1940 E.W. Scripps cruise to the Gulf of California
By: by Charles A. Anderson [and others]
Contributors: Anderson, Charles Alfred, 1902-
Series: Geological Society of America. Memoir 43; California. University. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla. Contributions, new ser., no. 450, etc.
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Published: 1950
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Subjects: E. W. Scripps (Ship); Geology -- Mexico -- California, Gulf of; Paleontology -- Mexico -- California, Gulf of; Submarine topography; Foraminifera, Fossil; California, Gulf of, Region (Mexico)
Description: During the fall of 1940, the auxiliary research schooner E. W. SCRIPPS made a scientific cruise to the Gulf of California, supported jointly by The Geological Society of America and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California. The voyage lasted 78 days, from October 5 to December 22. A total distance of 6400 nautical miles was travelled; 4600 miles were logged during the 65 days that the vessel was in the Gulf, and the remaining 1800 miles were covered enroute to and from the area.C. Francisco Diaz Salcido of the Mexican Departmento de Marina accompanied the expedition as representative of the Mexican Government. In addition to his official duties, Senor Diaz kindly acted as interpreter and as contact man with public officials, merchants, and others. His services were invaluable, particularly to the geologists ashore.^

It is appropriate here also to acknowledge the gratitude felt by all the members of the expedition for the unfailing co-operation and courtesy extended to them by the representatives of the Mexican Government in San Diego, Guaymas, and other ports visited.Considerable scientific exploration of the peninsula of Baja California has been carried out in the past, and many biological collecting expeditions have visited the islands and waters of the Gulf, but until 1939 there was virtually no information concerning either the geology of the Gulf Islands and sea floor or the physical and chemical oceanography of its waters. In 1939 the E. W. SCRIPPS made a reconnaissance expedition to the entire Gulf.^

The soundings, cores of bottom sediments, and the brief glimpses of land geology suggested that in the Gulf are many of the conditions that have characterized certain past basins of sedimentation of great geologic interest.The purpose of the 1940 expedition was to study the geologic processes which are or have been active in the Gulf, through co-ordinated investigations of the recent geologic history of the land, of the bottom topography and sediments, and of the nature of the marine environment. In its unity of purpose, which was constantly kept in mind both in planning the work and in discussing results, it is believed that the expedition differed from most of its predecessors.On the 1939 expedition, soundings, cores, and hydrographic data were obtained on a series of cross sections at more or less regular intervals between the entrance to the Gulf and a point about 30 miles below the mouth of the Colorado.^

Accordingly it was believed that maximum results could be obtained by concentrating the work in 1940 on certain relatively small areas of diverse character.^

Four such areas were selected:(1) The region around Guaymas, with a relatively broad shallow shelf in the southern portion at the mouths of the Yaqui and Mayo rivers, and a mountainous coast north of the city, was chosen as representative of the range of conditions to be found on the eastern side of the Gulf.(2) The Carmen Island area in the western gulf, a region of complex submarine topography, and of many islands on which extensive exposures of fossiliferous marine Tertiary rocks occur.(3) The Concepcion Bay area also in the western gulf, of less complex bottom topography but with a variety of sedimentational environments and extensive Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits.(4) The Tibúron area, a region of special interest not only because it forms a constricted transition zone between the deep southern portion of the Gulf and the relatively shallow, gently sloping northern third, but because it contains the long, straight, and deep fault trough of the Sal si Puedes Basin,^

between Angel de la Guarda Island and the peninsula.In addition to these four areas, surveys of bottom topography in two submarine canyons were made while enroute to Guaymas, and the course of the vessel was so laid at other times that soundings could be taken in regions of topographic interest.Reports on the geology of certain islands and of a portion of the coast are included in the present volume, in papers by Anderson, Durham, and Natland. A discussion of the submarine topography is given by Shepard, together with a series of charts and a glossary of place names. Revelle presents a brief survey of the field observations of marine sedimentation and of physical, chemical, and biological oceanography.
Notes: Includes bibliographies.
Table of contents: title: Geology of islands and neighboring land areas, by C. A. Anderson.; title: Megascopic paleontology and marine stratigraphy, by J. W. Durham.; title: Submarine topography of the Gulf of California, by F. P. Shepard (Contribution from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, new ser., no. 450); title: Report on the Pleistocene and Pliocene Foraminifera, by M. L. Natland.; title: Sedimentation and oceanography: survey of field observations, by R. Revelle (Contribution from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, new ser., no. 458)