1 DR. KRAEUTER: Right. 



2 DR. BUTMAN: We talked about if you spread all the drilling 



3 discharges over one kilometer, it is .1 centimeter per well, so there is 



4 still a big question about what area you spread those discharges over. 



5 The point I want to make is that the natural accumulation rate is 



6 fairly low, also, in terms of--there is a lot of material coming in, but 



7 it is also being spread over a fairly big area. 



8 DR. VALENTINE: There is also the timing factor here. The larvae 



9 settle at certain times of the year. 



10 DR. GRASSLE: For deeper water things, it is usually more 



11 continuous, but I don't know whether that is known for these species. 



12 It probably is known. 



13 Anyway, it is a far-out scenario, but if you have larvae that are 



14 settling in the same place as materials being deposited and that 



15 material has different chemical characteristics, even though it is 



16 nontoxic from the material that is normally getting into the canyon, 



17 then it could have an influence on recruitment. 



18 DR. BOTHNER: Brad, if you want to compare the flux coming in over 



19 that 1 square kilometer with accumulation and worry about dilution and 



20 so forth, maybe the better number to use is not so much the long-term 



21 net accumulation, but rather the resuspension rate, assuming the 



22 sediment traps are doing a good job on the efficiency. 



23 You compare the 0.1 of a centimeter per year versus 8 or at least 



24 10 times higher than the average rates of accumulation, which brings it 



25 up to be 0.6. 



26 DR. BUTMAN: Compared to the resuspended flux. 



27 DR. BOTHNER: Compared to the resuspended flux. So, now, the 



28 scenario for the drilling accumulation is one-sixth of the natural flux 



29 rather than two or three times higher than the natural flux. 



30 DR. GRASSLE: The scenario could still work with even a fine layer 



31 that is continually--you know, if it is always there, even though it is 



32 continuously in migration somewhere else over the long term. 



33 DR. TEAL: But it will be patchy. 



313 



