Evening star., 1936-12-09
HISTORY OF SEAS
.FOUND0NBOTTOM
Mud and 00Ze Contain Much
More Radium Than
Rest of Earth.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.


Mud and ooze Of the deep ocean
bottoms contain vastly more radium
than any other part of the earth's
surface.
They also record in their successive
layers the histories Of the great seas
through most Of geological time.
Such are two Of the findings Of DR..
Charles s. Piggot Of the Geophysical
Laboratory of the Carnegie Institu-
tion of Washington, who has just re-
turned from a trip across the North
Atlantic with a specially constructed
deep-sea "gun," which drives q tube
10 feet or more into the oceans bot
tom to collect stratified samples.
Interpretation Of Findings Open.
His findings, the Carnegie Insti-
tuition announces, may have been
epoch making. They may have opened
up thrilling new chapter in the his
tory of mans knowledge Of the earth.
The Interpretation to be placed upon
them-especially the meaning Of the
relatively enormous concentration Of
radium at the bottom Of the North
Atlantic-remains open to much ques-
ton.
After experimental tests in the rel
atively shallow waters along the At
lantic Coast, DIR. Piggot was given an
opportunity to test his apparatus on a
voyage of the cable repair ship Of the
Western Union Telegraph Co., be-
tween Newfoundland and Ireland.
Samples of the sea bottoms fire.
uuently have been collected before,
but they represent only the surface
layer. For the first time, by means
of the Washington scientists deep-sea
gun, it is possible to find out what is
in the strata which have been built up
by slowly sinking sediments over hun
dreds of millions Of years.
The ocean bottoms have been, on
the whole, more stable than any other
part of the earths surface, and should
present the story of evolving life with
less distortion than is possible for any
sedimentary remains on dry land.
Story Filled Away" on Bottom.
DR.. Piggot characterizes these sedi-
ments, lying layer upon layer at the
sea bottom, as "the depository Of the
historical records of the ocean," For
millions of years the sediments drop
ping from above have been accumu-
lating on the bottom below. Hence
the story of what happened in the
seas through cons Of time is filed
away" in the mud, clay and ooze.
Cows ha 10 eriontict. snTte
rocks, pebbles, sand, clay and mud
brought by rivers and ocean currents.
and the skeletons of marine organisms
which lived and died and evolved into
various forms throughout the ages
constitute this record. Some types OF
these organisms live only in cold
water, others only in warm water.
Some live in shallow lagoons, others
in depths of the open sea. Some pre-
fer fresh water, while other survive
only in salty water. Some lived long
time ago, while others have evolved
into their present forms comparatively
recently. Besides these records Of past
life and its many changes there exists
chemical and physical record. Oxi-
dation, reduction and the nature Of the
dissolved matter in the water have
all left the record Of their changes
in the bottom, and the nature and
size of the minerals and rock frag-
ments bear evidence of the direction
and strength of former ocean currents,
the movements of ice, and the depths
Of the ocean in the past.
"Far out from land, in the undis-
turbed depths Of the open ocean. the
record has accumulated very slowly
so that few feet of depth may repre-
sent a very long interval of time. Al
though this great historical record has
long been known to exist, we have been
unable to profit by it for We could
read only the topmost page.
Radium Is Of Interest.
Some chemical and mineral con-
stituents are Of great significance,
especially those found in extremely
small concentrations, such as copper,
tin, gold or radium. The radium Is of
particular interest because its concen-
tration in ocean bottom sediments has
been found to be, in general. much
greater than In rocks on land.
"The concentration Is greatest In
those portions of the ocean bottom
more remote from land and lying at
the greatest depths. The material
at the bottom Of the deeper parts