August
22,
1964
(cont.)
-
Collected ground water on Arji at a depth of 7', but not in
large quantity.
Wood, soil cores, plants, and soil samples were
collected in both areas and will provide the basis for more definitive information.
Palumbo:
“This complex of islands is a good example of the
changing patterns in vegetation as related to distance from
nuclear detonations.
The eastern island, Arji, contains good
cover of the expected vegetation and is the only one with fruitbearing coconut trees.
Some coconuts were mature, 8&-10' tall, with
many in different stages of development.
from the detonation site.
was the site,
Arji is the farthest
On the other hand,
Eman,
to the west,
apparently, of several detonations and has now the
least developed flora.
The other islands also reflected this
pattern of vegetation.
The photographs will show these features
better than words.
Algae growth at the west end of the island chain was no
less than that at the eastern end.
Off Arji only Halimeéda was
seen in abundance at various depths near shore and in the deeper
water at the eastern tip, near the deep entrance off the central
islands,
large beds of algae were seen.
These observations lead
one to conclude that recovery of algal growth is proceeding at
a good rate,"
7