The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-06-27
Earthquake Waves.


great Chilean earthquake occurred, in
1868. The wave-breaking phenomena,
as regards Australasia, occurred only at
New Zealand, and even there it was
confined to one or two places noted for
their susceptibility to earthquake dis
turbance. At Sidney, one thousand two
hundred miles distant, the sea merely
ebbed and flowed i'll rather quick sue
cession, and for very short periods. At
Newcastle IN. S. W. eighty miles north
Of Sydney, the waters of the River Hun
ter were so strangely disturbed by cleo
tricity as to cause the iron steamboats,
to swing broadside on to the tide, be-
sides which, as at Sydney, the tide rose
and fell. At Adelaide and King Georges
Sound the tide also ebbed and flowed in
like manner, whilst Melbourne was to-
tally unaffected by oceanic disturbance.
The wave broke on the shores of Japan
with height and force second only to
what occurred at Callao. The same
phenomena, but on a very small scale,
also occurred in few islands in the
South Pacific and at the Chincha Is
lands, off the Peruvian coast.
1t will be noticed that the localities
where the wave broke on the shores are
notoriously subject to earthquake dis
turbance, Japan being only second on
the list after Chile, and New Zealand
next. Now, these remarkable excep-
tions would point to susceptible sub
terranean connection with the present
great focus of earthquake disturbance
ON the Peruvian seaboard. If this view
be adopted, it is only reasonable to as
sumo that o subterranean disturbance
took place at Japan, New Zealand, and
other islands to which the Chilean
earth-throes penetrated, and there
caused that mysterious prior recession
of the sea from the shores in each local
ity where the great seawaves subsequent
ly broke. Now, it appears to the writer
that the philosophic nut to crack is,
what agency caused the prior recession
of the sea which took place at all the
places where the great waves broke on
the shore?
To suppose that the great earth-throe
on the South American coast possessed
the power to project a wave across the
vast Pacific Ocean to a maximum dis
tance of ten thousand five hundred
miles, and that such a wave travelled at
the rate of from two hundred and nine
ty-fve to three hundred and ninety-four
miles per hour, is only preposterous, in
a second degree, to suppose that wave
could exist on the ocean, or that wave
has progressive motion until it reaches
shore, when it becomes wave of
translation. It~is directly against hy-
drostatic laws to assert that single
wave can exist on the ocean, much less
can it progress forward.
If this were possible it would be with
in the power of the engines of q ship to
drive her as fast as a locomotive ON rails |;
whereas we find that nearly all the
ships motive power is absorbed in cleav-
ing the particles of water apart to admit
the bow, and it is due to those retard-
ing particles clinging with tenacious
grip to the vessel, and which to the last
grip to counter and stern until torn
away.
1 am really at a loss to conceive how
any scientific man should have propa-
gated it as fact, that any of the forces
of nature are capable of creating waves
on the ocean unless the initial force be
constant.
Let us suppose ourselves ON board
wind (the initial force) abates to ten, the
sea soon falls in altitude, and SO ON
down the scale to naught, dead, CLASSY
calm. Thus an earthquake may, by a
sudden upheaval, cause (not one, but
many waves; yet, owing to the cessa-
tion of the initial force, such waves
would not be observed by vessels at a
distance of ten miles, much less ten
thousand 1t Is true that waves will be
transmitted by hydrostatic undulation
to great distances, and so fast as to out
run the storm that gave them birth
but they owe their power of transmits
sion to the sustained initial force, as
when that ceased, the power of trans
mission would also cease.
The diurnal flow of the great tidal
wave is sustained by the continued ac-
tion of the moon and sun, but when
those planets cease to exert that power,
the tidal waters seek their normal level
in the ocean.
There are people who have fixed
idea that ocean waves possess progress
i've motion, which is a mistake Let us
suppose that they have the power OF
progression. What would be the con-
sequence when hurricane was blowing
on to shore The waters of each wave
would be impelled ON to the beach in
quick succession, so as to bond back the
waters of rivers and creeks, lowlands
would be flooded, and its attendant
ruin to the inhabitants would follow.