24, 
Absolute surface area studies, Since the surface area of deep 
sea sediments will directly determine the amount of adsorption of ions 
from ocean water, the relative constancy of surface for a particular 
sediment type is being investigated at the geochemistry laboratory, Lamont 
Geological Observatory. 
Preliminary results indicate that the surface areas are directly 
related to adsorbed radium on cores which are useable for lonium method 
dating, 
Paleotemperature determinations, Samples of planktonic foram- 
inifera from climatic zones, as inferred from the foraminiferal assemb- 
lages, in several cores from the Caribbean have been submitted to Drs, 
H, C, Urey and GC, Emiliani at the Institute for Nuclear Studies, the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, for temperature determination by the oxygen isotope 
method, The temperatures found in 5 cores fully confirmed the relative 
temperatures inferred from the species present in the various assemblages, 
(For the result of one core see fig. 3 and under Climate determinations by 
planktonic foraminifera, ) 
Since this method is not bimited by the age of the material and 
requires no more than a few milligrams of calcipm carbonate, it promises 
to be of much value in the correlation of faunal zones from core to core, 
and should help to establish standard faunal sequences for the various 
regions of the Atlantic Ocean, 
Organic content, Dr. P. V. Smith, Jr., of the Esso Labora- 
tories, Standard Oil Development Company, has completed the extraction 
