4 Introduction
logy, attacking a broad range of subjects in his book, Marine Geology (New York,
1950), and in numerous pUblications.
Studies in marine sedimentation eventually led into ocean history when geologists
started to take cores. The pioneering expeditions were those of the Gennan vessel
Meteor (1925-1927), which first established deep-sea sedimentation rates, and of the
Swedish vessel Albatross (1947-1948), led by Hans Petterson. The Albatross results
established the presence, in all oceans, of cyclic sedimentation due to the climate
fluctuations during the last million years, which included several ice ages (Chap. 9).
The last (and biggest) effort in this line is the Deep Sea Drilling Project (now Ocean
Drilling Program), using the vessel Glomar Challenger (1968-1983; Fig. 0.6), which
made Tertiary and Cretaceous sediment sequences available for systematic study.
The investigation of the sea floor proceeded parallel to that of marine sedimentation. Coastallandfonns were the most accessible, and considerable infonnation had
been accumulated early in this century (D. W. Johnson, Shore Processes and Shoreline Development, Wiley, New York, 1919). Much additional work on these topics
was done by F. P. Shepard (Fig. 0.1.6) and also by J. Bourcart (Fig. 0.1.5), who were
able to test earlier concepts against field data collected in shallower water. These two
pioneers of marine geology especially attacked the problems of the origin of continental margins, and of submarine canyons, by studying their morphology and associated sedimentary processes.
F. P. Shepard's wide-flung field areas include the shelf off the US East Coast, shelf
and slope off the US West Coast, and the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. His textbook
Submarine Geology (New York, 1948 and subsequent editions) summarizes the results of this work and present global statistics on sea-floor morphology. In the same
year, M. B. Klenova's textbook Geology of the Sea was printed. Amongst other
Russian pioneers, N. I. Andrusov (Black Sea) and N. M. Stnichov (lithogenesis)
should be mentioned (Figs. 0.1.3 and 0.1.7). Other representative works of Shepard
are Recent Sediments, Northwest Gulf of Mexico (Tulsa, 1960, with F. B. Phleger and
Tj. H. van Andel) and Submarine Canyons and Other Sea Valleys (Chicago, 1966,
with R. F. Dill). J. Bourcart carried out similar geomorphologic and sedimentologic
studies off the shores of France, especially in the Mediterranean. His concept of
continental margin ''flexure'', with uplift landward of a hinge line and downwarp
seaward of it, proved useful in explaining the migrations of sea level across the shelf,
and in studying the nature of sediment accumulation on the continental slope (see
Chap. 2).
The marine geomorphologist par excellence was B. C. Heezen (Fig. 0.1.12),
whose physiographic diagrams of the sea floor (dmwn with his collaborator, Marie
Tharp) show great insight into the tectonic and sedimentologic processes of the sea
floor. His graphs now appear in virtually all textbooks of geology and geography (see
Figs. 1.3 and 2.2). Of B. C. Heezen it has been said (somewhat facetiously, by E. C.
Bullard) that he perfected the art of dmwing maps of regions where no data are
available. Much of his work is summarized in the beautifully illustmted book The
Face of the Deep (New York, 1971, with C. D. Hollister).
A satisfying explanation of the overall morphology of ocean basins and of the
various types of continental margins could only come from geophysics, which deals
logy, attacking a broad range of subjects in his book, Marine Geology (New York,
1950), and in numerous pUblications.
Studies in marine sedimentation eventually led into ocean history when geologists
started to take cores. The pioneering expeditions were those of the Gennan vessel
Meteor (1925-1927), which first established deep-sea sedimentation rates, and of the
Swedish vessel Albatross (1947-1948), led by Hans Petterson. The Albatross results
established the presence, in all oceans, of cyclic sedimentation due to the climate
fluctuations during the last million years, which included several ice ages (Chap. 9).
The last (and biggest) effort in this line is the Deep Sea Drilling Project (now Ocean
Drilling Program), using the vessel Glomar Challenger (1968-1983; Fig. 0.6), which
made Tertiary and Cretaceous sediment sequences available for systematic study.
The investigation of the sea floor proceeded parallel to that of marine sedimentation. Coastallandfonns were the most accessible, and considerable infonnation had
been accumulated early in this century (D. W. Johnson, Shore Processes and Shoreline Development, Wiley, New York, 1919). Much additional work on these topics
was done by F. P. Shepard (Fig. 0.1.6) and also by J. Bourcart (Fig. 0.1.5), who were
able to test earlier concepts against field data collected in shallower water. These two
pioneers of marine geology especially attacked the problems of the origin of continental margins, and of submarine canyons, by studying their morphology and associated sedimentary processes.
F. P. Shepard's wide-flung field areas include the shelf off the US East Coast, shelf
and slope off the US West Coast, and the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. His textbook
Submarine Geology (New York, 1948 and subsequent editions) summarizes the results of this work and present global statistics on sea-floor morphology. In the same
year, M. B. Klenova's textbook Geology of the Sea was printed. Amongst other
Russian pioneers, N. I. Andrusov (Black Sea) and N. M. Stnichov (lithogenesis)
should be mentioned (Figs. 0.1.3 and 0.1.7). Other representative works of Shepard
are Recent Sediments, Northwest Gulf of Mexico (Tulsa, 1960, with F. B. Phleger and
Tj. H. van Andel) and Submarine Canyons and Other Sea Valleys (Chicago, 1966,
with R. F. Dill). J. Bourcart carried out similar geomorphologic and sedimentologic
studies off the shores of France, especially in the Mediterranean. His concept of
continental margin ''flexure'', with uplift landward of a hinge line and downwarp
seaward of it, proved useful in explaining the migrations of sea level across the shelf,
and in studying the nature of sediment accumulation on the continental slope (see
Chap. 2).
The marine geomorphologist par excellence was B. C. Heezen (Fig. 0.1.12),
whose physiographic diagrams of the sea floor (dmwn with his collaborator, Marie
Tharp) show great insight into the tectonic and sedimentologic processes of the sea
floor. His graphs now appear in virtually all textbooks of geology and geography (see
Figs. 1.3 and 2.2). Of B. C. Heezen it has been said (somewhat facetiously, by E. C.
Bullard) that he perfected the art of dmwing maps of regions where no data are
available. Much of his work is summarized in the beautifully illustmted book The
Face of the Deep (New York, 1971, with C. D. Hollister).
A satisfying explanation of the overall morphology of ocean basins and of the
various types of continental margins could only come from geophysics, which deals