Silently, endlessly, with the deliberation of earth processes that can afford to be slow because they have so much time for completion, the accumulation of the sediments has proceeded. It was accelerated when living creatures developed in the surface waters and the discarded little shells of lime or silica that had encased them in life began to drift downward to the bottom. It began when the first rains fell on the barren rocks and set in motion the forces of erosion. “For the sediments are the materials of the most stupendous ‘snowfall’ the earth has ever seen. I see the steady, unremitting, downward drift of materials from above, flake upon flake, layer upon layer–a drift that has continued for hundreds of millions of years, that will go on as long as there are seas and continents.

“When I think of the floor of the deep sea, the single, overwhelming fact that possesses my imagination is the accumulation of sediments. Consider this passage about sedimentation: Carson tells the story of oceans, mixing the latest scientific data available to her with a lyrical account of this most salient feature of our planet. At points, oceans covered much of North America between the Appalachians and the Rockies and have left their traces to this day. Oceans cover 71 percent of the earth’s surface and account for 97 percent of the water on the planet. It sold over a million copies, won a National Book Award and was a New York Times bestseller. However, it was The Sea Around Us, published eleven years earlier that brought Carson to national attention as a science writer. Rachel Carson is probably best known for her book Silent Spring (reviewed here) on the environmental impacts of pesticides, notably DDT, that led to its eventual banning. Summary: A survey of what is known about the oceans– including their beginnings, the dynamics of currents, tides and waves, the topography of the oceans, the life within, and our own relationship with this dominant feature of our planet. New York: Open Road Media, 2011 (first published 1951).

The sea around us by rachel carson