Evening star., 1940-10-20
Vast Storehouse
OF Raw Materials
Found in Oceans
Petroleum, Minerals,
Food and Medicine
Isolated by Science
By RENNIE TAYLOR.
Associated Press Science Writer.

Associated Press Science Writer.
LA JOLLA, Calf. Oct. ia
storehouse of natural riches prob
ably great enough to supply all man.
kind with a perpetual abundance
of most of the essential raw mate
rails has been found by scientists.
It occupies a large part-more
than 330,000,0OO cubic miles-of the
earth's outer layer.
Despite its size, many riches were
discovered one by one The reports
of many scientists, when put to-
gether, are just now beginning to
disclose its almost fantastic poten-
tialities.
1t is such a prolific producer, the
scientists say, that it could replen-
ish most of its resources faster than
humanity could possibly use them,
provided the consumers avoided
waste and practiced intelligent con-
servation.
1t is the worlds greatest reservoir
of life, and at the same time the
largest grave yard on earth
1t can foster some living things,
the experts state, at the rate of per-
haps 10000 generations year.
1t is the sea.
More Productive Than Land
Reports of numerous oceanogra-
pliers are beginning to show that
the seas are heavily stocked with
food, medicine, the makingS of pc
troleum, with iron and an array of
other minerals. and even the things
needed to produce dynamite, anti
knock gasoline and garden vege-
tables
Most of this wealth is due to the
activities of countless billions of
tiny plants and animals, working
throughout. the ages with the help
Of sun. tide, current and other nat
ural forces.
The story of these findings lies in
the records of the University of Cali
fornias Scripps Institution of Oce-
anography through which much of
the work was done
The discoveries have led some eX-
perts to conclude that the sea is
more productive per unit of surface
area than the land And there is
nearly three times as much of ocean
surface as there is of terra firma.
Harvesting Is Difficult.
But no way has been found to har-
vest the total annual crop from any
given sea area. Ocean crops-fSh,
mammals and plants-migrate or
are moved by ocean currents. COM
plicating the harvesting.
A 10000 generation crop develops
one generation every 40 minutes.
Such productivity, says Dr. Claude
f. 70 Bell, ScrlppS intercollegiate, is
due to the matchleSs lifc-promoting
power of the oceans and because sea
water and even the oozc at the bot
tom have been teeming with bac-
terra since the beginning of life
The seas, says DR.. 70 Bell. pro-
duce five times as many animal spe-
cles, exclusive of insects, as live on
land, and several thousand plant
species
Ocean temperature is more even
than continental, which means sea
plants and animals never suffer
from extremes of heat or cold.
Drought is unknown. And the water
Is heavily spiked" with minerals
and other food materials.
Moreover. DR.. 70 Bell adds.
"onlv the top few feet of soil pro-
duce plant and animal life. but the
sea produces down to the limit of
sunlight penetration. 200 to 600 feet.
Bacteria Champion Producers.
FINALLY, while the land might
yield 5 to 10 useful crops, the sea
could produce possibly 10000 gen.
erationS Of life-pTomoting bacteria,
maybe 100 generations among va
rlous classes of slightly larger or
ganisms, and still other things at
undetermined speed.
Crops on land at any one time
are on the average larger than crops
in the same area of ocean. but We
do not know how many crops of all
kinds the ocean produces in a year."
Bacteria-there are 100000 to TO-
000000.000 of them in every quart of
sea water and billions per quart of
bottom oozc are the champion pro-
ducers OF the deep, DR.. 70 Bell re-
ports.
From the remains of submarine
plants and animals they produce
food to support still more plant life,
which in turn sustains the oceanic
vegetarian animals. In this process
the bacteria also purify the sea,
making it the worlds largest and
most effective septic tank.
The bacteria also deposit iron
manganese, zinc sulphur, limestone.
magnesium. aluminium and other
minerals on the ocean floor.
These minerals are among the
100000, 100000 tons of dissolved
substances which, experts say. are
washed into the seas from the land
every year. The bacteria need some
of them in their diet. What they do
not digest they deposit on the bot
ON.
Manganese Found.
Some of these deposits become
enormous. DR.. Charles Snowden
Piggott of the Cerheple Institution
found huge deposits OF manganese,
a steel-toughening mineral which
the United States needs.
Besides huge amounts Of table
salt. calcium or limestone. the sea
grows iodine-yielding plants and is
being worked also for bromine,
chemical used in sedatives and anti
knock gasoline.
The oceans contain enormous
s,.l plies of potash, one of the three
main plant foods. 1t yields only
modest amounts of the other two,
nitrogen and phosphorus, but
enough to support considerable veg
citation.
There are radium deposits in the
deeps, and gold in sea sands and in
the water itself.
Experts of the Dow Chemical Co.