=32- 



care will be taken along the more northerly of these lines to look for 

 any southerly extension of the Ganges CanyoEo This has been surveyed 

 in some detail by the Pakistan Navy as far as the edge of the continen- 

 tal shelf o The GALATHEA'fe lines showed that it extends south into the 

 Bay of Bengal beyond the shelf ^ but its extent is not known., It is 

 possible that the valley found by the ALBATROSS east of Ceylon may be 

 the extension of this Ganges Canyono After a stop at Calcutta^, the 

 PIONEER will carry out a detailed survey of the Ganges Submarine 

 Canyon seaward of the continental shelf „ The canyon will be traced 

 as far seaward as is possible » Cores will be obtained from the canyon 

 floor where possible and attempts will be made to dredge the canyon 

 walls « Bottom photographs will be obtained where camera lowerings 

 appear feasible. If the canyon terminates well north of the latitude 

 of Ceylon^ the east-west lines previously run in the eastern Bay of 

 Bengal shall be continued westward from 88° to the coast of India o 

 If the canyon continues south to or beyond Ceylon^, it shall be 

 followed to its termination with cross sections run at frequent 

 intervals o 



On the termination of this project^, the ship will proceed to 

 Trincomalee, Ceylono 



Leg III - Trincomalee to Djakarta 



HO Charts 2523 and 3689 show hard ridges through which has been , 

 cut a submarine canyon that heads in Trincomalee and Goddiyar Bays 

 on the northeast coast of Ceylon,, The canyon has apparently been 

 cut in quartzite sind other hard Pre-Cambrian rocks The canyon 

 extends seaward to depths of at least 8OO fathoms where the soundings 

 terminate. As the ship leaves Trincomalee j, this canyon will be traced 

 seaward with a set of profiles^ and an attempt will be made to dredge 

 the steep walls » Sediment cores and bottom photographs will be 

 obtained where possible. 



Upon the completion of the canyon survey^ three north- south 

 sections of oceanographic stations will be occupied from 5°N to 5 S 

 along 84°E^ 88°E^ and 92°Eo Statiomwill be at 5° $^° s an<i 3°j' and 

 at ^--degree intervals to the Equator for a total of 17 stations along 

 each profile. The stations at 5°j> 3° aii<3. I'^N and S will be deep sta- 

 stions to the bottom^, the others will be to 2000 meters. Standard 

 bottle spacing will be used^ except that depth of stations and bottle 

 spacing may be modified in the light of other results obtained before 

 the PIONEER sails. 



From the southern end of the easternmost line (5°Sj, 92°E)^ the 

 track to Djakarta is tentatively planned to accomplish two crossings 

 of the northwestward extension of the trend of the Java Trench. These 

 would be underway observations as described above. The first line 

 would approach the Sianatra coast near Padang and then turn southwest 

 continuing to the latitude of the Sunda Strait, thence due east 

 through the Sunda Strait to Djakarta. The tracklines between the 



