Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1886-09-10
WHAT CAUSED THE EARTHQUAKE.

The Charleston NeicS and CoHricr
publishes the following explanation
of the recent earthquake:
There can ho 10 doubt that the
various earthquake shocks had
their origin in the islands of the
Mediterranean AMI IN Greece and
Italy. On August % was reported
the occurrence of "A destructive
earthquake throughout Greece aud
Italy; that there had been two
eruptions Of Yesuvius and that the
volcano was still active. These erup.
tons gave vent to the internal com.
motion, which had produced the
Quaking of the earth in that vicin-
ity, but the shocks being communi.
Gated to the earth have travelled
in various directions, in some with
more violence than others, as they
were felt the same day throughout
Egypt, bat doing little damage.
The shocks seem to have extend
ed westward with more rapidity
and violence than in any other di.
rectiOn, the vibrations of the par.
ticles of the carth's surface being
transmitted under the sea st the
rate of about one hundred miles an
hour, occupying seventy-two hours
in travelling a distance of $500
miles before reaching the Western
shores of the Atlantic, travelling
as it did almost due west. One of
the first points on the shore line
which it could reach was the coast
Of South Carolina, but we see that
it was felt along the entire coast,
as far north as Boston, and spread
across the continent with dimin-
ishing force as the various more
solid ank rocky portions of the sur
face crust retarded the vibrations,
until it seemed to have been almost
entirely stopped by friction in the
extreme Northwestern States. The
reason why the shocks were more
violent in the vicinity of Charleston
and Summerville is that there is
more of soft yielding nature in
the superficial upper strata which
conducted the vibrations, and the
forward movements of the earth.
waves meeting with less resistance
than from the hard substances fur
ther in the interior were more rapid
and jerky, and shook the surface
with more violence. The presence
of the innumerable assures observ-
able IN the city and country as far
as Summervlle and beyond is &C
counted for by this same soft ma.
terial yielding readily to the pres.
sure of the earth waves which push
ed up the thin crust and squeezed
out, as it we're, the water and sand
subject to the pressure. The blue
sand and the yellow sand thus
elected are found in the upper
strata, and it came from the surface
is proven by the fact that no mari
is found in it and that it begins at
from sixty.fve to eighty feet below
the surface and extends TO nearly
/ 100 feet deep. TO show still more
conclusively that the wave motions
were confined to a limited depth
beneath the surface it is only nee
essary to state that none of the
shallow or 400.feet arte5ian wells
are at all affected, nor ig there any
noticeable in the flow or
quality of the water from the two
deep artesian wells as would have
been the case if the cause Of the
earthquake had been local or deep
seated. This statement of the com
of land waves to. enOr-
nous distances is fully verified by
the observations of previous earth
quakes since and even before the
Christian era. The absence of a
tidal wave proves concluslvely that
the cause of the disturbance was
to the land and the jerky
motion communicated to vessels,
as reported by their officers, was
caused by the vertical vibrations
between the rapid
transmission and slower backward
jerks.