as marine glacial till. Hov/ever, in a few cases, particularly from 

 Vincennes Bay, the sediments were predominantly of biological origin. 

 Very little chemical weathering of the shelf sediments is apparent and 

 also very little sorting except for one locality in the V/eddell Sea, 

 and at Kainan Bay in the Ross Sea. Exceptions to this are those 

 sediments composed primarily of organic rem.ains. Identifications and 

 percentages of the mineral and organic constituents of the sediments 

 are rough approximations, since these were identified and estimated 

 under a binoc\iLar microscope. 



2. The Weddell Sea Area 



The STATEN ISLAND obtained ten grab samples and three core's in 

 the Weddell Sea. Of these, only one sample (orange-peel l) was taken 

 from the continental slope, at a depth of 1100 fathoms. This sample 

 is not significantly different from the majority of other V/eddell 

 samples, except for its higher degree of sorting in the clay and silt 

 sizes, and a high content of Radiolaria, 



Except for one restricted area, all bottom samples exhibit poor 

 sorting. The surface texture of the coarser fractions are glassy to 

 frosted while both average sphericity and roundness are highly variable. 

 The sand and gravel in these sediments are composed predominately of 

 feldspar with either quartz or rock fragments of secondary importance. 

 Common minor constituents are mica, garnet, hornblende, Radiolaria, 

 and sponge spicules. The predominant grain size of these sediments, 

 except for rock fragments to cobble size, range from fine sand to clay. 



In an area centered approximately 77°15'S, 44°50'W, the bottom 

 sediment analysis indicates the presence of a very well sorted, 

 predominately quartzitic, mediiim-size sand. The grains possess high 

 sphericity and roundness, and their surface textures range from frosted 

 to polished. These sediments occur in water less than 200 fathoms 

 deep, and exhibit every characteristic attributed to beach or dune 

 sands. 



Aliquot samples of the bottom sediments from the Weddell Sea area 

 were collected and immediately frozen for the Scripps Institution of 

 Oceanography, La Jolla, California, Final analysis by Scripps has 

 not been completed at this time, but a preliminary bacterial analysis 

 indicates that the sediments had very low or no viable aerobic bacteria, 

 and had considerable numbers of viable sulfate reducing bacteria, 



3. The Ross Sea Area 



Sixteen bottom samples were obtained in the Ross Sea Area; 

 nine grab samples and seven Phleger cores. Of these siicteen samples, 

 eight were taken in KcMurdo So\md, two in Kainan Bay, two in Koubray 

 Bay, and four in the western sector of the Ross Sea, In addition one 

 bottom photo, the first ever taken in the Antarctic, was obtained in 

 McMurdo Sound (Annex B) , 



56 



