Evening star., 1952-06-23
Sugar by the Tons
Probably in the Sea
Two Carbohydrates Isolated
From Salty Ocean Water

Two Carbohydrates Isolated
From Salty Ocean Water
By Thomos R. Henry
There are probably millions of tons Of
sugar in the sea.
Isolation from sea water of two car
bohydrates, one of which is a 'rham-.
noSide" from which can be split off
chemically rare type of sugar found in
the berries of the buckthorn bush Of the
American southwest has just been re-
ported to the American Association Of
the Advancement of Science here by a
Fish and Wildlife Service scientist.
The other seems essentially identical
with a form of ascorbic acid, better
known as vitamin c. Both were obtained
from sea water in the form of white
crystalline compounds which could be
separated from each other by their dit-
ferent solubilities in water.
1t has been known for sometime, re-
ports Dr. Peter j. Wangersky Of the
Gulf Fisheries Investigations office at
Galveston. that sea water contained
some substances which were physiologi-
cally active in oysters. oysters are ami
mails. They need sugar and vitamin as
much as any other animals.
The ascorbic acid form was not diff
cult to identify. The rhamnoside still
cannot be placed with any precision.
The vitamin was more or less antici-
pated theoretically because of the oyster
situation. 1t was found, however, that
the 'rhamnoside" was by far the most
abundant carbohydrate in sea water.
From inshore waters of the gulf coast its
concentration runs as high as a hun
dredth of a gram per liter.
If the same concentration holds
throughout the worlds oceans-and sea
water seems about the same everywhere
the sugar content of the sea would be
almost incalculably enormous.
It may play an important part in the
economy of sea life.
Rocks Tested by New Method.
The oldest rocks on earth average
about % billion years.
This figure is reached when previous
measurements. based on the breakdown
of uranium and thorium into various
forms of lead, is checked by the newest
and probably most accurate time-piece
of geology. This is the breakdown of
the relatively rare element strontium
into rubidium.
The calculations are reported to the
American Geophysical Union here by DIR.
L. H. AhrenS of Massachusetts, Institute
of Technology. The figure still is of.
presumably, by several million years, but
this makes little difference in the vast
sweep of world time.
Tho oldest r0rkS NJ oil arn emma CO.
called pegmatites from southeastern
Manitoba. Under the old uranium break
down measurements they were assigned
an age of about two billion years. More
precise recalculations fix their uranium
age at about % billion years. The
strontium- -rubidium figure runs little
'higher-2.4 billion years.
A second area of extremely old rocks
Is Karelia in northern Russia. At one
time these were credited with being the
oldest of all. Numerous uranium-lead
breakdowns, however, give reliable age
of between 1.8 and two billion years.
The Russian rocks now appear to be
the youngest of the very old.
The third area of extremely old rocks
is southern Rhodesia. Their numerous
measurements give an average of about
81 billion years. The fourth area cited
by DR.. Ahrens is near VarutraSk Sweden.
There an average of ten Strontium-
rubidium determinations gives an av-
erage age of two billion years.
This means that such ages have
elapsed since the rocks were formed and
one element started breaking down into
another in these particular places. It
does not mean necessarily that this is
the age of the earth itself. It Is quite
likely that there was a considerable
period when the crust of the earth was
extremely unstable, and nothing re-
manned long in one place.
Orogenic Events Reviewed.
These great ages, says Dr. Ahrens, may
represent single period of major world
wide disturbance. Gas no rocks of great
er age have been reported" he says, "this
period of crustal disturbance may have
been the first major circle or orogenic
(mountain building) events in the earth's
history. If so it forms basis for the
division Of pref -Cambrian time Gall the
ages before the first life appeared about
500 million years ago) into two major
subdivisions. These namely are pre- and
post the % billion years ago progeny"
Here and there, he points out there is
evidence that the rocks in which the
radioactive materials are found and from
which the age data are obtained have
themselves intruded into formations
containing pebbles Of presumably older
GRANTEES. He believes, however. that these
older rocks belong in the same general
period. They may be. he thinks. 100
million to 200 million years older than
the radioactive rocks. but such an inter-
val is of little significance considering
the entire age of the earth.
Whether it ever will be possible to get
more accurate measurements Of the
earth's age now Is quite questionable.
The method by which the age of rocks
was determined by the radio Of certain
isotopes of lead to uranium or thorium
in formation was greatly complicated
by the number of forms of lead and the
difficulty of separating them with suffi-
cient precision. No such difficulty is en-
countered in considering the strontium-
rubidium breakdown. These materials,
however, are somewhat more difficult to
find.
There still may be. DR.. Ahrens points
out, some considerable systematic error
perhaps in the accepted time for the
radioactive decay Of elements. This can
never effect, he holds. the determination
of which rocks are the oldest on earth.