Smyrna times., 1941-09-25
BIG STOREHOUSE
FOUNDN OCEAN
Essential Materials Needed by
Man Are Produced i'm
Abundance
33O,OOO,OOO CUBIC MILES


OF natural riches, probably great
enough to supply all mankind with a
perpetual abundance of most of the
essential raw materials, has been
found by scientists.
1t occupies large part-more
than 330,000,000 cubic miles-of the
earth's outer layer.
Despite its size. its many riches
were discovered one by one. The
reports of many scientists, when put
together, are just now beginning to
disclose its almost fantastic poten-
tialities.
1t is such 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 graveyard on earth.
1t can foster some living things,
the experts state, at the rate of per-
haps 10000 generations a year.
1t is the sea.
Stocked With Food.
Reports of numerous oceanogra-
pliers are beginning to show that the
seas are heavily stocked with food,
medicine, the makings of petroleum,
with iron and an array of other min
erals, and even the things needed to
produce dynamite, anti-knock gaso-
line and garden vegetables.
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 Cal
ifornia's Scripps institution of ocean,
ography, 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.
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 10,000-generation crop develops
one generation every 40 minutes.
Life-Promoting Power.
Such productivity, says DR.. Claude
E. ZoBell, Scripps micro-biologist,
is due to the matchless life-promot-
ing power of the oceans and be-
cause sea water and even the ooze
at the bottom have been teeming
with bacteria since the beginning of
life.
The seas, says DR.. zoBell, pro-
duce five times as many animal spe-
cies, 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.
Drouth is unknown. And the water
is heavily "spiked" with minerals
and other food materials.
Moreover" DR.. ZoBell adds,
"only the top few feet of soil pro-
duce plant and animal life, but the
sea produces down to the limit of
sunlight penetration, zoe to 600 feet.
FINALLY, while the land might
yield five to ten useful crops, the
sea could produce possibly 10000
generations of life-promoting bacte-
ria, maybe 100 generations among
various 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
year"
Microscopic miners = they work
while they eat