Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-05-04
By THOMAS r. HENRY
Science Editor Of The Star

There are two great parallel
mountain ranges under the Arc
tic Ocean.
The flrst-now named the
Lomonosov Mountains by its
Russian discoverers-cuts the
Arctic basin essentially in two
and runs directly over the North
Pole from east to west.
It is believed to be northern
extension through Iceland and
Greenland of the great mid-At-
lantic mountain range. one of
the most conspicuous features of
all undersea topography. Some
of its peaks are more than a
mile high.
The second range runs across
the Arctic just south of the
Lomonosovs. 1t was discovered
by American and Canadian air
force observers on the drifting
ice island T-3. It's peaks are
somewhat lower than those of
the northern range, and depth
soundings still are quite scanty.
There are indications, however,
of attitudes of nearly a mile.
The top of the range is indicated
by echo soundings from about
$500 meters below the surface.
Extensive Observations
This was reported to the Amer
lean Geophysical Union, meeting
at the National Academy of
Sciences here yesterday, in a
report from the Cambridge
(Mass) Air Force Research Gen.
ter. The floating ice island was
occupied by Air Force personnel
for two years. and extensive OBJ
servationS were carried out
DR.. A. P. Crary, who prepared
the report, now has returned
to T3 with a group of four scien-
lists to continue the work for
another season.
The report on the T3 obser-
vations was presented by Miss
Irene Browne of the Cambridge
center. These, together with
observations reported by Rus
sian scientists. who have occu-
pied four stations near the North
Pole in the past decade, the rec
port said, have made one of the
least known parts of the earth's
surface fairly familiar.
The Russian observers now are
occupying two of the polar sta
tions and are reported to have
established a fifth, the location
of which has not been revealed.
Once Considered Land
Ice islands are masses of ice
which drift slowly with the
counterclockwise ice circulation
of the Arctic basin. They have
rock or dirt-covered hills and
valleys on their surfaces, and at
first were considered permanent
land islands. The picture at
present, the report said, is that
of layered mass of ice, with
a fairly thick surface layer of
dust and debris on top, a vary
ing number of underlying lay
ers, and another fairly thick
layer at a depth of about 100
feet.
They. literally are pages of a
book of ice, the report stated.
The thickness of the intermediate
layers gives an indication of the
changing climates of the Arctic
for the last 1000 years. They
result from deposits of dust which
naturally are thicker in warm
intervals.
The age of various layers can
be determined roughly from the
content of an isotope of carbon,
which is radioactive, is constantly
being created by the lombard
ment of nitrogen by cosmic rays
in the upper atmosphere, be-
comes part of the air, and thus
incorporated in the bodies of all
living creatures, or plants. These,
in turn, become part of the dust.
5000 Years Old
The half life of carbon IA is
about 5000 years. Thus the age
of deposit can be determined
with fair accuracy-Within from
20 to so years. The determina-
ton from the lowest dust layer
of the ice islands gives an age