The Atlantic Continental Shelf and Slope 

 a Program for Study 



By K. O. Emery and John S. Schlce 



INTRODUCTION 



For many years the work of land geologist has 

 stopped at the water's edge and that of marine 

 geologists started at the same line. This divi- 

 sion of interests came about partly because of 

 the differences in geologic tools needed in the 

 two environments, andpartly through limitations 

 in charters of organizations sponsoring the 

 geologic work. Future progress in both envi- 

 ronments will be sped by cooperative studies of 

 continental margins. To geologists, these mar- 

 gins are significant because they are areas of 

 great crustal mobility and may, therefore, con- 

 tain the key to our understanding of the growth, 

 and perhaps of the origin, of continents. Most 

 sedimentary rocks that geologists study on 

 land were formed in a shallow marine environ- 

 ment. If we are to evaluate the many factors 

 such as source areas, composition, climate, 

 transporting agents, and diagenesis that have 

 molded the lithified end product, we must first 

 discover the relationships between unconsoli- 

 dated sediments and their shallow-water marine 

 environments. Moreover, within the strata of 

 many continental margins are structural and 

 stratigraphic traps containing petroleum, and 

 a thorough study of the margins may lead to 

 discovery of additional traps. 



In 1962, the Congress authorized a program 

 in marine geology by the U.S. Geological Survey, 

 and the Survey in turn entered into an agree- 

 ment with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 

 for a five-year joint investigation of the Conti- 

 nental Shelf and slope off the Atlantic coast of 

 the United States. The Survey provides the fi- 

 nancial support for the work, . and scientists 

 from both organizations are engaged in the 

 study. The interests and abilities of the two 

 organizations complement each other in this 



study. Several other organizations are also 

 cooperating in certain aspects of the work; 

 chief among these are the Bureau of Commer- 

 cial Fisheries, which is processing benthic 

 biological samples, and the Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey, which is supplying smooth sheets of 

 soundings taken by its many ships in the past, 

 and during the course of the investigation. Still 

 other organizations, mostly universities, are 

 involved through their interests in special prob- 

 lems in such fields as taxonomy, chemistry, and 

 and oceanographic training. 



The area of the study extends from the border 

 between Maine and Canada to the southern tip 

 of Florida, a distance of about 2,500 km (see 

 cover). It was chosen because of the probable 

 continuity of strata from land to sea floor, and 

 because some of the strata now exposed in 

 outcrops on land were originally deposited 

 under conditions probably similar to those now 

 existing on the nearby sea floor. 



FACILITIES 



The research vessel for work at sea is a re- 

 cently converted small Army freighter (Fron- 

 tispiece), renamed Gosnold in honor of a sea 

 captain who explored the region near Woods 

 Hole in 1602. She is steel hulled, 30 m long, 

 6.4-m beam, 2.5-m draft, and of 250 gross ton- 

 nage. Diesel-powered (275 h. p.) with a vari- 

 able-pitch propeller, she cruises at 13 km/hour 

 but can also idle near zero speed. Fuel, water, 

 and food capacities permit a 3,000-km cruising 

 range, well in excess of the maximum range 

 needed for the work. Bunking and other facil- 

 ities are adequate for 15 persons. Approxi- 

 mately 100 days per year will be spent at sea; 

 cruises will be about one month long and spaced 

 a montli or two apart. 



—'Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Mass. 



2/ 



—'U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, Mass. 



