Submarine Gravity Survey In English Channel

Chronicle (Levin), 27 March 1948, Page 3

Submarine Gravity Survey In English Channel

The Department of Goodesy and Geophysics at Cambridge University is- to make a, gravity survey on board H.M. submatine falent 'in the/'Englis]ji ' Chan*nei- djirihg' May. The' .^roject" is - being carried out under the auspices of the Royal Society .with the, . full co-operation of the Royal lf#y.!-;The Qbject of the expedition fe to obtain information about the . structure of the. channel 'basin; wliich should help in interpreting how the geology of Southern England is related to 4he Continent. The cruise will last for four weeks and cover the area between England .and France from piy.mouth. to Hastings. The Talent will be manned by her normalcomplement of officers and men ofthe Royal Navy, but thr'ee civilian scientists, Mr. B. C. Browne, Mr. R. I. B. Cooper and Mr. H. L. G. Gilbert will also be on board. She will be equipped with special apparatus, some of which has generously been lent by the Danish Goodotic Commission. , , Accurate measurement of this kind can only be made under very steady conditions, and the movement of a surface vessel would make it impossible to make the necessary observations except in ,dead cairn. A submarine, "however, can 'dive below the waves and even iii rough weather»at a depth of 10.0 to 200 feet the fioat- is so steady that measuremeiits can be made ait sea aliqost as accurately as on land. This method of working was originally devised by the wellknown Dutch scientist, Profess-or F. A. Vening Meiness, and has been used by him to make over 1000 gravity measurements all over the oceans. The work . has also been

carried on by the U.S.A., France, Italy, Russia and Japan, and has recently been taken up in this, country.. A British expedition in August, 1,946, on board H.M.S. Tudor, surveyed an area from the riorth eoast of Spain to-. the Roekall Bank. Besides valuable -• scien-tifia. results, the experience gained showed how the apparatus and technique might be improvejd.tThe fprthcoming surVey in the channel will provide an opportunity . of testing out these new ideas, as well as throwing light on the geological structure and history of ?the English Channel. " ^