Evening star., 1932-10-18
ARCTIC BAYS ONCE
TOUCHED GEORGIA
Scientists Make Map of 500
Million Years Ago From
Fossil Evidence.


approximately 5OO,OOO.OOO years ago
narrow, shallow arms of the Arctic
Ocean extended far southwark into
North America and Asia
The area now filled by the Virginia
and Maryland mountains west OF Wash
ington, it is probable. has been covered
by waters of the polar ocean.
An extension of the Arctic at the
same time far into Asia is revealed in
monograph just issued by the Smith
sonian Institution on an ancient fauna
in that region during the Ordovician
geological period The animals found
in the ancient Manchurian sediments
were very close relatives to those which
left their imprintS in approximately
coeval strata in the Rocky and Appa-
lachian regions of North America.
Construct Map of Period.
The peculiar distribution Of these
creatures enables Smithsonian paleon-
tologists to construct a map of the
period. They were Arctic Ocean ami
mails. which could have MADE their way
southwark only by extensions of the
water Where they were the Arctic
also must have been. This leads to the
conclusion that narrow bays of this
ocean must have extended probably as
far south as Northern New Mexico in
the West to Georgia in the East far
into Central Siberia. and to Korea and
Central China. TIE American arms of
the Arctic were cut off from both the
Pacific and the Atlantic by some sort of
barriers, perhaps considerable land
masses
The dominant creatures of the time
were cephalopods mollusks whose
nearest living relative is the chambered
nautilus The octopus belongs in the
same general family. Like the present
day nautilus. the Orodivician cephalo-
pods were continually building new shell
chambers" but in a straight line in
stead of spiral. The creature lived
only in the front chamber. Sometimes
the row of joined chambers would
reach a length of 25 feet or more.
Looked Like Squid.
The appearance of the Ordovician
Cephalopod itself seems to have been
closer to that of the squid. or octopus,
than to any other living animal 1t
must certainly have been very i'm
preSsive creature in those shallow seas.
possibly feeding on smaller animals. al
though no cephalopod teeth ever have
chambered nautilus. it was a free SWIM
r1er and probably could move with con-
siderable speed. The discarded row of
chambers, of course, was hollow and
fioated. helping to keep the animal 1t
self afioat
Many hitherto unknown species Of
cepnalopodS are described by Dr. Riuii
Endc Chinese college professor, who
prepared the Smithsonian monograph
after extensive field work in Mlnchuria
and study of the fossil collections in
the National Museum here. The largest
of the ManChurian creatures was little
more than foot long. A few extended
their chambers in the form OF coils. ap
preaching the practice of the present
nautilus. Comparison of the Manchu-
rian and Rocky Mountain species shows
that they must have erisen from a
common source at about the same time,
geologically speaking. Actually there
may have been intervals of many thou
sands of years between the Manchurian
and North American Arctic inunda-
ticnc. but they were phenomena OF
common geologic period.
No Land Fossils of Period.
At that time. SO far as is known. life
was confined TO the seas. At least no
land-dweling creatures left any fossil
record.
TIE reconstructed picture of both
North America and Asia in the Ordo-
vician period according to DR.. Charles
E Resser. Smithsonian paleontolcglst,
in explaining the significance Of Dr..
Endos finds. indicates that both conti-
nents must have been lower and flatter
than they are today. Both great land
masses had been worn smooth during
the epoch preceding the Cambrian, the
period when Gome of the earliest traces
of life are preserved in the rocks. Con-
.eouently only a slight sinking of the
land was necessary to send Arctic wa
ters far scuthward. Such earth move
ments continually are in progress, but
now the continents are so high and
their surfaces 90 irregular that great
inundations do not result.
Yet even today, it IS pointed out,
there are somewhat similar situations
in the world Notable is that of the
great Oh River of Eastern Siberia, one
of the three great streams flowing
through Northern Asia to the Arctic.
The country is low and fat for hun
dreds Of miles from the mouth of the
OBJ. Consequently, for much of the
year the country is a vast Arctic
swamp and a slight sinking would make
a big actual BAY of the Arctic Ocean.
Another case is that Of the Mckenzie
basin in Northern Canada. 1t would
not require much sinking to send an
arm of the Arctic down this long low