Seismic reflection and refraction investigations should be 

 extended to obtain information on crustal and subcrustal struc- 

 tures in ^areas of strategic significance that have been inade- 

 quately studied. These should be accompanied as consistently as 

 possible by gravity, magnetic, and heat-flow measurements, and 

 others, because their interpretation greatly strengthens the 

 whole. 



OCEANIC BIOLOGY 



The quantity of definitive hydrobiological data is not at all 

 uniformly distributed over the spectrum of Navy problem areas. 

 We have amassed significant quantities of information, for 

 example, on the important boring and fouling organisms at long- 

 established operating depths with particular accent on piers and 

 other fixed shore facilities. However, the entrance on the opera- 

 tional Navy scene of deep ocean submersibles will require and 

 at the same time enable marine biologists to explore these great 

 depths. The new deep submersibles have given the marine 

 biologists the essential tools needed to begin an enlightened 

 assault on the deep ocean aspects of such naval problems as toxic 

 and obnoxious marine organisms, the ability of animals to orient 

 and navigate in this abyssal environment, such unique be- 

 haviorial requisites for abyssal adaptation as bioluminescence, 

 and the extreme physiological mechanisms which have been 

 evolved by the deep ocean biota. 



All the foregoing general areas of research are being actively 

 investigated within the current hydrobiological program from 

 the tide lines to moderate depths. In a continuing need for 

 amplification, such areas as continental shelf ecology and 



