Inside Story

Soviet scientists arc to probe the secrets of the lower levels of the Earth's crust and the upper layers of the underlying "mantle", a belt of rock some 1,700 miles thick beneath the outer crust. Research to a depth of about 500 miles is envisaged in the programme, and it is hoped it will lead to great progress in solving such major problems as the origin of continents and oceans, the causes of the movement of the Earth's core and the development of mountain ranges, magnetism and volcanic activity, the formation of metallic ore deposits and the origin and forecasting of earthquakes. Comparative studies will be carried out on the underlying strata of widely different geological zones.

A great deal is expected from thermometric studies of the flow of heat from tho Earth. In different regions this flow varies and information on its distribution will give some indication of processes occurring in the depths of the Earth. Deep seismic sounding will be applied on a wide scale.

This technique has already yielded some interesting results in the zone of transition from the Asian continent to the Pacific Ocean. The upper mantle has been explored there to a depth of just over sixty miles. As a result, it has been possible to establish intermediate types of structure of the Earth's crust, which under the Sea of Okhotsk proved to be much thinner than on the continent, and thicker than in the ocean. Geological studies have warranted the conclusion that the marginal—Okhotsk and Japanese—seas are comparatively young. The expansion of the Pacific Ocean at the expense of the Asian continent has also been established. Gravimetric, magnetometric and other studies will play a major part in the exploration, along with laboratory studies of the properties of rocks in the conditions of high temperature and pressures.

A new transistorised pendulum clock is on the market and is precise to half a second a month. The clock can be used in laboratories or as a master clock to automatically control a series of other clocks in large plants, offices and other establishments.

G.J.N.