News Notes 
325 
of humus added to the soil. An interesting phe- 
nomenon often noted is that of buried soils — 
layers in which a noticeable amount of humus has 
accumulated and which have then been buried to 
some depth by wind- or wave-transported sand 
or rubble. The frequency of these buried soils 
and of areas of completely fresh, unaltered coral 
sand and gravel, showing recent deposition or de- 
nudation, is an indication of the general instability 
of and domination by the sea, which are among 
the most outstanding features of the coral-atoll 
environment. 
The vegetation growing on these soils is rela- 
tively simple, though a fair number of distinct 
types in various stages of development are evi- 
dent. By far the greatest part of the area visited 
has been cleared and planted to coconuts, obliter- 
ating all evidence of the original vegetation. How- 
ever, enough undisturbed spots were found so 
that one of the most significant contributions of 
the expedition may be toward the revealing of 
original conditions that prevailed on coral atolls, 
before the advent of man and the coconut. It is 
probable that on the older parts of the islands 
forests of great trees, up to 100 feet tall, were 
The Tenth General Assembly of the Union 
Radio-Scientifique Internationale was held in Syd- 
ney from August 11 to 21, 1952, under the presi- 
dency of Sir Edward Appleton, F.R.S. This was 
the first occasion on which an International Sci- 
entific Union has met in Australia or, in fact, in 
any country outside Europe and the United States. 
That the Union honored Australia by holding its 
the dominant vegetation. On newer areas and 
those exposed to strong winds, the vegetation is 
scrubby, dense, tangled, and difficult to penetrate. 
In general, the soils on the atolls visited did not 
appear to be infertile, but nevertheless only a few 
kinds of plants can be raised in gardens. The rea- 
son for failure of most kinds is not apparent, but 
it may be an excess of salt. The amount of ocean 
spray that blows in, especially on the windward 
sides of the islands, is undoubtedly a controlling 
factor in the developm.ent of both natural and 
imported vegetation. The salinity of the ground 
water also must exert an important influence 
where it lies at shallow depth. 
The current research program is being carried 
out under the Pacific Geologic Mapping Program 
by cooperative agreement between the Geological 
Survey and the Corps of Engineers, United States 
Army. Johnson and Eosberg recently joined a new 
survey party of the 71st Engineer Survey Liaison 
Detachment at Wake Island. Their work on 
Taongi and Bikar will require about 3 weeks and 
will be done while United States Army Engineer 
personnel establish ground control for the prepa- 
ration of topographic maps. 
Assembly there is tangible recognition of the out- 
standing contribution which Australian research 
workers have made in the field of radio science. 
The meetings of the Australian and New Zea- 
land Association for the Advancement of Science 
were held in Sydney from August 20 to 27. The 
Centenary of the University of Sydney was cele- 
brated by appropriate ceremonies at this time. 
