The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1893-05-11
BEAUTY q I { = OCEANS DE4.rH
TIVE Thousand Fnthoms Down DAfn-
II and Delicate Ooze II Found

TIVE Thousand Fnthoms Down Dafn-
" and Delicate Ooze Ii Found.
81 The new submarine world now ex-
plored and mapped out presents 4 very
different picture from that painted for
us by the poets. But Il short time has
elapsed since the bottom Of the ocean
was supposed to be the counterpart Of
the face of the earth above water
with hills and valleys, with precipitous
mountains Lifting toward the surface
and profound gOrgess sinking to IN
fathomable depths. The ocean floor is
far less diversified than the land. Here
and there, to be sure, Islands in mid
ocean are the submits Of enormous
mountains, rising more or Less abruptly
from u generally level surface, and the
sea lying over a narrow, depressed re-
gion in the northwestern Pacific reaches
it's greatest depth. But this is excep-
tional; in it's general character the
ocean bottom consists of vast fat or
Slightly undulating plains. An eXtrsroE-
binary circumstance that has, been no
ticed with interest by the Cosmopolitan
and that always creates surprise when
first learned is the. entire absence OF
foreign matter in the deeper part OF
the oceans floor. OF all the vessels
lost in midOcean, of ALI the human be-
ingS that have been drowned, of all the
marine animals that have persisted, OF
all the clay, sand and gravel let fall by
dissolving icebergs, of all the various
substances drifteG from, every shore by
shifting currents-nOt Il, trace remains;
but in their place water from 1000 to
$500 fathoms in depth. covers the uni
form deposit of thick, blush, tenacious
slime called globigernia ooZe. A bit Of
this under a powerful lens is a revela-
ton OF beauty not readily forgotten.
The ooze is composed almost entirely
OF the daintiest, most delicately beau
tiful shells Imaginable.
At greater depths than $500 faith
oms the bottom OF the sea consists Of
products arising from exposure for al
most incalculable periods to the chemi-
cal action of sea water, of pumice and
other volcanic matters. This finally re-
suits in the formation of the red clay
deposits that are considered character
| lstlc of the prOfoundest depths of the
ocean. Carbonate of lime, which, in
the form of the shells Of foraminifer,,
makes up so large a part of the globi-
gerina OOZe, is here almost entirely alb
sent. Sea water is very nearly IL uni
versal solvent and before any shell.
large or small, reaches the bottom of
these tremendous abysmS it is chem
lc;llly eaten up, literally dissolved-a re-
suit which the enormous pressure of
the water must materially hasten At
LOCO fathOmS the weight of the water
pressing on all sides of an object i'm
mersed to that depth is nearly one ton
| to the square inch. or more than 100
| times that sustained at the sea level,
and at the greatest depths the pressure
is SO increased that it would seem moth
ing could withstand it-in fact, heavy
metal cylinders let down with the
sounding apparatus are sometimes. on
beng drawn up again to the surface,
| found bent and collapsed; strongly
made glass vessels which the metal
| 1nclosed are shattered into fragments.
In the profoundest abysms of the SCI,
are strange forms of life. that never.
save when brought up by the traWl.
see the upper light. The work carried
| On by means of the United States fish
commission vessel. the Albatross, has
established the fact that forms of sea
life lnhabiting the upper waters may
descend to about 1.2OO feet from the
surface. but that below this to depth
OF 800 TO $50 fathOms barren zone in
terVenes where marine life seems alb
sent. But still deeper, strange to say.
has been discovered an abundant and
varied fauna, new to science living un-
der conditions of tremendous pressure
and paucity of the life-sustaining Gle,
ment of oxygen