based upon settling rates, though there is considerable
mixing of sizes.
Most of the Halimeda fragments
settled first to form layer C, with some living green
Halimeda included; the latter has not yet decomposed

and

still

retaining

its

green

color.

Coarse

sand,

followed by progressively finer sand and silt-sized
particles settled later, followed by the silt and claysized particles composing the mud.
The latter is quite
fine (about 40% of the particles by weight are less
than two microns in diameter, and 35% between 20 and
two microns), cream colored, and with a typical fetid

odor,

The mud contains the only evident non-calcareous ©

material
in
the
sediments
-dark
streaks
and
occasional
small,
crumbly,
dark-brown
Jumps
which
chemical tests indicate to be nearly pure carbon.
The
latter may represent the tissues of fish, or possibly
oil, carbonized by the intense heat of the explosion.
This carbonized material makes up less than 1% of the
sediment.
The mud also contains about 0.1% by weight
of iron, presumably from the target ships.
...The

animals.

mud

is

pitted

Holothurians

(sea

the bottom in abundance....

by

the

borings

cucumbers)

of

marine

are living on

The thickness of the three top layers of sediment
in the target area varies greatly, as shown in Figure
C-2
and in the cross-sections of Figure C-3.
In
Figure C-3, the thicknesses of the various layers of
sediment are plotted against distance from the position
of LSM-60, with no attempt made to show the topography
of the bottom.
Two sections are shown; one running NESW, the other E-W.
Note that the layer is 5 ft. 3 in.
thick

below

the

LSM-60 location, and reaches

a maximum

of 8 ft. in thickness 125 yd. to the southwest in core
No.
33.
Also, the longest core taken (No. 4:
10 ft.
in length) failed to penetrate the second layer (silt
and sand) near the center of the target area.
Near the
edge of the mud area, on the other hand, the second and

third layers frequently are missing (as in core No. 5),

and a very thin layer of mud, a fraction of an inch in
thickness,
rests
directly on
the original
bottom
sediment (Halimeda debris).
Although
the
bottom
was
Stirred
explosion to a distance of 1,000 to 1,500
C-3), the intense disturbance was limited
of about 300 yd.
Moreover, the center of

5000006 -

C-5

up
by
the
yd. (Figure
to a radius
intensity is

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