Digital Map Of Seafloor Could Help Scientists Predict Climate Change Impacts
As more data is beamed back from the New Horizons Pluto flyby we are constantly learning more about the surface of a dwarf planet billions of miles away, while mysteries on our own planet lay waiting to be uncovered within the ocean's depths. A recent study published in Geology describes the first ever comprehensive digital map of our seafloor’s sediment composition, which covers 70 percent of the planet’s surface. The interactive map will not only lead to a better understanding of the ocean floor, but may help predict how the ocean’s environment will respond to climate change. Researchers at the University of Sydney based the data of their seafloor map on around 14,500 marine sediment samples collected from research cruise ships traveling around the world from as early as the 1950’s. Thirteen major classes of marine sediment such as silt, clay, and diatom ooze are marked by a...