Phillips County herald., 1922-07-20
PROBE SECRETS
OF OCEAN DEPTHS
Explorers May Find New Field
Of Endsavor in the IN.
known Sea Bottom.
U. S. NAVY PERFECTs DEVICE
instrument viii Measure Depths Of
Water by Sound Waves Instead
Of Tedious Process Of Low
erino Sounding Lines.

ertno Sounding lineA
Neutrality-suspicious. and geog'
raphers who have been sighing fol
new lands to conquer may find theil
best field of sndeavor, paradoxically
in the sea. Now that the United
States navy has perfected a device for
measuring the depths Of wateS by
sound waves without going through
the tedious process Of lowering sound
ing lines II should be possible to
add greatly to the relatively little
we know about the underwater por.
tion Of the earth. The Importance
Of this little explored region Is brought
out In the following bulletin issued
from the Washington headquarters
of the National Geographic society:
"When 1t is realized that nearly
three-fourths of the surface of the
globe consists of water 1t Is rather
remarkable how little we know of the
vast surface of the solid sphere which
lies under this screen Of liquid. The
greater portions of our continents are
mapped even to the smallest details,
and our harbors and the shallow wa.
tiers closely Off shore are fairly well
charted; but once the edges Of the
continual shelves are passed the
features of the sea bottom are rep
resented only by few somewhat
vague contour lines laid down be-
tween rather infreQuent points Of
soundings.
Not Sure Of Greatest Depth.
1--WE know without doubt that the
highest point on the earth Is the peak
of Mount Everest which extends above
sea level for 29.O02 feet-or 3S feet
less than 51a miles. On the other
hand We can only speak Of the deep
est abyss yet discovered for one
great pit. hidden in the depths Of the
ocean, has scarcely established Its
title to first place In recent years
when 1t has been surpassed by a
deeper one and It can hardly be be-
lieved that the deepest Of all has yet
been discovered.
s'thooi NGtC NAukht iCW
years ago that the deepest depression
In the earth's surface was near the
FIJI islands and that II was 30133
feet deep. Since then the deepest
hole on earth has been successfully
Kermadec deep, northeast Of New
Zealand. 30a3O feet; Nero Deep
southeast OF Guam. 31,818 feet; and
the present holder Of the record, Phil.
ippine deep, east Of the Philippine
Islands. 32.0S9 feet. This greatest
known depth therefore lies six miles
and 400 feet below the surface of the
sea.
"Ihe greatest range vertically Of
the earth's surface Is between the
bottom Of Philippine deep and the
top of Mount Everest, n distance Of
approximately 11.6 miles. This seems
tremendous distance until II Is com
pared with the diameter of the earth
which, near the ATTITUDES OF these
great physical features. Is approx.
mately 5000 miles. On n globe with
diameter Of eight inches, instead OF
5000 miles. this maximum range OF
depresslons and heights would be rep
resented by n scratch little more than
hundredth OF nm Inch deep. The
smallest division on household ruler
Is one-s!x'eenfh OF nn Inch. The
scratch would be less than fifth OF
such division In depth. on hll-
lard ball one could hardly scratch
lightly enough with pin 10 represent
the great Philippine deep. and few
grains of talcum powder would stand
for Mount Everest. The smooihest
orange that grows has much greater
Irregularities on It's skin In proper
iion 20 It's size than those given TO
the earth by It's peaks and valleys.
Subordinate to Oceans.
zone who studies the earth comes
10 realize TINT. In sense. the con
tinents nrc subordinate TO the great
occan bnsins. The total volume of
these dcpresslons below sea level Ia
mnny times greater thnn the volume
~ the lnnd that rises above the son.
II the entire land surface were l,s-
elcd down nm ocean nearly two miles
deep would sweep over every square
fuot of the surface of the globe. The
condition of the continents might NJ
first glance be considered precarious,
hut dry land hns formed consider.
able part Of the surfnce Of the earth
for millions Of years and viii prob
ably remnin for a long time 10 come.
II hns been estimated that less than
four cubic miles Of solid material II
carried into the sen by winter nnnunl.
~. Al this rnte, leaving ont OF con
slderntIon uphenvnls mud suhsidcnces
due 10 the earthquakes md other
rnuses. II would require more thnn
G.000OO years for NIL the present
Innd 20 be washed Into the sen"
outwits Robbers.