Slicks on Lake Huron

Abstract

WHILE examining the movement and dispersion of groups of drift-bottles released simultaneously at Douglas Point, on Lake Huron, we came upon some pronounced ‘slicks’, well known to oceanographers. These can be recognized by eye as streaks of smooth water from which the capillary waves are absent and in which quantities of organic matter and other floating debris collect. There are apparently a number of possible mechanisms for the production of slicks, all leading to accumulation of surface material through confluence of the surface water layers, which sink at the slick, leaving any floating material to collect on the surface.