The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-01-09
UNDER THE OCEAN
Changes In the Sea Floor From
Shore to Shore.
the BIG mID.ATLANTiC RIDGE.

the BIG MID.ATlANTIC RIDGE.
Il Starts at iceland and eissets the
Ocean Down Almost to Cape Hem.
n Places Il Rises Above the Surface
Forming Groups Of lslands.
A sketch Ut the landscape" Of IT,
ocean lied IL given By Dr. A. Il. Ship
ley In an article in the Edinburgh H.
view:
The passengers and the crew Of q
liner racing Over the surface Of the
Atlantic are apt to imHgine that under
them II Z vast layer of water OF vary.
ing depth sparsely inhabited BY . few
Dish. Al 4 matter VI fact. the whole Of
this great ocean IL teenainy with life
II instead Ut taking ship we could take
to the water aud walk across the bed
Of the Atlantic to America. starting
FROM the shores Of western Europe. We
should In effect b. travelling through 4
succession Of new countries. Not only
would the surrounding physical c0udi-
lions vary III We advanced. but the
animal and plant life would vary in
correlation with the altering physical
conditions.
walking farther and farther toward
the depths Ut the Atlantic. We should
soon lone all sight of the algae. and the
shallow water fish the plaice and sole,
whiting. skates, dogtsh and others and
cod would give way to the megrim
and the bake. The SEA floor would
gradually change from rock or gravel
or stones to sands and ultimately to
mud or o q OF various tints. their
original cOlOrs often modified BY the
action Of the decomposition Ut organic
particles In them and ON them. All
these finer deposits are derived from
the neighboring land and are blown
Sea ward by onahOre winds or washed
down by rains and MS and carried
out to the 4 by rivers.
THE distance to which fine matter In
suspension may be carried In very
great, The KOngo ia said to carry it,
characteristic mud a. far u to sea N
600 miles. and the GanKes and the
Indus as far as l.ONN miles
Except In the neighhorhood Of such
great rivers u subaque0us traveller
would soon pass beyond what Sir John
Murray has called the mud line q
line that limits the t%errigenous deposits
everywhere surrounding dry land.
Having reached this limit. we must
proceed warily. for at the mud line.
at an average depth Of a hundred
fathoms. we shall find ourselves at the
edge Of the continental shelf. that rim
which extends sea ward to q varying
distance from all land areas. the rim
on which Great Britain rests. Beyond
lies the continental slope. a precipice
more or less abrupt and more or less
high. descending by steep declines or
terraced cliffs until depths of 1000
fathoms are reached.
THE Atlantic. compared with the
other great oceans. has an unusually
large area of comparatively shallow
water OF it's total area 27.5 per cent
is covered by water less than 1000
fathOms deep: 1S per cent lies between
1000 and 1000 fathoms and ~ per cent
between 1000 and 5000 fathOms: the
remaining rs per cen is still deeper.
"At the foot of the continental slope
lies an iIlimitable plain of a uniform
dull. grayish buff color. 6at and fea-
tureless rs the desert. and only diversi-
fed by an occasional as vet uncovered
rock or wreck or the straight line Of a
recently laid cable. This plain con
tinues with scarcely a change In scen-
cry or in level until we approach the
great mid Atlantic ridge. As Bruce
has shown. this ridge. which roughly
bisects the Atlantic. extends from Ice.
land AS far south as ffty-three degrees
of south latitude. with q slight and
quite inexplicable break just under the
equator. The ridge run almost parallel
with the eastern contour of North and
South America. which. In turn. as the
ordinary map will show. roughly cor.
responds with the western contour of
Europe aud Africa. From time to time
the ridge rises above the surface of the
water. as in the Azores group. st.
PauI's rocks. Ascension. Tristan da
Cunha and Cough island
Having assembled the eastern and
descended the western slope of this
mid Atlantic ridge. w should again
traverse plains of grayish ooze far
more extensive than any level land
tract known to g~eographers. and as we
approached the American coast we
should gradually pass through. in re-
verse order. the zones of life %traversed
when leaving Europe. On the eastern
coast of America the slope ia much
more gradual than on the westerD
coast Of southern Europe and Africa"
Told the Truth.
A few days after the new farmer