Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-11-14
SHAKEN UP BY GAS.
Another Theory as to the Cause of
the Earthquakes.

Another Theory as to the Cause of
the Earthquakes.
A Charleston man who has been study
ing seismology for all he is worth, has ad-
vanced a new idea as to the cause of the
recent seismic disturbances. or the
many theories that have been advanced
no one of the theorists, he says, has taken
cognizaHce Of very unusual condition OF
things, with which these shocks may
possibly have some connection. He re-
fers to the recent eXteLsiv boring for
natural gas in Pennsylvania, Ohio and
other States, of wells which become vents,
allowing the escape OF large quantities
of gas, These wells are wonderful, not
so much in their indication OF the pres
ence, as of the tremendous pressure, of
the as below the surface of the earth.
According to j. c. White, OF the United
States Geological Survey american
Manufacturer, April, 1866 some of the
great wells in the Murraysville field, near
Pittsburg, have been measured, and, II
we can believe the figures, have Yielded
thiTty.three million feet daily. The gas
In these wells, when shut in, will rise 10
a pressure of six hundred and fifty
pounds to the square inch. The Iron Age
of September reports that about Aug. 81
the pressure In some Of the Pittsburg
wells increased from 800 pounds TO 1000
pounds to the square inch. Compare
these pressures with the working pres
sure OF the strongest steam boilers,
which is rarely more than 100 pounds to
the square inch. The pressure in the
boiler OF the cotton factory, when it re.
Gently exploded in Charleston, was only
about 50 pounds to the square inch.
The volume OF gas, he adds, must be
immense indeed which escapes from the
large number of wells under such great
pressure, and yet no perceptlble dimin-
ishing of the pressure results from its
escape. The pressure must, therefore, be
maintained In some way: possibly by the
pas being formed as rapidly and uniform
ly as 1t escapes, or else, as seems more
likeiy, by the collapse of the gas reser-
voir under pressure OF the great weight
of the earth above sinking down upon It,
Accepting his latter hypothesis. it sug-
gests a cause for the earthquake shocks,
which is not disproved by the fact that
these shocks were more severe in this
part Of the country than In the vicinity OF
the wells. The sinking of the earth NAV
be scarcely perceptIble over the surface
where IL ia greatest. because the down
ward movement there may be too even
and general 10 strain the underlying tone
strata. The greatest strain on these
strata would be where the sinking body
OF earth is most sharply divided from the
firm earth, which may recently have been
Ia this section. This strain on the stone
strata beneath us may have been beyond
Their elasticity, and their being shattered
by it the cause OF the shocks experienced
here.
should this theory be correct, he SAYS,
time may prove 1t SO, for one OF two re-
suits must follow. Either the pressure
of the gas will slacken and the fOw grad
uslly cease, or the earth will continue to
sink, which Will occasion lurtber strain
ing aud SCATTERING Of stone strata.
1t Ia not likely, however, that this local
ity will again be seriously affected by this,
because in consequence o. the settling
caused by the rcceGt shocks the dividing
line between t1e firm earth and the sink
ing earth may very probably have been
suited further north in the direction Of
the escaping gas.