and Renard (1891) laid a foundation for the sedimentology of the deep ocean floor. Murray’s studies established
a fundamental dichotomy of shallow water and shelf sediments on the one hand and of deep-sea deposits on the
other. It became a commonplace textbook truism that not
true deep-sea deposits are found on land anywhere
(which we now know to be false). The basic morphology
of the mid-ocean ridge started to emerge during the later
part (Challenger Expedition 1872–1876) and the last
years of the nineteenth century (German Valdivia Expedition, cf. Chun, 1903). Substantial work done by Norwegian scientists then allowed Murray and Hjort to write
their famous book on the depths of the ocean (Murray
and Hjorth, 1912).
Marine geology started in earnest with geologists going
to sea and looking for the processes which helped produce
the marine rocks with which they were familiar on land.
Such work, obviously, began in the intertidal and in easily
accessible shallow waters, and it was undertaken by a
great many investigators. The German geologist Johannes
Walther was very familiar with the observations resulting
from this work and was himself a pioneer in these types
of studies. Firmly rooted in classical geology, Walther
(1894) set an outstanding example of applying uniformitarianism, that is, Hutton’s doctrine that observable processes are sufficient to explain the geologic record and in
1893 gave an account of marine environments and the
ecology of their inhabitants, with emphasis on shellforming organisms and the deposits they produce.
The German expeditions on RV Meteor into the Atlantic Ocean resulted in substantial progress in marine
geosciences. It carried a systematic survey of the morphology of the South Atlantic along traverses between Africa
and South America. It was the first one to employ echo
sounding devices which had been invented in Kiel, Germany, by Alexander Behm in 1912 and which now
allowed to carry out systematic bathymetric surveys of
the seafloor; its expeditions into the South Atlantic
(1925–1927) defined location and shape of the
mid-ocean ridge. This expedition also succeeded to systematically sample deep-sea floor deposits in the South
Atlantic (Correns and Schott, 1935, 1937).
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 with
the motions and forces deep within the Earth (see further
below). It is no coincidence that a geophysicist first formulated a global hypothesis for ocean margin morphology
which proved to be viable: the meteorologist Alfred
Wegener. He became intrigued with the parallelism of
the coast lines bordering the Atlantic Ocean
(a phenomenon noted already in 1801 by the famous
naturalist-explorer Alexander von Humboldt). It seemed
to Wegener that the continents looked like puzzle pieces
which belong together. He then learned quite by accident
that paleontologists had invoked former land bridges
between the shores facing each other across the Atlantic
to explain striking similarities between the fossil records
of both sides of the ocean. After an extensive literature
search, he became convinced that the continents had once
been joined and had broken up after the
Paleozoic. Replacing the concept of land bridges with
his hypothesis of continental drift, he started the “debate
of the century” in geology with a talk and article in 1912
and especially with his book on The Origin of Continents
and Oceans, first published in 1915 (cf. Wegener, 1966,
2005). He envisioned granitic continents floating in basaltic mantle magma like icebergs in water and drifting about
on the surface of Earth in response to unknown forces
derived from the rotation of the planet. Wegener’s hypothesis, in modified form, is now an integral part of seafloor
spreading and plate tectonics (see further below), the
ruling theories explaining the geomorphology and geophysics of the ocean floor and of the crust of the Earth in
general.
Research on marine sedimentation in the following
decades is summarized in Trask (1939). This symposium
spanned the range of sedimentary environments, from
the beach to deep sea, and many of the articles were written by pioneers in marine geology. As marine geologic
studies progressed and moved further out to sea, there
was a gradual change of emphasis in the set of problems
to be solved. The doctrine of a quiet deep ocean (see also
further below) was challenged when Ph. H. Kuenen demonstrated by experiment that clouds of sediment could be
transported downslope on the seafloor at great speed and
to great depth, due to the fact that muddy water is heavier
than the clear water surrounding it. Sediment transported
in suspension in this fashion settles out at its site of deposition, heavy and large grains first, fine grains last. The
resulting layer is graded, and such layers are indeed common in the geologic record (e.g., Alpine flysch deposits).
Kuenen made many other important contributions to
marine geology, attacking a broad range of subjects in
his book (Kuenen, 1950) and in numerous other
publications.
The investigations of the seafloor proceeded parallel to
that of marine sedimentation. Coastal landforms were the
most accessible, and considerable information had been
accumulated early in this century (Johnson, 1919). Much
additional work on these topics was done by
F. P. Shepard in the USA and also by J. Bourcart in France,
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. Shepard
(1948) summarizes the results of this work and presents
global statistics on seafloor morphology. In the same year,
M. B. Klenova’s textbook Geology of the Sea was printed.
Among other Russian pioneers, N. I. Andrusov (Black
Sea) and N. M. Strachov (lithogenesis) should be
MARINE GEOSCIENCES: A SHORT, ECCLECTIC AND WEIGHTED HISTORIC ACCOUNT
439
a fundamental dichotomy of shallow water and shelf sediments on the one hand and of deep-sea deposits on the
other. It became a commonplace textbook truism that not
true deep-sea deposits are found on land anywhere
(which we now know to be false). The basic morphology
of the mid-ocean ridge started to emerge during the later
part (Challenger Expedition 1872–1876) and the last
years of the nineteenth century (German Valdivia Expedition, cf. Chun, 1903). Substantial work done by Norwegian scientists then allowed Murray and Hjort to write
their famous book on the depths of the ocean (Murray
and Hjorth, 1912).
Marine geology started in earnest with geologists going
to sea and looking for the processes which helped produce
the marine rocks with which they were familiar on land.
Such work, obviously, began in the intertidal and in easily
accessible shallow waters, and it was undertaken by a
great many investigators. The German geologist Johannes
Walther was very familiar with the observations resulting
from this work and was himself a pioneer in these types
of studies. Firmly rooted in classical geology, Walther
(1894) set an outstanding example of applying uniformitarianism, that is, Hutton’s doctrine that observable processes are sufficient to explain the geologic record and in
1893 gave an account of marine environments and the
ecology of their inhabitants, with emphasis on shellforming organisms and the deposits they produce.
The German expeditions on RV Meteor into the Atlantic Ocean resulted in substantial progress in marine
geosciences. It carried a systematic survey of the morphology of the South Atlantic along traverses between Africa
and South America. It was the first one to employ echo
sounding devices which had been invented in Kiel, Germany, by Alexander Behm in 1912 and which now
allowed to carry out systematic bathymetric surveys of
the seafloor; its expeditions into the South Atlantic
(1925–1927) defined location and shape of the
mid-ocean ridge. This expedition also succeeded to systematically sample deep-sea floor deposits in the South
Atlantic (Correns and Schott, 1935, 1937).
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 with
the motions and forces deep within the Earth (see further
below). It is no coincidence that a geophysicist first formulated a global hypothesis for ocean margin morphology
which proved to be viable: the meteorologist Alfred
Wegener. He became intrigued with the parallelism of
the coast lines bordering the Atlantic Ocean
(a phenomenon noted already in 1801 by the famous
naturalist-explorer Alexander von Humboldt). It seemed
to Wegener that the continents looked like puzzle pieces
which belong together. He then learned quite by accident
that paleontologists had invoked former land bridges
between the shores facing each other across the Atlantic
to explain striking similarities between the fossil records
of both sides of the ocean. After an extensive literature
search, he became convinced that the continents had once
been joined and had broken up after the
Paleozoic. Replacing the concept of land bridges with
his hypothesis of continental drift, he started the “debate
of the century” in geology with a talk and article in 1912
and especially with his book on The Origin of Continents
and Oceans, first published in 1915 (cf. Wegener, 1966,
2005). He envisioned granitic continents floating in basaltic mantle magma like icebergs in water and drifting about
on the surface of Earth in response to unknown forces
derived from the rotation of the planet. Wegener’s hypothesis, in modified form, is now an integral part of seafloor
spreading and plate tectonics (see further below), the
ruling theories explaining the geomorphology and geophysics of the ocean floor and of the crust of the Earth in
general.
Research on marine sedimentation in the following
decades is summarized in Trask (1939). This symposium
spanned the range of sedimentary environments, from
the beach to deep sea, and many of the articles were written by pioneers in marine geology. As marine geologic
studies progressed and moved further out to sea, there
was a gradual change of emphasis in the set of problems
to be solved. The doctrine of a quiet deep ocean (see also
further below) was challenged when Ph. H. Kuenen demonstrated by experiment that clouds of sediment could be
transported downslope on the seafloor at great speed and
to great depth, due to the fact that muddy water is heavier
than the clear water surrounding it. Sediment transported
in suspension in this fashion settles out at its site of deposition, heavy and large grains first, fine grains last. The
resulting layer is graded, and such layers are indeed common in the geologic record (e.g., Alpine flysch deposits).
Kuenen made many other important contributions to
marine geology, attacking a broad range of subjects in
his book (Kuenen, 1950) and in numerous other
publications.
The investigations of the seafloor proceeded parallel to
that of marine sedimentation. Coastal landforms were the
most accessible, and considerable information had been
accumulated early in this century (Johnson, 1919). Much
additional work on these topics was done by
F. P. Shepard in the USA and also by J. Bourcart in France,
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. Shepard
(1948) summarizes the results of this work and presents
global statistics on seafloor morphology. In the same year,
M. B. Klenova’s textbook Geology of the Sea was printed.
Among other Russian pioneers, N. I. Andrusov (Black
Sea) and N. M. Strachov (lithogenesis) should be
MARINE GEOSCIENCES: A SHORT, ECCLECTIC AND WEIGHTED HISTORIC ACCOUNT
439