New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-05-02
TIE DEEP SEA.

Some interesting results of recent deep sea
explorations were coneiscy stated III Il laIe lee
TUE at the Royal Institution, London. Four
clcyCnths, or nearly thTee-fourtb5 OF The surface
of the earth is covered by sea. The average
depth of the ocean is, according to the latest
calculations of Mr.. Otto krummell, about
1877 fathOms, or somewhat over two miles.
The greatest depth known to exist WIS dis
covered by the United States ship luscarOlH,
near the Kurle Islands, in the Northeast
Pacific. 1t is i. GJj iathoms or about five miles
and quarter. The highest mountain existing
is of about the same height as the deepest sGa
is deep. Mount Everest is 4,s33 fathoms IN
height SO insignificant, however, Il the total
volume Of the land raised above Sca level IN
PROPORTION TO the vast cavity occupied by the
sea, that were this cavity implied of it9 water;
the whole of the land now above sea Level could
be s,Ovcllcd into il twenty-five ana hall t mes
over before il would be- filed up to the present
Nevertheless, the depth of the oceans, great
as it is is rs nothing IN comparison with the
yastness of their extent of surface. As MI
Croll has said. the oceans III relation to their
superficial area are us shallow ~ Il sheet of
water 100 yards III diameter and only an inch
in depth. The sides Of the ocean basins ale not
ut all steep. They alc mostly so little inclined
that an ordinary locomotive engine could run
up them in Il straight line with ease. Their in
cination is usually NOT more than three or four
degrees or less. ATOunS some oceanic Islands
the slope is greater. The stctpcst slope known
is Mt Bermuda, where tNc'c is an Inclination OF
nearly twenty degrees from tho edge of the
reef to 1000 iuthoms. There are 10 such
things as mountains and valleys on the deep
sea bottom. Animals cannot slip down against
their will into the depths, but must move delib
erately INTO them, and travel Il long journey TO
reach them The pressure eXcrtCd by the
superintendent water at great depths is so
great as to DC almost beyond conception. Ii
amounts roughly to a ton OH the square inch for
every Loo iah0ms Of depIh, about lGG times
as much as the pressure to which people
are subjected on land. AT thcE greatest
depths the pressure is about four tons and Il
half. Vast though this pressure is, Il is how
ever, only about Onc-ciElth of that which Pro-
fcssOr Abel and Captain Noble have measured,
as produced in their experiments on gun
powder. The deep sea animals being COM
plctcly pcrmCatCd by fluids, are probably 10
more CONSCIOUS OF pressure acting upon them
than We and so long Is they move slowly from
one depth to another, arc most likely unaffected
by the consequent changes of pressure.
With regard TO the temperature of the deep
sea water, the conditions which would affect
animals ale comparatively ample. Nearly all
over the ocean the temperature at 800 iathOm5
is as low as l0' T., and this is the ease even
Immediately under the equator in the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans Below 1000 iathOms the
temperature is never more than a few degrees
above freezing point, excepting III the peculiar
cases OF land-lockcd seas, such as the Sulu Sea.