273 



1962: Chief Sciciilist liV \'<ni(i fi-om raiiama through Gulf of Mexico, and 

 Caribbean to North Atlantic and New York. 



1963 : Participated in .search for submarine Thresher, June-July, aboard RV 

 Conrad. Chief Scientists RV Vcimi from Abidjan to New York. 



1964: Participated in joint French-IJ.S. Operation Deepscan dives iii bathy- 

 scaphe Archhncde in PueiitO' Rico trench area. Chief Scientist RV Vemu, Recife- 

 Bermuda-N.Y. 



1965 : Co-secretary, l^NESCO/TJMC Conference, Nairobi, Kenya. Participant, 

 International IIMt' Symposia, Ottawa, Canada. 



1905-66 : National Science Foundation Senior Post-Doctoral Fellowship ; Sab- 

 batical leave spent at Cambridge I'niversity, England. Participated in operations 

 of bathyscaphe Archdmcdc off Greece. 



1967 : Mlcroearthquake studies in Kenya and Iceland. 



1968 : Mlcroearthquake studies in Iceland. 



STATEMENT OF DR. CHARLES L. DRAKE, LAMONT-DOHERTY 

 GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATORY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 



Dr. Drake. Thank you, Mr. Ch'airman. 



I have been asked to speak to the subject of national projects as 

 recommended by the Commission. 



These projects were proposed to stimulate and support fundamental 

 technology and to provide national facilities with the ultimate aim of 

 lowering the cost of marine technological applications by industry, 

 the scientific community and Government. 



Some of the suggested projects are designed to attack critical prob- 

 lems of immediate concern to large segments of our population, others 

 to provide a technological base for future development. NASCO has 

 endorsed the concept of national projects in iDrinciple although indi- 

 vidual members might dilS'er in their opinions about priorities and 

 might also offer other projects as suitable for consideration as national 

 projects. 



Exploration and development of the oceans is and has been tech- 

 nology limited. I can speak with the greatest assurance within the 

 framework of my own field which is marine geology and geophysics. 

 Many, or perhaps even most, of the major developments in this field 

 nave resulted from work by oceanographers in this country and each 

 major discovery can be traced back to the development of a new tech- 

 nique for studying the ocean floor. 



At the end of the Second World War, precision echo sounders did 

 not even exist. As soon as accurate timers were attached to existing 

 echo sounders, major features of the sea bottom, such as the great flat 

 abj^ssal plains and midocean canyons, were revealed and it became 

 possible to study the minor features. 



The echo-sounding data combined with underwater photographs 

 and sediment samples obtained with coring devices revealed the nature 

 of the sediments and the sedimentary process, including bottom cur- 

 rents and mass downhill movements at high velocities. 



Magnetometers, adapted from devices developed for detecting sub- 

 marines, have revealed a systematic magnetic striping of the ocean 

 floor which appears to be related to the age of the crystalline rock be- 

 neath the sediments on the ocean floor. 



The data suggest major horizontal movements of the ocean floor 

 and have revolutionized geological thinking about the origin of ocean 

 ridges and mountain systems. 



Continuous reflection techniques have revealed the presence of such 

 features as dome-like structures on the deep floor of the 'Gulf of Mexico 



