Phosphatic Rocks from the North-west African Continental Shelf

Abstract

WE have recently carried out a reconnaissance survey of the continental shelf off north-west Africa in the RRS John Murray. Seven combined sparker and sampling traverses, approximately 60 miles long, were effected at irregular intervals along an 800 mile stretch of coastline from Rabat, Morocco, in the north to the Mauritanian border in the south (Fig. 1). Dredge samples were collected from depths of between 28 and 1,300 m in areas where previously obtained seismic profile records indicated probable outcrops of bedrock. In addition unconsolidated sediment samples were collected at intervals along the traverses across the whole width of the shelf and parts of the upper continental slope. A total of twenty rock and 103 sediment samples were obtained from the seven traverses.