227 



6. Gaps will be delineated which may exist after the above expansion, and 

 additional professional support will be solicited to assure complete coverage. 



7. Preliminary examinations of the selected survey areas will be conducted 

 to assure that appropriately representative sites have been chosen. 



8. A project director, with appropriate supporting staff, will be employed 

 to coordinate the project, write project plans, provide advice to the steering 

 committee, and to conduct preliminary studies. 



Mr. Edwards. May I ask a question along that line. Is there some 

 fear in your mind that, if we develop a sea-level canal, some grave 

 consequences may come about? Is that a serious problem? 



Dr. Galler. It could be a very serious problem. I do not subscribe 

 to the alarmist views that some of my colleagues have, but by the same 

 token I can sympathize with their views by virtue of the fact that we 

 just do not have enough fundamental data at hand to be able to pro- 

 ject what could occur if the oceans were linked by an interoceanic, sea- 

 level canal. The evidence to date in such areas as the Suez Canal and 

 the Black Sea and, more recently, the Aswan Dam, suggests very 

 strongly that there are profound changes that do occur in the water 

 masses adjacent and considerably beyond these new major engineer- 

 ing developments. 



Whether in fact one could project what might occur if there were a 

 sea level canal, I am not prepared to say, but I am prepared to offer a 

 strong reconnnendation that it would be in our national best interest 

 to undertake a long-term fundamental research program that would 

 cooperate in and supporl. what we are trying to do in developing an 

 interoceanic canal. 



Mr. Edwards. Thank you. 



Mr. Rogers. Mr. Keith, do you have any questions? 



Mr. Keith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Dr. Galler, how do the Smithsonian Institution's plans to make de- 

 tailed studies of the structure and movement of the earth's crust on 

 the ocean floor relate to plans of the Scripps Institution of Oceanog- 

 raphy to make similar studies ? 



Dr. Galler. Smithsonian scientists work on these projects jointly 

 with Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Drs. T. J. Van Andel of 

 Scripps and William G. Melson of the Smithsonian share deep ocean 

 research interests, with Melson specializing in the mineralogy of the 

 rocks collected and Van Andel in the sediment ology of the soft mate- 

 rial. The techniques used for study and the information gained are 

 complementary. Such collaboration may include joint cruises or sepa- 

 rate cruises. In the latter case, one scientists saves appropriate collec- 

 tions for the other. 



In the now defunct Project Mohole, the Smithsonian Institution 

 scientists — in this case. Dr. Melson^ — would have served as chief scien- 

 tist for portions of the Scripps-organized experiment. During the long 

 coring project of the National Science Foundation, that part of the 

 project funded through the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in- 

 cludes Dr. Melson in the coordinating group concerned with minerals 

 on the sea floor. Of course, the same mechanism for coordination exists 

 in the Atlantic. 



Mr. Keith. How does the Smithsonian Institution expect to con- 

 tribute to solving the problem of data handling procedures and stand- 

 ards for exploraticm of the ocean? 



