The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
BY
Bruce C. Heezen, Marie Tharp, and Maurice Ewing
Lamont Geological Observatory (Columbia University)Palisades, New York
April 11, 1959
Made in the United States of America
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The Special Papers Series
Of
The Geological Society of America
is made possible
through the bequest of
Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose, Jr.
"Could the waters of the Atlantic be drawn off, so as to exposeto view this great sea-gash, which separates continents, and extendsfrom the Arctic to the Antarctic, it would present a scene the mostrugged, grand, and imposing. The very ribs of the solid earth, withthe foundations of the sea, would be brought to light, and we shouldhave presented to us at one view the empty cradle of the ocean...."(M. F. Maury, The Physical Geography of the Sea, 1855.)
The diagrammatic portrayal of the relief of continental land areas of theworld has been completed by both the late A. K. Lobeck and Erwin Raisz,whose magnificent diagrams are familiar to all geologists and geographers. Theauthors of the present sheet are preparing a similar series of marine physiographicdiagrams.
The Physiographic Diagram: Atlantic Ocean; Sheet 1 is the first of thisprojected series. The Atlantic Ocean diagram will consist of five sheets at ascale of about 1:5 million. A diagram of the South Atlantic Ocean at a scale ofabout 1:11 million now nearly completed will form the first of a general seriesplanned to portray the world oceans.
In addition, diagrams of selected areas well covered by sounding profiles willbe prepared at scales of about 1:2 million.
Each sheet or series of sheets will be accompanied by descriptive notes treatingthe nomenclature, morphological, geological, and geophysical characteristicsof each of the physiographic provinces.
Lamont Geological Observatory Contribution 308
Physiographic Diagram: Atlantic Ocean, Sheet 1 (Plate 1)
Copies of the Physiographic Diagram: Atlantic Ocean, Sheet 1 are availableunfolded so that each will be suitable for wall mounting. The diagram is thereforenot physically inserted or attached to this volume although it forms thebasic part of the pap