Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-08-26
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field. Laboratory
And Study
Ru Tha,nne Ha4rA
By Thomas r. Henri.

By Thomas r. Henry.
Almost inestimable are the riches
locked in the sea.
Reports on the most recent develop
ments the world over in the chemistry
of sea water will be presented at the
seventh assembly of the International
Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, which
will meet in Washington September
to Is.
The estimates of the proportions of
different elements in the earths oceans
are subject to constant revision, and up
to date Father Neptune has revealed
only very rough approximation of his
riches. 1t is known, for example, that
each kilogram of sea water contains ap-
proximately As millionths of milligram
of gold. But cubic kilometer of the
ocean weighs about trillion Kilograms
and so may be said to contain approx
mately As zoo, 900 milligrams of gold.
The latest estimate of the total ocean
surface is 1865, 100000 square kilometers.
A conservative average of depth is a
little under kilometers. The seas there
fore contain at least billion cubic kilo-
meters of water, which would weigh, in
the neighborhood of 1000, 900 900 ,0O0,-
900 600 900 kilograms. This would give
about 1900, 900 600 600 ounces of gold So
there are approximately TOO ounces for
every individual on earth, small for
tune. All anybody needs do is go and
get it, but no bank vault ever protected
its treasures more securely than this
gold is protected by Father Neptune,
and nobody yet has devised an econom-
ically sound way of extracting this gold.
While one is about extracting his per-
sonal share of the oceans gold, it would
be just as well to pick up his part of the
silver in the seas, which would be about
1000 times greater than the amount OF
gold. Also, he might as we'll help him.
self to vast amounts of iron, manganese,
phosphorus, iodine, copper, barium, ar
senic and zinc. And sodium, chlorine,
magnesium, calcium and potassium
could be had in amounts beyond the
widest dreams of promoters.
Any estimates made thus far, how
ever, can be considered only tentative
The true figures can only be approached
as more and more samples from different
parts OF the globe and different depths
OF the ocean are analysed.
Other oceanographers attending the
Washington conference will hear reports
on the latest explorations of the bottom
of the ocean-the greatest unknown on
the surface OF the planet. Until very
recently only crudely approximate pic
ture OF the sea bottom, with its great
depths and towering mountains, could
be formulated. With the installation of
some form of sonic depth finder on the
naval and survey ships of most coun-
tries it is literally possible to map the
ocean floor foot by foot. Depths are
measured by the time taken for a sound
to reach the bottom and its echo to re-
turn to the surface
Oceanographers representing all the
major countries of the world will be
present at the Washington meeting to
report on the work of their countrymen
in sea bottom mapping.
The complex story of the formation
of the Appalachians in the trough of
an ancient, shallow arm of the Arctic
will be demonstrated to delegates to
the International Union of Geodesy and
Geophysics. which will hold it's seventh
assembly in Washington September
to Is.
For delegates arriving in New York
and from Canada, it has been announced.
there will be an extensive field trip
through the Adirondacks, the Finger
Lake region OF New York, the Ale
gfany Mountains the Appalachians and
the Juanita and Susquehanna Valleys.
During the trip will be demonstrated
the use of geophysical methods to de-
termine the depth of the Appalachian
trough and the relations of the visible
rock strata to the underlying basement
complex" OF the mountains, from which
they have been folded up through many
millions of years.
A second trip planned especially for
geophysicists and biologists with prac-
tical interest in exploration for oil will
take delegates from New York to WASH
mgton and Houston, Tex The OBJ
Ject will be to demonstrate the methods
used for locating underlying oil deposits
in the salt dome oil field region of the
Gulf Coast.
Prior to the assembly in Washington
there will be joint meeting of the Royal
Meteorological Society and the American
Meteorological Society at Toronto. I'M
mediately after the Washington meet
1ngs the section on Mythology of the
American Geophysical Union will con-
duct an excursion to the Safe Harbor
hydroelectric development of the Susque-
hanna River in Pennsylvania, Ohio State
University, and developments in ground
water work around Cincinnati.
Believes Supply and Demand