Word: sediments
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...ship is about 65 ft. long, rigged for a single square sail. Thus far only some of the hull's planking and part of the vessel's keel, made of fir, have been unearthed from the sediment. Apparently, the ship foundered on the coast's treacherous rocks and went straight down, without splintering, thus retaining much of its cargo. Bass and his fellow archaeologists were able to date the ship from at least two clues: a delicate double-handled Greek cup, similar to those made between 1400 and 1350 B.C., and the copper ingots, with their characteristic...
...scientists with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh have rooted beneath the sediment of the Wind River valley to unearth a spectacular cache of fossils from the Eocene epoch, that critical time when many progenitors of modern mammals first appeared. Representing some 65 species and including about eight species previously unknown, the bones are the most diverse and perfectly preserved ever discovered from that time. Although they have only just begun to study their find, Richard Stucky, 34, and Leonard Krishtalka, 38, are already convinced that the bones will reveal precious clues to the evolution and extinction...
Wyoming has been a favorite haunt of paleontologists for the past century, ever since westering pioneers reported that many vertebrate fossils were almost lying on the ground. Scientists soon discovered why. Roughly 55 million years ago, the Rockies rose violently, while enormous basins formed around Wyoming. Rains washed sediment into the natural bowls, and thousands of animal carcasses were buried and preserved...
Trailed behind a ship like a side-scanner, a magnetometer will record such objects even if they are buried in sediment...
Finding the wrecks is often only the start. Sophisticated recovery techniques are needed to get at the loot. Various blowers are sometimes used to dislodge sand. The airlift, a sort of giant vacuum cleaner attached to the search ship via a long plastic tube, removes layers of sediment while divers sift for treasure. Diving methods developed for undersea commercial uses, such as seabed mining and pipeline building, have made it possible to salvage deep-water wrecks. A notable example: H.M.S. Edinburgh, a British cruiser that sank after a Nazi attack in the Barents Sea north of Murmansk, U.S.S.R., during World...