NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM—1965 83 
Perhaps that is enough deviation from my talk. 
I might mention in closing a little bit about Project Mohole. Proj- 
ect Mohole has had so much publicity that the Interagency Commitee 
has been forced to give it some consideration. I did want particularly 
to point out that we are aware of the progress of Project Mohole and 
very much interested in it. However, from the standpoint of eceanog- 
raphy, we are interested not in Mohole because of its ability to take a 
sample from the center of the earth, or at least from a deeper part of 
the earth, but we are interested in it because it gives us an oceano- 
graphic capability that we cannot now meet. 
We support Project Mohole by attempting to develop a long coring 
capability. That 1s, a capability for taking cores that are 1,000 feet 
or longer in length. The length of the cores in the national oceanog- 
raphy program are generally determined by the length of life of the 
bit that is attached to the drilling device. As long as the bit lasts, we 
continue to take a core, and with present bits this means we can pene- 
trate to something of the order of 1,000 feet. 
Another very interesting problem which I thought I might mention 
in closing has to do with a discovery in the Indian Ocean that during 
apparently a large part, if not all of the year, there exists in a major 
part of the ocean in the Arabian Sea a large area that is devoid of 
oxygen: . This means that no organisms can live on the bottom of the 
ocean. It means that those organisms that live in the middle of the 
ocean are restricted, but 1t means that because there is a lack of oxygen 
there must be something to take the oxygen out. The lack of oxygen 
is related, apparently, to the production of a large amount of organic 
material. The organic materials are the nutrients that provide the 
basis of life in the sea, so the surface of the Arabian Sea is really teem- 
ing with life, tremendous numbers of fishes, tremendous quantities of 
other marine organisms. 
It would be very interesting to speculate, which is all it is, on the 
reason why this oxygenless area has persisted, apparently, long after 
there has been substantial introduction of organic material into the 
area. It is certainly interesting to speculate how it might be possible 
to distribute this organic matter, or to find other so-called pools of 
organic matter in the ocean that could serve as a fertilizer and thus 
increase the production of fishes beyond the hundreds of billions of 
pounds that were discussed in the film. 
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I will be pleased to answer 
questions. 
Mr. Lennon. Thank you, Dr. Wallen. 
We are delighted to have the chairman of the full committee who is 
enthusiastic about the whole program. 
Chairman Bonner, do you have any questions? 
Mr. Bonner. No questions. 
Mr. Mosuer. I am not sure it is relevant, but his reference to this 
area.of the sea devoid of oxygen reminds me of the problem we have 
in Lake Erie which is becoming devoid of oxygen. What do you do to 
replace oxygen ? . 
Are there any techniques in a relatively small area such as Lake 
Erie? Are there any techniques by which there is hope we can over- 
come the pollution problem there? . 
Dr. Warten. The easiest way which could be practiced in a smaller 
lake would be to flush out that water and get rid of the excess organi¢ 
