The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1874-03-26

4 DEPTH oF THE OCEAN. sHT
i The ocean is not 8 "bottomlessd deep, %
except to the poets and young ladies,
/ neither of whom are familiar with the
modern improvements in taking
soundings. Not only have skillfLl
seamen know how to reach the bot
tom and fetch parts of it up to the top
from great depths, but mathematicianB
! have given themselves the trouble to
| calculate theoretically its average
| depth. Button gave this at 240 fathoms,
or l440 feet !; Lacilie gives from 164 TO
/ 273 fathoms: Laplace, enormously es-
/ timating the mean elevation of the
! land at $3.50 feet-three times the
| height now allowed by physical geo.
graphers-thought the waters of the
! sea must have been of about equal
depth. -Yound assigned depth of
2T35 fathoms to the Atlantic and about
$500 fathoins to the great South Sea,
! According to this estimate, other ma
thematicians add, the Pacific must be
at its deepest point fifteen and . half
miles in depth, which is scarcely prob
able. But though little is known of
the greatest depths of the oceans, we
! do know that their bottoms are of an-
Il
mountains as we'll as vast rolling
| plains; and Mr.. Rsclus takes adyau-
| tage of such soundings as have BEEN
made to illustrate in a striking manner. q
the inequaiities of the bottom. If, he
remarks, the waters of the Medfter-
ranean were suddenly lowered about >
/ 1I0 fathorns, it would be divided into !
three distinct sheets of water: Italy
would be Joined to Sicily, Sicily
would be united by an Isthmus 30
Africa, the Dardanelles and the Bos-!
phorous would be closed, but theOut= ri
| let of Gibraltar would remain in free
communication with the Atlantic
ocean. If the level were lowered by
about $50 fathoms, the Agean. the
Euxine and the Adriatic would who'll
ly disappear, or only leave in their
beds unimportant pools; the remain :
der of the Mediterranean would be
divided into several seas like the Cas- =
plan, either isolated or communicated
with each other by narrow channels,
and the terminal promontory of Eu-
rope would be Joined by the isthmus
of Gibraltar to the mountains OF Afri-
ca. A depression of about HOO fath-
ems would leave nothing but threes
inland lakes to the West, a triangular
basin occupying the depression be-
tween France and Algeria; in the
middle, long cavity extending from
Crete to Sicily, and Eastward, hol-
lew lying in front of the Egyptian
coast. The greatest depth OF the
Mediterranean, exceeding 2200 faith
omg, lies to the North OF the Syrtess
almost to the geometrical centre of
the basin. .st-
Again, the British Channel, that
least agreeable of seas to good Ameri-
cans wishing to reach Paris from Lon
don is narrow arm of the sea, which
may be considered as mere accident
of the earth's surface, as kind of
maritime trench, so inconsiderable is
its depth compared with that of the
ocean. In order to form q true no.
ton of the depth of the Channel, COM
pared with its width, one must im-
agine a miniature of this drawn on q
scale of one yard for two miles, on
perfectly horizontal surface. This
sheet of water would not have less
than CAT yards of length, and in width,
would vary, according to. the coast
lines, between SO and 240 yards. And
yet, Notwithstanding this considerable
surface, the greatest depth would be
less than two inches at the entrance.
between the hillock representing Start
Point and that of the Sept-Iles, it
would be less than two and half in
ches. A sparrow could hop this min
iature sea, Iss.af
Considered as 8 whole, the North
Atlantic is depression whose sides
descend gradually toward q central
hollow situated between the coast of,
the United States, the Bermudas and
the Bank of Newfoundland. A fall
of the waters of less than Ito fathoma
would reveal the submarine ground
work upon which France. Spain and
the British Isles rest, This is indeed
the true foundation of the European
continent, for Immediately beyond
this basement, which forms the ex-
treme angle of the Old World, the bed
of the sea, at an inclination of about
eight degrees, descends gradually
from ITO fathoms to 1910 and 21S7
below the waves. A fall in
the level of 1924 fathoms would de
minish the width of the Atlantic more
than half, would leave the Gulf of
Mexico completely dry, and leave on
ly an elongated lake in the central
part of the Caribbean Sea. II the
present level were lowered by 2lS7
a continent, separated from
Europe and America by two narrow
channels, and extending over space
of from about 1850 to 1860 miles,
would stretch into the Torrid Zone.
and, by a remarkable coincidence,
would effect that peninsular confor-
nation and Southerly direction pre-
sented by Greenland, Scandinavia,
Spain, Greece, Arabia, India, and the
great continents of the South A
lowering of $3.50 fathems would COM
pletelv nniteNewfonndland toIreland,
aud consequently from bridge be-
tween the Old and the New Worlds.
Even of the central Atlantic there
would remain only a narrow s'Medi-
sea in front of the Antilles
and Guiana. Finally, let the waters
be lowered by 4375 fathoms, and the
Northern part of the Atlantic would
be reduced to a small triangular Gas
pian," between the Azores. the Bank
Of Newfoundland and the Bermudss.
Though the Pacific Ocean is scarce
Iy fifteen and half miles in depth, it
is known to be in one part nearly
nine miles deep, or so deep that two
of the highest mountains on the globe
might be piled one on of the other,
and sunk into it, aud scarcely emerge
above the surface. The depth of the
Pacific has not only been ascertained
BY numerous, sounding but Prof.
e. Bache calculated, from the rapidity
with which the great tidal wave ae-
the earthquake of 1854 in
Japan crossed the ocean to CalifOr-
ala, that the Pacific has between the
shores OF japan and the UnitedStates,a q
mean depth OF about 1924 fathoms.
The highest part of the continents
raised above the surface of the waters
IS of much less elevation than the
iepth of the sea and we can estimate
.he land above the level of the sea ct
1nly about a fortieth part of the mass
Of waters, and as much of this land is
available by mankind, we get here
some notion of the very limited use