THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA AND BEYOND

The Glomar Challenger, a unique vessel designed for deep-sea drilling and investigation, enables geologists to overcome at least some of the obstacles which for centuries prevented man from working on the sea bottom. Much new information has been obtained recently through the method of coring--drilling through layers of the earth's crust and examining them. The author carefully explains the problems encountered by engineers, oceanographers and geologists in designing this vessel as well as the efforts made through history to survey and chart the ocean, describing methodology and uses of the findings in a clear and uncondescending manner. He discusses existing theories of the earth's formation and geologic history, with analogies to simple phenomena with which the reader is likely to be familiar.