Read Ebook: The Floors of the Ocean: 1. The North Atlantic Text to accompany the physiographic diagram of the North Atlantic by Ewing W Maurice William Maurice Heezen Bruce C Tharp Marie

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Ebook has 779 lines and 51478 words, and 16 pages

PAGE

ABSTRACT 1

PART 1. PREPARATION OF THE PHYSIOGRAPHIC DIAGRAM 3

BIBLIOGRAPHY 109

INDEX 115

PLATES

FOLLOWING PLATE PAGE

FIGURES

PAGE

FIGURE

TABLES

TABLE PAGE

ABSTRACT

The Physiographic Diagram: Atlantic Ocean, Sheet 1, which portrays the North Atlantic between 17? and 50? North Latitude, is the first of a projected series of diagrams. The diagram is based on continuous echo-sounding traverses made by research vessels. The relief shown on the profiles was sketched in perspective using the technique introduced by Lobeck. Between sounding profiles the relief is speculative, based on extrapolation of trends noted in the profiles.

The area of the diagram is divided into three major physiographic regions which are in turn subdivided into the following categories of provinces.

CONTINENTAL MARGIN

OCEAN BASIN FLOOR

MID-OCEANIC RIDGE

Each province is defined, briefly described, and illustrated with profiles and photographs of echo-sounding records.

The boundaries of the physiographic provinces, defined solely by bottom topography, show good correlation with variations in crustal structure as determined by seismic-refraction measurements and with anomalies of the gravity and magnetic fields. In addition, the province boundaries correlate well with distribution patterns of bottom sediments. The physiographic provinces are thus really morpho-tectonic provinces. The precise correlation of topographic provinces and structure observed in specific sections can thus be extrapolated along province boundaries to deduce the geology in large areas where no geophysical work has been done. The tectonic map of the Atlantic prepared in this manner will be presented in a subsequent publication.

PART 1. PREPARATION OF THE PHYSIOGRAPHIC DIAGRAM

There is a fundamental difference between the preparation of a terrestrial and a marine physiographic diagram. In the former the major problem is to select from more-detailed maps the features to be represented. Except in unexplored, inaccessible areas, the shape of all land features is a matter of recorded fact; the problem is to abstract and artfully draw the features in question. In contrast, the preparation of a marine physiographic diagram requires the author to postulate the patterns and trends of the relief on the basis of cross sections and then to portray this interpretation in the diagram.

PHYSIOGRAPHIC PROVINCE CHART: A study of the exaggerated profiles plotted during the preparation of the physiographic diagram revealed the existence of morphological features and morphological provinces not previously delineated. The limits of areas of contrasting morphology were noted on the profiles, and these points were plotted on a chart of small scale .

CONTROL: Almost all the echo-sounding profiles used in the preparation of the physiographic diagram and the physiographic province chart were obtained by expeditions of the Lamont Geological Observatory and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution . Some soundings were provided by the Hydrographic Department, British Admiralty and the International Hydrographic Bureau .

The echo soundings made by research vessels fall into three classes: precision soundings ; nonprecision soundings obtained by research vessels using commercial echo sounders with control or close check on time standard; poor to bad soundings made with commercial echo sounders without timing control or adequate checks. Most of the soundings used in this paper fall into the first two categories. In Figure 2 the Precision Depth Recorder sounding tracks are shown. In Figure 3 the good but nonprecision tracks are shown. The soundings of the third class are not shown. All tracks used in the preparation of the diagram are shown in Plate 21. Most of the sounding lines were located by standard dead-reckoning procedures from astronomical fixes. Errors of a few miles are probably common. Position errors do not seriously affect the work described here since we are dealing largely with texture read from profiles and plotted on a small-scale sheet.

In addition to the sounding tracks shown in the control chart, spot depths shown on U. S. Hydrographic Office charts HO 0955a, 0955b, 0956a, 0956b, and 5487 and on feuille A-1 of the Carte G?n?rale Bathym?trique des Oc?ans were used where profiles were lacking. Along the east coast of the United States the Coast and Geodetic Survey soundings published by Veatch and Smith were used for the continental shelf and slope. Other important sources of published soundings include Hill , De Andrade , Dietrich , W?st , Emery , and Tolstoy .

The land areas of the diagram were sketched to the same rigid vertical scale as that used for the deep sea. Elevations for the United States were taken from United States Geological Survey and Army Map Service quadrangle maps; elevations for Europe and Africa are from Bartholomew maps; and elevations for the islands from United States Navy Hydrographic Office charts.

EXAGGERATED PROFILES: The profiles plotted at 40:1 vertical exaggeration are the basis for the topography sketched on the physiographic diagram. A selection of these profiles is reproduced in Plates 22, 24, 25, and 27, and in Figure 45. All profiles from precision soundings were originally plotted at a vertical scale of 2 inches equals 1000 fathoms and a horizontal scale of 2 inches equals 40 miles. Nonprecision soundings were plotted at scales of 1 inch equals 1000 fathoms and 1 inch equals 40 miles. In a typical area 40 to 60 soundings were plotted for each 60 miles of profile. The points were connected and then qualitatively checked against the original echogram. Although all the larger features are represented on these profiles, features of less than a mile in width may be missed. The small scale of the physiographic diagram excluded the possibility of portraying most of the features less than 3-6 miles in width and less than 20 fathoms in height.

Detailed study of the small-scale features less than 2 or 3 miles in width is best accomplished by a study of the original echograms. The PDR records are ideal for this purpose.

U. S. Navy designation.

PART 2. PHYSIOGRAPHIC PROVINCES

INTRODUCTION

Descriptions of physical features of the earth's surface are found in the earliest-known writings. However, the systematic classification of land forms is relatively recent and followed the development of the science of physical geology. The natural topographic divisions of the continents have been classified into physiographic provinces according to several similar systems . These systems take into account form and age of the relief, as well as the structure of the underlying rocks. Descriptions are usually given in terms of age, process, and structure, with the ultimate aim the understanding of the origin and history of topography. Detailed topographic maps at 1:50,000 or larger are available and are used in conjunction with direct field observations. More recently aerial photographs have greatly aided geomorphic studies.

The oceans, in contrast, have been subdivided by oceanographers merely into basins separated by ridges and swells. This was done on the basis of widely spaced discrete soundings shown on charts rarely of larger scale than 1:10 million. The basins were delimited by arbitrarily chosen and often crudely controlled isobaths. The development and installation of continuously recording deep-sea echo sounders and their extensive use in the deep sea provide for the first time detailed topographic information on the deep-sea floor and thus a new basis for description and classification.

It is perhaps presumptuous at this time to refer to the topographic divisions of the sea floor as physiographic provinces when we have only scant information concerning the structure of each province, the age, the physical processes, and, in fact, the details of topography. Therefore, the classification described in the following pages is presented as a first attempt, with the full knowledge that it will be modified and expanded by subsequent exploration.

We are only beginning to understand the structural significance of deep-sea physiographic provinces. We now think that the correlation of topography and structure will be better under the sea than on land because of less vigorous erosion at depth in the sea. If this is true, deep-sea structural patterns may eventually be quite simple to map.

NOMENCLATURE AND CLASSIFICATION OF DEEP-SEA RELIEF

Before the advent of continuously recorded echo-sounding profiles, and their revelation of the texture of the sea-floor relief, classification and nomenclature of submarine topography were based on broad closed isobaths. We can characterize the older system as the bathymetric system of nomenclature in contrast to that employed in this paper, which we can call a geomorphic or textural system.

The terms "basin" and "deep" used in the older literature are usually defined by closed 3000-, 4000-, or 5000-meter contours as represented on the Carte G?n?rale Bathym?trique des Oc?ans . For many purposes this terminology is useful, particularly in describing the habitat of a deep-sea fish or the locale of a water mass. Consequently some such system should be retained even though in many areas basin boundaries are difficult to define, and regardless of the fact that many boundaries cut arbitrarily through physiographic provinces without regard for local province boundaries. The Atlantic has been subdivided by W?st whose system is now in general use.

The nomenclature of deep-sea topography has been considered by several committees during the past half century. The most recent recommendations published by Wiseman and Ovey are followed wherever applicable. The older systems of nomenclature, however, are not rigidly employed since we are dealing with textural provinces based on profiles obtained with continuously recording echo sounders rather than bathymetric provinces defined by closed isobaths.

UNITS OF DEPTH AND SLOPE

On the profiles and echograms the vertical scale is in units of echo-sounding time rather than in units of true depth. In other words, all depths are calculated under the assumption that the vertical sound velocity is 800 fathoms per second. Considering that the sound travels to the bottom and back, the calculation is based on 400 fathoms per second of lapsed time.

Since the average vertical velocity is, within the area covered, always slightly less than 800 fathoms per second, the true depth is always slightly greater than the "echo-time depth" as expressed in "nominal fathoms". Figure 5 shows the range of corrections which must be applied in various parts of the area. The spot depths indicated on the physiographic diagram are in units of true depth corrected according to Matthews' tables for regional variations in the average vertical sounding velocity.

The inclination of the bottom is given as the tangent of the angle between the sloping plane and the horizontal expressed as a ratio of integers. These ratios are referred to as gradients. In Figure 6 slope values expressed in degrees, per cent grade, feet per statute mile, and gradient are compared. With a few exceptions all profiles are represented with a 40:1 vertical exaggeration. To facilitate judging the magnitude of slopes on these profiles, Figure 7 shows various gradient ratios at a 40:1 vertical exaggeration. Slope corrections have not been made to the soundings. Except in special cases such corrections would make insignificant changes in the 40:1 profile.

All distances are given in nautical or geographical miles .

CONTINENT AND OCEAN

The two first-order morphologic divisions of the earth's crust are continent and ocean. The oceans can be divided into a few major divisions which are in turn subdivided into categories of physiographic provinces and then into individual provinces. The area of the present study is composed of the three major divisions shown in Figure 9: continental margin, ocean-basin floor, and mid-oceanic ridge. The discussion and description of the physiographic provinces of the North Atlantic will follow the schematic outline shown in Figure 8.

CONTINENTAL MARGIN

DEFINITION AND GENERAL CATEGORIES

The continental margin includes those provinces of the continents and of the oceans which are associated with the boundary between these two first-order features of the earth.

The most common type of continental margin is made up of continental shelf , continental slope , and continental rise . . In areas where the continental rise is well developed it is composed of two parts, the upper and the lower continental rise . In some areas the lower continental rise is replaced by an outer ridge, and the upper continental rise is replaced by a marginal basin or marginal trench. These two latter types are illustrated in Figure 10 by profiles marked Blake Plateau and Puerto Rico respectively. Seamounts and islands occur in all the continental-margin provinces.

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