Evening star., 1950-05-01
Floors Of Deepest Seas
Full Of Hills, Valleys
Only Mid-Pocific and lndion
Oceans Have Level Bottoms
By Thomos Z. Henry


The floors Of the deepest seas are
chaotic realms OF hills and valleys.
Only in the mid-Pacinc and Indian
oceans are found level plains on the
bottom. probably due TO lava dows from
great volcanic eruptions.
This is the report Of the Swedish
deep-sea expedition which essentially
followed the Equator around the world.
taking echo Soundings Of the great
depths and securing 45-foot long cores
from the Shallower bottoms.
Everywhere the sea. like the earth. has
basic rock bottom upon which have
been built up great thickneSses Of sedi-
ment through the ages. reports DR..
Hans Petersen OF the Swedish Oceano-
graphic Institute OF Gottenberg. The
depth Of these Sedimentary layers can
be determined by returning echoes
In the Atlantic, DR.. Petersen found.
the sediments pile up to thickneSSes Of
almost 10000 feet indicating the great
age Of the ocean. In both the Pacific and
Indian oceans. however. extensive areas
are found where the sediments are less
than 1000 feet thick
This can be explained. the report says.
only by the hypothesis that volcanoes
have laid down new floors Of igneouS
rock over old sedimentary deposits. II
is considered very unlikely that these
oceans are so much younger than the
Atlantic, or that they have received
less deposits from the land.
The specimens collected by the expe-
dition still are being studied and only
preliminary reports are possible at pres
ent. DR.. Petersen says. Cores and
samples Of sea water from various
depths will be analyzed. especially to
determine their content of radioactive
materials.
Most surprising Of the findings, the
leader reports, is the extreme roughness
of the deep sea bottom down to depths
of nearly 10000 feet. 1t is covered with
what might be described as low noun.
tain ranges separated by fantastic val
leys. due to titanic earth movements
through the ages.
The celebrated Einstein shift. upon
acceptance of which relativity originally
depended. not only Is a reality but Is
somewhat larger than was predicted.
This is the report to the American
Astronomical Association by DR.. @. Van
Biesbrock of Yerkes Observatory after
intensive study Of photographs taken on
the National Geographic Society's total
solar eclipse expedition to Brazil in l947.
When Albert Einstein first published
the revolutionary theory of relativity
he made three predictions In support Of
it. One was that the light from a distant
star passing close to the sun is shifted
slightly toward the sun. That is, Prof.
Einstein said, the path of light would
be distorted by the presence in space Of
such an enormous mass.
This was first tested by a British
eclipse expedition in 1914. The observa-
tions seemed to confirm the prediction.
The shift, however, was very slight. It
was barely within the limits of observa-
tion, the chances of error were very
great. and the instruments used were
far less delicate than those available
at present.
Measurement Of this shift was one
major objective of the National Geo.
graphic Society expedition. the astro-
nomical observing program Of which was
In charge Of DR.. Van Biesbrock. He
devised greatly improved instruments
over those used on previous expeditions
and was favored with exceptionally fine
observing weather.
Once the photographs were developed.
intensive study was necessary to inter-
pref them. This involved almost mimi
tesimally fine measurements, so that the
final report has Just been issued.
Prof. Einstein predicted a shift OF
l 745 seconds Of arc. The present OBJ
servations make it close to 2Ol seconds
Of arc. with no explanation for the dif-
ference. Previous observers have reported
somewhat less than the expected shift