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GEOPHYSICS: H. S. WASHINGTON 
Proc. N. a. S. 
VOLCANOLOGY AND PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY 
The most important point of contact between these two sciences is pre- 
sented by submarine eruptions. Far too little is known of these occur- 
rences, either as to their characters or their distribution over the ocean 
floors. For their study a most important and but little gleaned field of 
information is furnished by ships' logs, and I would suggest here the ad- 
visability of examining the thousands of ships' logs for records of sub- 
marine eruptions. This might be done through a duly appointed com- 
mittee, with the cooperation of the Section of Oceanography, and with 
the assistance of the naval and other maritime authorities and ship own- 
ers, in whose hands the logs may now be. The data revealed by such an 
investigation would be invaluable for the study of submarine eruptions, 
and also for that of other important geophysical problems, such as earth 
fracture lines and lineaments, the origin of ''tidal waves," etc. The sub- 
marine cable companies might also furnish valuable data on this subject 
from their records of broken cables, as in the case of the Aeolian Islands. 
I recommend this project most strongly for the consideration of the two 
Sections most interested. 
Another problem is that of the material of the deep sea deposits, the 
study of which was first taken up by the "Challenger" expedition. The 
"red clays," as is well known, are composed largely of the decomposition 
products of volcanic material, and their study should be carried out more 
systematically and extensively than is being done at present. Further 
study also of the included, and too little known, chondritic and manganese 
nodules would also be of interest; while the study of blocks of rock (many 
of them volcanic) dredged from the depths also presents many features 
of interest. Some provision or arrangement might be made for the pres- 
ervation and study by some central body of any such material that may 
be collected in the future. In connection with this the importance is 
urged of making special effort to obtain rock specimens, or sea floor de- 
posits, from the immediate vicinity of submarine eruptions, or from areas 
of the sea floor that are known to be specially subject to such disturbances. 
These would throw much light on the petrographical and other characters 
of such volcanoes, and the information thus yielded would be very useful 
in several ways. 
VOLCANOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICAL-CHEMISTRY 
It is needless to dwell on the close connection between these two sciences 
— closer indeed than that between any other pair of the geophysical 
sciences. Some phases have already been alluded to on a previous page 
of this report, and the matter is also touched on in the portion devoted 
to the Section of Geophysical-chemistry. It will suffice here merely to 
indicate briefly some of the main points of interest. 
The study of the formation of volcanic rocks and of their component 
