Abstract
IN connexion with a recent discussion on the relation of the existing degree of terrestrial isostasy to the broken stratification that often accompanies it1, a report of delicate investigations of core samples of some length taken from the mud of the deep ocean bottom (where there is excess of isostasy by stretching2) initiated and carried out for some years with great ingenuity by the Carnegie Geophysical Laboratory at Washington, D.C., thus exposing the course of recent geological history, and especially the excessive radioactivity (already somewhat in evidence) revealed in these superficial soft cores, is a development not to be overlooked3.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
NATURE, 141, 603, 906 (1938).
Note that the hyper-isostasy, and the stretching that has thinned the ocean bed, and its depression which could not be primeval, are here all correlated.
Piggot, C. S., "Core Samples of the Ocean Bottom and their Significance", in recent "Papers from the Geophysical Laboratory".
It is reported that investigation as to the total depth of the deposit is now in progress at Cambridge by E. C. Bullard.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
LARMOR, J. Intense Radioactivity of the Superficial Ocean Floor. Nature 142, 37 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/142037a0
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/142037a0