West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1886-09-10
Something About Earthquakes.

on Tuesday night. But if a record
could be kept on land and ocean,
dOu5 ,c's some portion of the earth's
crust M,UI constantly be found
quaking. From the year 1S43 to
1872 there was recorded an average
of SIS earthquakes per annum, and it
is pretty certain that large number
occurred in mid-ocean' Many of
these shocks of course were slight
and of small extent. The annual
record is nearly as long now as in
the year mentioned above.
AS is well known, igneous agency
is the primary cause of earthquakes.
Biologists tell us that the earth is
composed of thin crust surround
ing a melted interior. This interior
is gradually cooling, and as it cools
it contracts. The earth's crust in
settling down to the contracting heat.
ed interior must of course yield. 1t
may yield gradually and no shock be
felt, The western coast of South
America Is gradually rising. The
coast of Chilli and Patagonia has al
ready gradually rased 5000 feet. The
coast of Scandinavia has risen more
than 600 feet. The coast of South
Carolina and Georgia is gradually
sinking. Stumps of cypress trees
are now found in stu below the pres
ent tide level.
But when from some sudden
formation, contraction or expansion
of steam or gas, or other causes, the
crust gives way, an earthquake is
the result. The great upheavels that
rised from the ocean the Appalachian
chain, the Rocky Mountains, and the
Coast Range are examples of this.
But the present geological epoch
has no examples on so grand q scale.
Some of those that occur in the pres.
ent epoch, asindeed in former epochs,
biologists attribute to the slipping o {
great assures in the earths crust
The severe earthquake that shook the
mississippi Valley in 1911 was due
to this cause. In the region about
the month of the Ohio river large
tracts of land were sunk several feet
and have been covered with water
ever since. The one that occurred in
India about the mouth Of the Indus
river, in 1919, was also due to this
cause. There, 1000 square miles of
land on one side of the assure slip
ped down and became covered with
water, while about 1000 square miles
on the other side was elevated ten
feet.
But these slips are insignifc ant
compared with those of former geol.
ogical cpochs. For example, there
were once slips of 10000 feet in the
strata Pennsylvania, 10000 feet in
the Uintah mountains Of the west,
10000 feet in the Wahsatch range,
and from 5000 to 10000 feet in the
Appalachian chain, but most of the
slips that occur do not extend to the
surface and only produce an earth
quake shock.
But the theory generally advanced
as accounting for most earthquakes
is the formation and confinement of
steam or gas beneath the earth
crust. In volcanic regions earth
quakes and volcanic cruptions are
closely connected. When the vent of
an active volcano becomes closed an
earthquake generally follows. The
great earthquake that destroyed
Rhiobamba and 4O,00Opeople in 1897
occurred just after nelghboring vol
cano ceased erupting. The terrible
earthquake in Calabria in 1888 occur
red just as Stromboli ceased erupting.
The people Of Quito expect an earth
quake whenever the smoke disappears
from Cotopoxi. Also where regions
have frequently been visited by
earthquake shocks, the disturbance
generally ceased when the gases
burst forth in a volcanic eruption.
The shocks that destroyed Caracas
and nearly all its inhabitants in 1912,
ceased as soon as ST Vincent. a vol.
cauo 500 miles distance, erupted.
1.-THE theory Of confinement Of gas
es is q true one, while earthquakes are
most likely to originate in volcanic
regions they may also have their
source in regions not considered vol.
canic. From the reports received so
far, form South Caralina, the late
earthquake must have had its origin