I. Relatively Young Science

A. Voyage of HMS Challenger (1872-1876) taken as beginning of modern marine geology

1. However, investigations with marine geological aspects did occur prior to Challenger cruise

B. Pre-Challenger marine geology

1. Captain James Cooke

a. British naval officer

b. 3 expeditions to Pacific in 1770's

i. navigation

ii. soundings

2. Sir John Ross (1810's) & Sir James Clark Ross (1830-1840's)

a. first accurate deep (several hundred fathoms) soundings - at high latitudes (around Antarctica & the Arctic)

b. collected sediment samples, deep-marine organisms

i. similarity of Arctic & Antarctic deep-marine organisms showed continuity of deep ocean from pole to pole

3. Lt. Matthew Fontaine Maury (1842-1870's)

a. headed the Navy's U. S. Hydrographic Office

b. first submarine geologist

c. first deep-marine bathymetric map (of the North Atlantic)

i. recognized the Mid-Atlantic Ridge - called it Telegraph Plateau

ii. continuation of first serious extensive sounding associated with laying of telegraph cable linking North America & Europe

d. compiled Pilot Charts

II. HMS Challenger Expedition

A. Prompted by Darwin's theory of evolution

1. Charles Wyville Thomson, professor at University of Edinburgh, convinced the Royal Society of London to sponsor a global survey of the deep ocean & headed the cruise

B. Circumnavigated globe

1. 362 stations

a. made nearly 500 deep soundings

b. trawled for organisms

c. dredged & cored rocks & sediments

d. collected water samples

e. measured water temperature, salinity, currents

f. made meteorological measurements

2. took 23 years to process & publish data

a. Sir John Murray took responsibility for publication of the Challenger reports (50 volumes)

i. primarily interested in deep marine sediments

ii. remained active for many years - co-authored the seminal marine geology text (The Depth of the Ocean) with J. Hjort in 1912

3. started many fields, sometimes represents the only work

4. resulted in better understanding of:

a. depths

b. sediments

i. distribution

ii. some processes

iii. pelagic vs. hemipelagic

5. still no understanding of:

a. geomorphology of the ocean though - soundings too far apart (100 km)

b. existence of deep ocean currents & erosion

III. Post-Challenger/Pre-WWII

A. 1870's-1900

1. Biologically oriented

2. Other large national expeditions similar to Challenger

a. U. S.

i. U. S. S. Albatross (1882) Alexander Agassiz - privately funded - sailed around east & west coasts of the U. S. & the eastern Pacific & Caribbean - investigation of coral reefs - biology & geology

ii. U. S. S. Blake (1883) John Pillsbury - current measurements in the Straits of Florida

b. Russia

i. Vitiaz (1886-1889) North Pacific

c. Germany

i. Gazelle, National, Valdivia, Planet, Deutschland (1874-1889) mostly in the Atlantic

d. Monaco

i. Prince Albert was very interested in deep sea exploration

ii. Outfitted several yachts for oceanographic research from 1884-1922

iii. Produced a series of deep sea bathymetric maps - used until after WWII for Atlantic & Pacific & until 1964 for the Indian Ocean

iv. Jacques Cousteau & the Calypso are associated with the still active Monaco oceangraphic tradition

e. Scandinavians

i. Fridjof Nansen sailed the Fram (a specially designed double hulled ship) to the Arctic, froze it into the ice, & drifted from 1893-1896, making meteorological & current measurements

B. 1900-WWII

1. Physical oceanography dominant

a. aided in the discovery of the Mid-Ocean Ridge

i. temperature difference between eastern & western basins of the Atlantic could only be explained if the Telegraph Plateau (which had been named by Maury) continued into the South Atlantic

b. Scandinavians very active

2. Development of electronic echo sounder in early 1900's had major impact on marine geology

a. aided development of marine geomorphology by allowing many more soundings at closer intervals to be made

i. initially only 1 or 2 electronic soundings a day - just as if still using rope or wire

ii. gradually increased to 1 per sec after about 25 years

iii. also developed graphical recording device to produce continuous records

b. stopped sediment sampling - no longer putting line over the side for sounding

c. U. S. Coast & Geodetic Survey used electronic echo sounding to map the shelf & uppermost slope off the U. S.during the 1930's

i. hand recorded depths from a neon dial

ii. used surveying triangles - buoys with line between

iii. mapped the heads of submarine canyons & opened up study of these interesting & important features

iv. lots of literature (e. g., GSA Special Paper #7)

d. first use of the continuous recording echo sounder by the German ship Meteor in the South Atlantic (1925-1927)

i. further documented continuity of the Mid-Ocean Ridge in the Atlantic

ii. ran several survey lines east to west across the South Atlantic

3. Development of hydraulic coring offset loss of sediment sampling - get longer sediment sample

a. German South Polar expedition (1901-1903) collected several 2-m cores that were studied by E. Philippi in 1910

i. contained sands with shallow-marine fauna

ii. deep-sea sediments were stratified

b. Meteor expedition also collected several 1-m cores in the South Atlantic & Indian Ocean that were studied by Wolfgang Schott

i. he recognized that the foraminifer, Globorotalia menardii, was present in the upper 10 cm of the core but absent below that depth

ii. he interpreted this faunal break as the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary - initiated paleoceanographic studies

c. other workers studying deep-sea cores (mostly from the Atlantic)

i. H. C. Stetson & F. B. Phlenger - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI)

ii. M. N. Bramlette & W. H. Bradley - U. S. Geological Survey

4. Start of marine geophysics

a. F. A. Vening-Meinesz (Dutch physicist) developed techniques to measure gravity at sea

i. used on submarines - below wave base

ii. found large negative gravity anomalies associated with deep ocean trenches

iii. Harry H. Hess (developer of theory of seafloor spreading) participated in investigation of the Puerto Rico Trench with Vening-Meinesz in 1932

5. Still a few large national expeditions

a. Meteor

b. Snellius (1929-1930)- Dutch

c. Discovery (1930's) - British

6. Start of large oceanographic institutes that sponsored shorter expeditions - founded an funded by wealthy individuals

a. Scripps Institute of Oceanography (University of California - San Diego)

i. had been founded in late 1800's

ii. emphasis shifted from biology alone to all aspects of oceanography

iii. Francis Shepard - first marine geologist in U. S.

b. WHOI (associated with MIT & Harvard, located on Cape Cod)

i. founded in early 1930

ii. mostly biological

iii. H. Bigalow, H. Stetson - geologists

c. University of Washington

i. accelerated program

IV. Post WWII

A. Big boost to marine geology & geophysics

1. Founding of Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory (LDGO)

a. by Maurice Ewing in 1948

b. played large role in marine geology & geophysics

c. ultimately led to theory of Plate Tectonics

2. Increased funding for & interest in study of ocean bottom, particularly by the Navy

a. founding of Office of Naval Research (ONR) in 1946 - much funding to academic institutions from mid-40's to late 60's-early 70's

b. founding of National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1950

3. Development of Precision Depth Recorder (PDR)

a. by Ewing, Bruce Heezen & other LDGOers in early 1950's

b. very high resolution in deep water

i. 1 m accuracy in 5000 m water depth

c. expanded bathymetric mapping of the oceans

i. showed flatness of abyssal plains

ii. showed roughness of Mid-Ocean Ridge

iii. showed rift valley at crest of Mid-Ocean Ridge

4. Development of Piston Corer

a. Ewing-Kullenberg piston corer

b. could recovered undisturbed cores up to 20 m long

c. previous gravity cores - only 2-3 m, deformed as core barrel penetrated

d. LDGO has largest collection of deepsea cores

5. Development of Marine Geophysical Techniques

a. marine magnetometer developed at LDGO

i. played crucial role in the development of the theory of seafloor spreading & determining age of the seafloor

b. seismic refraction & seismic reflection techniques

i. shallow marine (<200 m) seismic refraction techniques developed by Ewing in 1930's, extended into deep water (>200 m) in 1949

ii. confirmed fundamental difference between continental & oceanic crust

iii. marine seismic reflection techniques developed in early 1960's - allowed details of sediment distribution to be worked out

c. thermistor probe - Sir Edward Bullard

B. Other postwar developments

1. Last of big national expeditions

a. Swedish Deep Sea Expedition (1947-48) - Albatross

i. remarkable series of Kullenberg piston cores

ii. worked up by G. Arrhenius

iii. important paleoceanographic data set

b. Dutch Deep-Sea Expedition (1950-52) - Galathea

2. Change at Scripps

a. Roger Revelle - director from 1948 to 1964

b. emphasized ocean floor studies

3. Founding of National Oceanographic Institutes in other countries

a. France - Centre pour l'Exploration des Oceans in Brest

b. Britain - National Oceanographic Institute in Wormsley

c. Canada - Bedford Institute in Halifax, Nova Scotia

d. Soviet Union - Institute of Oceanology in Moscow

e. West Germany - Bundesanstalt fur Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe in Kiel

f. Japan - Ocean Research Institute (University of Tokyo) in Tokyo

4. Development of radiochemical dating methods

a. C14

b. allowed calculation of sedimentation rates

i. showed that sedimentation rates were too fast if the ocean basins were as old as the continents

C. Developments in the 1960's-1980's

1. Formation of Joint Oceanographic Institutes for Deep Earth Sampling (JOIDES)

a. outgrowth of MOHOLE fiasco

b. initially only LDGO, WHOI, Scripps, University of Miami, & Oregon State University; now international in scope

c. proposed drilling of sediments in the deep ocean

d. very successful Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) from 1968-1983

i. drilling vessel - Glomar Challenger - named in honor of H. M. S. Challenger

ii. drilled 624 sites during 96 legs

iii. confirmed the validity of seafloor spreading & plate tectonics

iv. great boost to paleoceanographic studies, petrology, tectonics

e. continued with Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) in 1985

2. Development of precision navigation systems

a. Satellite Navigation System

i. several satellites in polar orbit

ii. used to navigate surface ships

iii. can go back to same place at sea

b. Transponder Systems

i. devices similar to echo sounders

ii. placed on seafloor

iii. used to navigate subsurface instruments & submersibles

3. Development of deep-diving submersibles

a. U. S. - DSRV ALVIN - 4000 m

b. France - CYANA -3000 m, NAUTILE -6000 m

4. Development of remote instruments

a. DEEP-TOW

b. ARGO

c. Jason

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