Navigation equipment includes gyrocompass 

 and pelorus, automatic pilot, radar, Loran a, 

 Loran C, and radio direction-finder. Three 

 winches are arranged to work over the port 

 side. For light high-speed work in shallow 

 depths, a bathythermograph winch carrying 

 300m of 4-mm stainless steel cable is used. 

 Light deep-water work is done with a hydro- 

 graphic winch carrying 6,000 m of 6-mm stain- 

 less steel cable. Theheavy work will be handled 

 with a trawl winch having 3,000 m of 12 -mm non- 

 twist cable of 13-tons breaking strength. To help 

 handle heavy gear on board and overside, an 

 articulated crane capable of lifting nearly one 

 ton at its maximum extension of 6 m is situated 

 near the middle of the main working deck. Most 

 of the navigational and other electronic equip- 

 ment is housed in a laboratory just below and 

 forward of the bridge. Sample processing, 

 chemical analyses, and other work are conducted 

 in a portable van fastened to the deck just for- 

 ward of the electronics laboratory. Several 

 such vans belong to the different groups that 

 will use Gosnold for their studies; each van, 

 modified to a particular project's needs, can be 

 hoisted aboard for each cruise to replace a van 

 previously used by another group. 



Supporting the ship's work are laboratories 

 ashore, comprising an area of about 300 sq m 

 for this program. The laboratories are well 

 equipped with drafting facilities and map en- 

 largers for study of topography, and with bal- 

 ances, sieves, settling tubes and cylinders, 

 chemical apparatus, microscopes. X-ray, pH 

 meters, and spectrophotometer for studies of 

 sediments and rocks. In addition,the Woods Hole 

 Oceanographic Institution has available a digital 

 computer, salinometers, photographic and draft- 

 ing facilities, electronic and machine shops, and 

 a large file of unpublished information relating 

 to coastal and off-shore waters. There are also 

 available for consultation many workersat Woods 

 Hole who possess special knowledge and expe- 

 rience in water characteristics, marine biology, 

 and shoreline geology. The Geological Survey 

 support services include map-making facilities, 

 extensive collections of for aminifera and rocks, 

 and radiocarbon dating and analytical chemical 

 laboratories. 



The study is being conducted by both Woods 

 Hole Oceanographic Institution and the U.S. Ge- 

 ological Survey; scientists from both organiza- 

 tions are participating jointly. In the first year's 

 activity existing data have been compiled, and 

 new information from Gosnold cruises has been 



gathered and organized. The men involved in 

 the study and their areas of responsibility are 



as follows: 



K. O. Emery, WHOI, scientist in chargeofthe 

 study 



Donald J. Casey, USGS, river discharge and 

 general sediments 



T. G. Gibson, USGS, micropaleontologist 



John C. Hathaway, USGS, X-ray and mineral- 

 ogy 



Jobst iiulsemann, WHOI, general sediment 

 chennistry 



R. M. Pratt, WHOI, lithology and topography 



John S. Schlee, USGS, Project Chief, strati- 

 graphy and texture of sediments 



A. R. Tagg, USGS, sedimentology and miner- 

 alogy 



James V. A. Trumbull, USGS, coarse frac- 

 tions and sediment texture 



Elazar Uchupi, WHOI, underwater topography 

 and areal sediment mapping 

 Still to be added to the staff are a geophysicist, 

 a geochemist, and a hydrologist. 



PROGRAMS OF STUDY 



Several kinds of geological information are to 

 be obtained. To visualize the shelf and slope 

 and to interpret Recent and Pleistocene geologic 

 history, studies of topography and sediments are 

 apt to be most rewarding. For pre-Pleistocene 

 history, studies of lithology and structure con- 

 tribute more. Tools and procedures for each of 

 these fields of investigation differ both aboard 

 ship and in the laboratory ashore. 



Topography 



Existing data on the topography of the Conti- 

 inental Shelf and continental slope come mainly 

 from pre- 1940 surveys by the U.S. Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey. Some ofthese data (those which 

 relate to the area between Massachusetts and 

 North Carolina) were contoured and published 

 by Veatch and Smith in 1939. Soundings by the 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey and others from La- 

 mont Geological Observatory and from the Navy 

 Oceanographic Office served as the basis for a 

 chart of the North Atlantic, including the Atlantic 

 coastal margin, drawn by Heezen, Tharp, and 

 Ewing (1959). Several more detailed charts of 

 smaller areas have been made, but because of 

 their local nature, these charts are not sum- 

 marized here. 



The Continental Shelf, about 2,500 km long, 

 slopes outward from shore to the shelf-break at 

 a depth which increases from about 50 meters 

 off Florida to 120 meters off New England. The 

 average width of the shelf is about 170 km, but 



