Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-08-13
Endorsed Mountains
Churted in Atlantic
Bermuda Islands Mark End
Of Isolated choin Of Cones
By Themes r. Henry

A chain Of isolated sea mountains
rising from mile to two miles above
the door Of the North Atlantic extends
in curved line southwark from the
coast Of Newfoundland to Bermuda. n
The Bermuda islands are themselves
such sea mountains. the southernmost
Of the chain and the only ones which
now rise above the sea surface.
Existence of this great chain Is re.
vealed In q report to the Once Of Naval
Research by DR.. John Northrop,
Columbia University oceanographer.
Much Of the work over the past few
years. during which one mountain
after another has been found, has been
under Navy auspices.
The mountains. DR.. Northrop says,
are huge cone-shaped peaks whose tops
are covered with sediments containing
marine organisms Of the tertiary geo.
logical period. preceding the last sue.
ceSsion OF ice ages. AL indications are
that they are extinct volcanoes which
erupted early in the tertiary period
along some lines Of weakness In the
earth's surface. One of these sea
mountains just south Of Georges Bank
consists Of foot-thick layer Of the So
called globingerina ooze, characteristics
OF most Of the Atlantic bottom, which
covers q layer about two inches thick
OF coral and similar organisms. Below
the coral Is . thick layer Of cobbles
and pebbles.
Stones on Ice Rats.
The cobbles were probably RATED to
the site by floating Ice during the last
ice age, DR.. Northrop says. The coral
fossils must have been left over from .
period when the ocean level was con-
siderably lower. since they are of
species which cannot live at the depth
Of the top Of the mountain, about 1000
fathoms. The ooZe was deposited
under present conditions.
These findings" he says, show
evidence OF q rise In sea level since the
pleiStocene dce age) period, but ap-
parently the time Of lowered sea level
was too short to cause erosion of the
sea mounts peaked top. Otherwise It
never has been exposed to wave action.
No dat-topped sea mounts, such as are
found in the Pacific, have been found
in the North American basin to date"
This curved line of sea mountains, Il
is pointed out, cannot be considered an
undersea mountain range, comparable
to the mid-Atlantic ridge extending
southwark from Iceland along the
Azores or the recently discovered great
mid-Paciflc range. one of the mightiest
arrays Of mountains on earth. The
Western Atlantic elevations are appar-
emily entirely unconnected with each
other. They are separated by long
stretches Of abysmal ocean depths.
Great Submarine Canyons.
The otherwise most striking feature
OF the Western Atlantic, the report
points out, are the great submarine
canyons. chaSms as much as 1000 feet
deep. now believed to be gouged out by
deep currents originating from the
melting Of Greenland glaciers. Largest
is midocean canyon which has been
found east Of the Grand Banks of
Newfoundland and probably extends
southwark for about 1000 miles. It
dwarfs the much more completely sur
veyed Hudson canyon which extends
from the 100-fathom line, about 90
miles southeast Of New York Harbor
southeastward for approximately 200
miles, It has several tributary canyons.
like great river system. It ends in a
huge. deltalike plain, the "abysmal
sands" which cover much Of the mid
Atlantic until 1t merges into the foot
hills Of the mid-Atlantic ridge. It con-
stitutes sluice by which land material
is deposited on the floor of this plain.