Vane Shear Strength and Index Properties . The strength and index 

 properties are plotted in Figure 14. Since cohesionless material con- 

 stituted over 707o of the sample, drainage would occur during the shearing 

 process. The drainage probably invalidates the strength data. 



Station K 



Geological Description . Station K is located west of the Timor 

 Trough in the eastern portion of the Indian Ocean. The water depth at 

 the site is 1,850 fathoms. The area is characterized by an abyssal 

 plain. Terrigenous sediments originate from the Sahul Shelf, the Timor 

 Trough, and the Sesser Sunda Islands. Since the source of terrigenous 

 material has been reduced in recent decades, pelagic materials often 

 occur in the top few centimeters of sample (Van Andel and Veevers, 1967). 

 Below 1,000 fathoms, the pelagic material is often rich in radiolarians. 

 Van Andel and Veever (1967) found sediments in the area to be primarily 

 dusky yellow-green sands, silts, and clays with abundant skeletal debris. 



Sediment Identification . The gravity corer obtained 90 centimeters 

 of red clay and gray-green silty clay. A visual examination of the core 

 found that the red clay occurred in the top 20 centimeters of sample. 

 The next 30 centimeters of sample were defined as mottled red clay and 

 gray-green silty clay. The remaining 40 centimeters were composed of a 

 gray-green silty clay. The Unified Classification System defined the 

 red clay and the gray-green silty clay as inorganic silts of high 

 compressibility (MH) . The Trilinear System classified both materials as 

 silty clays. The median grain diameter of the red clay was 0.0015 

 millimeter, while the median diameter of the gray-green silty clay was 

 0.0013 millimeter. The percentages of sand, silt, and clay size 

 particles in the red clay were 5, 18, and 77, respectively. The gray- 

 green clay was, in turn, composed of 9% sand size particles, 187o silt 

 size, and 73% clay size. Carbonate carbon and organic carbon constituted 

 less than 67o of each sample. 



Vane Shear Strength and Index Properties . The vane strengths and 

 index properties are plotted in Figure 15. No unusual trends can be 

 detected. Both materials exhibit a similar amount of plasticity; however, 

 the liquidity index is considerably higher for the red clay. 



Station L 



Geologic Considerations . Station L is located south of the Java 

 Trench in the North Australian Basin. The water depth at the site is 

 3,100 fathoms. The site, which lies between the Christmas and Exmouth 

 Rises, has characteristics typical of many deep-sea plains (Hamilton, 

 1969). Although sediments in these basins are predominantly terrigenous 

 in origin, a thin layer of pelagic material often occurs at the sediment 



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