Abstract
RECENT explorations in the Pacific Ocean indicate that its bed is singularly level. The soundings of the U.S. steamer Tuscarora, Capt. George T. Belknap, between Cape Flattery and Oonalaska, were described in NATURE, vol. viii. p. 150. Upon the conclusion of that cruise, which included also soundings from Cape Flattery to San Francisco, a month was spent in the latter harbour, and on December 5 a survey was begun between that port and San Diego on the same coast, especially between depths of 100 and 1,500 fathoms. The latter depth or a greater one is reached precipitately along the entire coast of California, at distances of 20 to 70 miles from shore. Off the Golden Gate, in the latitude of San Francisco Bay, at a distance of 30 miles, there is 100 fathoms; at 55 miles' distance, there is a sudden descent from 400 fathoms to a depth of two miles; at 100 miles out, 2,548 fathoms failed to reach bottom.
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Soundings in the Pacific . Nature 9, 445 (1874). https://doi.org/10.1038/009445a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/009445a0