Ocean Depths

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 55, 27 October 1892, Page 4

Ocean Depths

The eight or nine mile depths in mid ocean, declared very probable by Maury, &r& not found by later actual investigation, according- to the Engineering. News. A depth of five to six miles is very exceptional, and the average appears to be about 2500 fathoms for tbe waters of the *lobe. The greatest depth yet found is 4575 fathoms (52 miles) south of the Ladores, and 4561 fathoms north of Portu Rico, near St. Thomas. The deepest sounding, then, in the North Atlantic is 4561 fathoms, and in the South Atlantic bottom i- s always found at the less depth. The Mediterranean gives 2150 fathoms as a maximum to date, and the deepest known water in the Indian Ocean is 3199 fathoms. The polar basin seems to grow shallower as the North Pole is approached, and bottom was found at 72 fathoms in the most northern sounding made. These soundings, so far as made, al c o disprove the theory that the ocean bottom is a counterpart of the dry land in its irregularity of surface. It has its peaks and deep gorges, but, as a rule, the surface lies in very gentle undulations, without abrupt or steep slopes.