Figure 3. -Piston corer overside and 

 to be lowered to the bottom 



cial deposits, the wave-erosion terraces beneath 

 these deposits, and the presence of filled exten- 

 sions of submarine canyons. The presence or 

 absence of sediments mantling the continental 

 slope, or extending from the shelf down the slope, 

 are important criteria for estimating the rela- 

 tive roles played by erosion and deposition in 

 forming the Continental Shelf and the slope. Even 

 more important, the profiles should indicate the 



structural attitudes of the strata underlying the 

 shelf; regional seaward dips are shown by many 

 unpublished recordings, but probably folds and 

 faults are present locally. It is expected that at 

 the end of thefive-year study the entire shelf and 

 slope will be crossed by seismic profiles at in- 

 tervals averaging perhaps 36 km. 



Water 



Data on characteristics of water above the 

 Continental Shelf and slope are more abundant 

 than in other fields of interest; and, so, water 

 sampling will constitute but a minor part of the 

 work. Among the studies which will be made 

 are those on relationships of water movement 

 to transportation of sediment and erosion of the 

 bottom. Internal waves, particularly those of 

 tidal period, are of considerable interest in this 

 respect, and their proper study is best carried 

 out by anchored buoys. Similarly, direct meas- 

 urements of currents near the bottom may be re- 

 lated to other work now being done at Woods Hole, 

 and to estuarine studies by the Geological Survey. 

 Studies of sea level recorded at tide gages indi- 

 cate that water discharged by rivers into the 

 ocean accounts for seasonal and perhaps long- 

 term changes of sea level. Chemical and energy 

 relationships of this runoff may permit it to serve 

 as a usefultracer for following water movements 

 on the shelf. Plans are also being formed for the 

 examination of the characteristics of interstitial 

 water of the sediments in order to learn more 

 of the methods by which early diagenesis of sedi- 

 ments occurs. Much of this chemical work will 

 be done in association with R. M. Carrels and 

 Raymond Siever of Harvard University. 



Biology 



Many of the surface sediments will be sampled 

 with a large (250 kg) grab which recovers about 

 0.2 cubic meter of muddy sediment from an area 

 of 0.6 square meter. Within the grab is mounted 

 a camera which takes a photograph of the bottom 

 just before the device touches bottom. Compar- 

 ison of photograph and bottom sample has re- 

 vealed interesting differences during prelimi- 

 nary work, and the photographs show attitudes 

 and relationships of organisms difficult to infer 

 from the disturbed condition in samples. As in 

 previous work on the Pacific coast, the samples 

 will be sieved in a shaker table on deck (fig. 6) 

 to separate the organisms larger than about 1 mm 

 in diameter from smaller organisms. On return 

 to shore, the preserved organisms will be turned 

 over to the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries for 



determination of associations andof biomasses of 

 (Continued on p. 10) 



