Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1900-09-25
COMING TO LIGHT.
The Mysteries of the Very Deep Seas-- Dead
valleys Far Below the Sunlight.

The Mysteries of the Very Deep Seas--Dead
valleys Far Below the Sunlight.
The mysteries of the deep seas are
coming to light. Scientists have meas
ured the mountains of the ocean bed
and their lead lines have penetrated
into valleys so deep that the suns rays
are lost miles above their bottom.
Some of these are more than 10000
feet below the surface. If the highest
mountain in the world were set at the
bottom its summit would be nearly
half mile under water. A rope long
enough to sound their remote depths
would reach from the Battery to Sixty
second street.
In these valleys there are no plants,
weeds or vegetation of any kind, be-
cause such forms of life need light, and
at these depths there is total darkness.
But animal life fiourishes. Many OF
these deep-sea animals are gigantic.
These animals are all, or nearly all,
without eyes. Most of them eat mud
and slime, but there are others who
seek living prey, find 1T by means of
great feelers and then grasp and kill
it with long tentacles.
1t is strange that in these dark and
freezing abysses vast Quantities of veg
etable matter are found that during
their lives were bathed in tropical sun
light and in water so degrees above
zero. These deposits lie side by side
with other organisms which passed all
their lives in darkness. and al; tenn
perature near to the freezing point.
The vegetable organisms were original
ly absorbed by plants and animals on
the earth's surface or in the shallow
waters, and it is estimated that three
fourths of the deposits now covering
the bottom of the ocean have ut some
time passed through the alimentary
! CANALS OF marine animals.
The geography of the sea -oceano-
graphy" it is called-began with tae
laying of the ocean cables and was
elevated into a branch of science by the
cruise OF the Challenger. Since then
it has been found thot there are forty
three great deep-sea valleys. The Pa
cific Ocean, like the Pacific slope, is
the great mountainous region of the
water world. There are twenty-four
vast valleys concealed beneath it.
The area occupied by these deeps Is
estimated at 7.152,000 geographical
square miles, or about per cent. OF
the water surface of the globe. With
in them over ESQ soundings have been
recorded, of which twenty-four exceed
"a 900 feet, including three exceeding
30 900 feet. Depths exceeding $4,000
feet have been recorded within eight OF
the deeps, viz, in the North Atlantic
within the Mares deep, in the Antarc-
tic within the Ross deep, in the Banda
Sea within the Weber deep, in the
North Pacific within the Challenger
Tuscarora and Supau deeps, and in the
South Pacific within the Aldrich and
Richards deeps. Depths exceeding 3d.
600 feet have been hitherto recorded
only within the Aldrich deep OF the
South Pacific, to the east Of the Ker-
madecs and Friendly Islands. where
the greatest depth is 5,155 fathoms. or
$50 feet more thai five geographical
miles, being about 1000 feet more be-
low the level of the sea than the sum-
NIT of Mount Everest, in the Himalay-
as, Is above It,
It is estimated that 80 per cent. Of
the sea floor has a temperature lower
than 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The tenn
perature at the floor of the Indian
Ocean is under 35 degrees. A similar
temperature occurs over a large paTt OF
the South Atlantic and certain parts
Of the Pacific, but at the bottom OF the
North Atlantic basin, and over large
portion OF the Pacific the temperature
is higher than 35 degrees.