AGE OF THE SEA
Professor Cotton, professor of geology at the Sydney University, addressing tho Workers' Educational Association, said that the sea, which constituted tho dominant feature of tho earth's surface, was 1.600 million years old. This figure was determined, bv examining the amount ol sediment in tho oceans. The sea was formed by iho condensation of vapour on tho earth's surface. Tho liquid so formed ran by gravitation into tho hollows. Originally, the water in the oceans was fresh, but salt was carried from tho earth into the sea. Furthermore, by determining rho amount of salt in the sea and dividing it by the amount carried into the oceans by tho rivers each year, the age of the sea could bo estimated. This method, however, was not as accurate as the sediment method. It, gave tho ago of the sea as about 100 million years.
Professor Cotton said (hat the greatest, depth of tho sea was about six miles, while the greatest height of the land was approximately five and oneLialf miles.
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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22256, 2 November 1935, Page 5 (Supplement)
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173AGE OF THE SEA New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22256, 2 November 1935, Page 5 (Supplement)
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