Evening star., 1939-04-28
|Soundines Reveal
Bad Lands Under
Sea Off U. 5.
Navigation Aid
Seen by Geodetie
Survey Chief
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
A hitherto unknown world, an
underseas bad lands" Of sharp
ridges and deep valleys, lies about
100 miles off the Atlantic Coast
from New York Harbor to the Vir-
ginia Capes.
Its existence was revealed to the
American Geophysical Union, meet
ing here today, by Admiral L. o.
Colbert, head of the United States
Coast and Geodetic Survey. It is
just at the edge of the continental
shelf. 1t has been more thoroughly
mapped than any other section of
sea bottom in the world. All of its
prominent hills and deeps have
been named after figures in Ameri-
can history or after American cities.
Research Provides Names.
Although some of the more PROM
inent features have been known be-
fore. the whole picture now has
been developed. 1t shows that ships
sailing over this area might be sail
ing over the tops of the Rocky
Mountains. A great deal of his
torical research has gone into NAM
ing the prominent features of the
land in order to provide memorials
for half-forgotten figures in Co.
lonial annals.
Of Maryland and Delaware, for
example, there is Cecelius Ridge,
named after the brother of the
second Lord Baltimore; David VAL
ley, named for Capt. David P. De
Vries, who organized the company
which sent out the first Dutch set
tiers to Delaware; Francis Valley,
after Capt. Francis Nelson of the
ship Phoenix. which brought set
tiers to Virginia in 1903; George
Ridge, after George Calvert, first
Lord Baltimore: Heyes Canyon and
Valley, after Peter Heyes. leader of
the first settlement made by the
Dutch in Delaware; Kalmar Ridge,
after the ship Kalmar Nickel, which
brought the first Swedish settlers
to the New World Minuet Valley,
after Peter Minuet. the first direc-
tor general Of New Amsterdam.
The name of Pocahontas is hon
ored with two deep valleys off the
coast of Virginia. The name of her
father, Powhattan. is given to two
high ridges. There are the Nor
folk. Washington, Baltimore anc
Wilmington valleys. Two Nathan
valleys are to perpetuate the name
Of Nathan Hale. the Revolutionary
hero. Two Smith valleys, named
for Capt. John Smith. run parallel
to the two Pocahontas valleys.
Area May Honor Veatch.
The largest of all the valleys and
the only one we'll known before is
the Hudson River gorge, which lies
outside New York Harbor and has
long been known as one of the most
remarkable features of the CONT
mental shelf The whole hidden
land may become a memorial 10
DR.. Arthur c. Veatch, former geo.
logist Of the United States Geologi-
cal Survey, who, under a grant from
the Geological Society of America.
co-ordinated the soundings of the
Coast and Geodetic Survey.
For the past decade, Admiral Co..
bert reported, the Coast and Geo.
detic Survey has been making in
tensive sea-bottom surveys along
the coast. Depths are measured
continuously, the survey ship NOV
ing at ordinary speed, by the time
taken for echoes to return from
the bottom. Positions are fixed
precisely at the same time by echoes
returning from fixed bouys off shore
Up to the present, however, these
soundings had been mere columns
OF figures on the map, of Interest
only to mariners, and no effort had
been made to tie them together into
physical picture, like relief map
OF a mountain range.
The undersea badlands, explains
1t. Paul A. Smith of the Coast and
Geodetic Survey, who co-operated
with DR.. Veatch in the maps, can
not exactly be compared to q moua-
tain range, but rather to the very
rough edge of q high plateau. the
North American Continent. From
the bottom Of the mid-Atlantic the
slope to this edge rises very sharplv
5000 feet or more 125 miles east of
New York and less sharply alon.
the rest of the coast.
At the same meeting Capt. G. 8,
Bryan. photographer of the NAVY.
reported the finding north of Hispa-
nlola OF the deepest spot in the At
lantic. This is part of the great
Puerto Rican TROUGH, long known to
navigators. The new hole" is 28.-
GU feet in depth, For many years
past. Capt. Bryan said, the Nayy
has been receiving reports from ships
all over the earth on the speeds.
directions and temperatures of the
great ocean currents. For the most
part these have been filed away until
such time as enough of them had
accumulated to coordinate them.
A w. P. A. project now has been
started for entering all this data.
literally millions of reports. on
punched cards and feeding 1t into
the brass brains of calculating ma
chimes which will arrange it so it can
be co-ordinated and placed on maps,
The result is expected to be by far
the most complete and accurate sur
face map of the oceans yet known,