Abstract
THE Pacific Ocean, as the greatest geographical unit on earth, with an area greater than that of all the land, presents the difficulties as well as the attraction of its size. Its broad trigonal shape, nearly 10,000 miles wide from New Guinea to Peru, forms a striking contrast to the relatively narrow trough of the Atlantic; and the differences in size and shape render the recurrence of the same structural and biological units, which is so conspicuous with the opposite coasts of the Atlantic, less likely with the Pacific. Its 3000 islands give little evidence as to its geological history, for most of them are composed of comparatively young volcanic ejecta or coral rock.
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GREGORY, J. The Geological History of the Pacific Ocean*. Nature 125, 750–751 (1930). https://doi.org/10.1038/125750a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/125750a0