Scripps Institution of Oceanography/U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory - MidPac Expedition, 1950

This joint Scripps Institution of Oceanography-U.S. Navy expedition discovered the Mid-Pacific Mountain Range on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and confirmed Darwin’s theory about the origin of atolls. Expedition scientists on the research ship HORIZON and the navy ship PCE(R) 857 were surprised to find that the seafloor was young, deep and rocky, not flat, old and filled with sediments. Measurements of continental heat flow from the ocean raised questions about the history of the Pacific Ocean basin that were later answered by Plate Tectonics theory.

Explore the UC San Diego Digital Collections for more photos from the expedition

Report:

• Notes on the Joint Scripps Institution of Oceanography-U. S. Navy Electronics Laboratory MID-PACIFIC Expedition

Letters, clippings and ship's logs available in the UC San Diego Library Digital Collections