Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-27
THE BED OF THE OCEAN.
QUEER THINGS FOUND BENEATH
THE ROLLING SEA.
Latest, as Well as Earliest, Discov-
eries-Some Facts Tint Rival
Jules Verne's Fancy-Depths
and Temperatures.
From the Nineteenth Century.

| to the ocean bed in that quarter. A spot
| called on the admiralty charts THE Bot
| tomless Pit" lying off Little Bassam. on
| the Ivory coast, was explored, and depth
| of i2a fathoms in close proximity to AZ and
| 81 fathoms on either side OF 1t was found.
| This formed, perhaps, at one time the
| mouth of the river Akba Along the east
ward end of the Guinea coast the descent
| from the 100-fathom line is well marked.
| but on nearing the area influenced by the
| outflow of the Niger and the Congo the
| slope becomes abnormally gentle. Nine
| tenths of the rivers of Africa empty them
| selves into the Gulf of Guinea. and the
| sand and mud brought down by them have
| charged the steep descent to slowly
shelving bank. The water, too, of these
| rivers, which drain district remarkable
| for its heavy rainfall, causes the gulf to
be less salt than any other portion of
| ocean water in the world. While sounding
off the Congo, q submarine canyon or gull
| ly two miles broad and 242 feet deep was
discovered. This canyon was formed not
| like a land canyon by the wearing away
| OF the river bed. but by the heaping up of
| the mud brought down by the stream into
banks on either side. The current was SO
strong here that during soundings the
| ships engines had to be kept half-speed
| ahead. and with hemp line it would
| have been impossible to get reliable results.
The Deepest Sounding.
| scientific and telegraphic expeditions goes
to prove that the normal depth of the At
lantic ocean Is about $500 fathoms,or near
ly three miles. In some parts, however,
| 1t is almost twice as deep, for off Porto
Rico, in the West Indies, the Blake found
| depth of 4,561 fathoms, or nearly five and
| a quarter miles. One of the deepest cables
in the Atlantic Is that of the South Amer
| ican Company, which in one part, between
| Senegal and the island of Fernando Moron
| ha, lies in 2,S30 fathoms. or a little more
| than three miles. When laying line in
| this depth 1t is calculated that, with the
! ship steaming at eight knots an hour, the
| length of the cable from the stern of the
ship to the spot where it touches the
! ground is over twenty-five miles, and that
| it takes a. particular point in the cable
more than two hours and half to reach
| the bottom from the time that it first en-
| ters the water. The deepest sounding yet
recorded was taken early in the present
| year by H. M. S. Penguin in the South
| eastern Pacific, about $50 miles to the north
| west of New Zealand. This gave 5,155 faith
oms, or a depth of nearly six miles.
AS result of these numerous surveys
| much valuable Information has been OBJ
| tanned with regard to the configuration of
ocean beds. Contrary to the opinion for
merly held, the bottom of the sea does not
| present SO many striking Irregularities as
the surface Of the earth. Except for ISL
dnOS OIL volcanic OTlSlu anu SOEle coral
patches, the bed Of the Atlantic is an un-
dulating plain of fairly uniform fatness.
and may be better compared to tray with
a sharply ascending rim than to basin.
The slope of the land as general rule, is
continued out into the sea until it reaches
depth of about 100 fathoms, and then
increases rapidly to 1900 and 1000 fathoms.
reaching finally the normal depth of $500
fathoms. The area between the 100-fathom
In nd ba &c ia
continental platform-is really submerged
land and If the sea level were suddenly
lowered to that extent, England would be
connected by dry land to Denmark, Hol-
land Belgium, France, Ireland, Orkney and
Shetland. Nearly the whole of the North
sea, with the exception of some of the
Norwegian fiordsswould' be laid bare, while
the coast of ireland would be extended 100
miles to the westward. On the other hand
the raising of the sea level to the extent of
100 fathoms would put large portion of
Europe under water. as, indeed, has been
several times the case with that continent
Not only in the Atlantic, but in the Pacific
on the west coast of North America espe-
cially, the continental platform rises alb
ruptly from the margins of the real ocean
ic depressed areas, and this phenomenon is
one of the strongest arguments in favor
of the theory OF the permanence Of the
great ocean beds.
Temperature of the Water.
The temperature at the bottom of the
ocean is nearly down to freezing point,
and sometimes actually below it. There is
a total absence of light, as far as sunlight
is concerned, and there is an enormous
pressure, reckoned at about one ton to the
square inch in every 1000 fathoms, which
is 160 times greater than that of the
atmosphere we live in. At $500 fathoms
the pressure is thirty times more powerful
than the steam pressure of a locomotive
when drawing a train. AS late as 1880 a
leading zoologist explained the existence
of deep-sea animals at such depths by as
Stunning that their bodies were composed of
solids and liquids of great density, and
contained no air. This, however, is not the
case with deep-sea fish, which are provided
with air-inflated swimming bladders. II
one of these fish, in full chase after its
prey, happens to ascend beyond a certain
level, it's bladder becomes distended with
the decreased pressure, and carries it. in
spite of all its efforts, still higher in its
course. In fact members of its class are
liable to become victims to the unusual ac-
cident of falling upward, and no doubt
meet with a violent death soon after leav-
ing their accustomed level, and long before
their bodies reach the surface in dis
torted and unnatural state. Even ground
sharks. brought up from depth of no
more than 80 ,fathoms expire before they
gain the surface.
The fauna of the deep sea-with a few
exceptions hitherto only known as fossils
are new and specially modified forms OF
families and genera inhabiting shallow wa
ters in modern times, and have been driven
down to the depths of the ocean by their
more powerful rivals in the battle of life,
much as the ancient Britons were COM
PEELED to withdraw to the barren and in
accessible Businesses of Wales. Some of
their organs have undergone considerable
modification in correspondence to the
changed conditions of their new habitats
Thus down to 900 fathoms their eyes have
generally become enlarged, to make the
best of the faint light which may pos
sibly penetrate there. After 1000 fathoms
these organs are either still further en-
larGed, or so greatly reduced that in some
species they disappear altogether and are
replaced by enormously long feelers. The |
only light at great depths which would |
enable large eyes to be of ANY service Is |
the phosphorescence given out by deep-sea |
animals. We know that at the surface |
this light is often very powerful, and Sir |
Wyville Thomson has recorded one occa- |
sion on which the sea at night was "a |
perfect blaze of phosphorescence, SO strong |
that lights and shadows were thrown on |
the sails and 1t was easy to read the small |
est print" 1t is thought possible by sew |
eral naturalists that certain portions of the |
sea bottom may be as brilliantly illumined |
by this sort of light as the streets of |
European city after sunset Some deep |
see fish have two parallel rows of small |
circular phosphorescent organs running |
along the whole length OF their bodies. and |