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a world-standard crustal section across the central North Atlantic 
Ocean is being established to provide a transoceanic strip for which 
the seabed geophysics and bathymetry will be known and accurately 
mapped. Upon completion of the field work on this project, joint 
publications including an atlas will summarize the accomplishments. 
Both Soviet and U.S. research vessels also are participating in a 
continuous detailed geological/geophysical investigation of the oceanic 
crust extending from the northwestern section of the Pacific to the 
Mid-Pacific Seamount Province. It is aimed at providing an un- 
derstanding of the structure, historical development, and deformation 
of the plate, and areas of investigation are being chosen to comple- 
ment the IPOD drill sites in the northwest Pacific. The first cruise 
under this project took place in the Sea of Okhotsk aboard the R/V 
Mendeleev of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences during the months 
of August—October 1974. This joint U.S.—U.S.S.R. investigation was 
focused on the study of the geological deformation of the sedimentary 
strata accumulated along the southern margin of the Sea of Okhotsk. 
The deformation of the strata is directly related to the dynamic in- 
teraction between the Siberian margins of the Pacific and the 
Northwest Pacific Plate. In June 1975 the research vessel Vema from 
the United States conducted work in the Kuril-Kamchatka region and 
during the period of July-August 1975 the U.S. research vessels Kana 
Keoki and Vema conducted geophysical research in the region between 
the Emperior Seamounts and the Shatskiy Rise in the northwest Pacific 
Ocean. Scientists from the U.S.S.R. participated on both vessels. It 
is also anticipated that further joint work will be conducted in the 
region of the northwest Pacific Ocean in 1976 by the Dmitri Mende- 
leev and the Vema and the Kana Keoki. An exchange of scientists 
is scheduled to be carried out between the ships. 
Another study concerned with the second layer of the ocean floor 
in selected regions of the Atlantic and northern Pacific Ocean is 
focusing on the origin of magnetism in the oceanic crust and the 
relationship of the magnetic anomalies to the tectonic structure. Joint 
research has been carried out by scientists from the Lamont-Doherty 
Geological Observatory and from the Institute of Oceanology of the 
Academy of Sciences, U.S.S.R. The first two-ship project was a study 
of the oceanic crust of the Icelandic platform. A second such project 
studied the acoustic velocity layering of the crust located under the 
flanks of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. A third cruise with U.S. participation 
aboard the Soviet vessel Akademik Kurchatov has studied the structure 
of the Walvis Ridge in the South Atlantic Ocean. Additional cruises 
also are planned over the next year for further joint work in the 
North and South Atlantic Oceans. 
Two new projects recently have been initiated to understand the 
parameters which effect sedimentation and also the origin and evolu- 
tion of oceanic lithospheric plates. In order to learn about the dynamic 
processes that control sedimentation, erosion and transportation a joint 
project has been established. These processes must be understood 
if paleo-oceanographic conditions are to be correctly interpreted from 
cores of the ocean floor. With the interests of both countries in 
this problem, a committee of experts is being convened to formulate 
a program of cooperative experiments. Similarly, another group of 
experts is to develop a multistage program to investigate the oceanic 
