Show Geologist Offers Warms Sea Theory By Science Service William L. geologist with the University of Utah has proposed the paradoxical theory that above average oceanic temperatures made possible the great glaciers that the earth in the Ice According to at least 29 have already been put forth to account for the Ice and none have been able to stand up under known He believes his may help furnish the ultimate Scientists generally agree that the Ice Age was initiated with the uplifting of mountains to great changing rainfall into snowfall over wide The Ice Age should end when erosion or other cataclysmic events have worn down the The great question has what happens in the meanwhile that accounts for the waxing waning of the great glaciers of the several sub-glacial world is at present lying between a minimum and maximum period of and glaciers seem wasting For the great glacier sheets to build there needs to be high precipitation along with lowered But lowered temperatures in the ocean would mean less Stokes offers the theory that the oceans during the building up of continental glaciers were of relatively high Stokes accounts for the par-adox like The ocean has such tremendous volume that many thousands of years are required to cool or heat This lag is response to temperature change allows the ocean to remain warm while cooling influences are at work on Since the ocean remains precipitation stays adding to the glacier-building After perhaps several thousand cold water run-off and cold air begin to lower the oceanic This results in less and the glaciers begin to wane in size until they reach about their present an interglacial warm water run-off from the land begins the slow process of heating up the and the cycle is Stokes repeatedly reminded in his report of the Ocean-Control Theory in the Journal Science that this concept was only a and that it awaited proof by the many tools scientists have to probe the earth's past he the theory does seem to account for most of the known facts about Ice Age To illustrate his Stokes started with the present and carried through to the coming of another glacial He said the present time seems to be a time between maximum and minimum and that evidence points to the fact that present-day oceanic temperatures are much lower than in many other Evaporation and precipitation are now relatively as is witnessed by current retreating f Polar ice is diminishing at a rapid he and it Is possible to foresee the time when there will be none at There will follow a slow but general warming- of the requiring man thousands of Then heavy precipitation ft the warm ocean will cause resulting build-up of a great in the chilling of the atmosphere and accelerated of from w snow and ice fields will enter the the polar again will fill with and other thousands of the i will reach its pre j state and the glacier will be ended |