The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-01-24
urnIrY oP VOLCANOES
Tho Pulverlzed Material Which They
Throw out OF Value to tho Soil.

Tho PulverIzed Material Which They
Throw out OF Value to tho Soil.
The solid matter thrown out by vol
canoes is the most important contribu-
ton to the materials which the sea has at
its disposal for the nourishment of It's
life and for the formation Of strata. The
quantity OF the pumiceous and finely
pulverized material is enormous. When
it falls upon the sea it either floats for
time or Mt once sinks into the depths. In
either case 1t is, to a great extent, dis
solved in the ocean waters, and 30 con-
tributes to the store Of materials which
may be appropriated by tho organic life
of the sea. When it falls on the land, it
ia generally 80 inCOherent that it is easily
swept away by the rains, and so comes
quickly into the ocean. The Importance
OF this contribution to marine sediments
has been overlooked by geologists, but it
is easy to see that it may amount in mass
to something like as much as the earthly
matter which is brought to the sea by
the rivers.
Tho volcanoes of the Java district alone
within a century throws out a mass Of
this fraCnnontary rock amounting proba-
bly, to not less than 100 cubic miles, and
perhaps 10 twice this quantity. Now, the
Mississippi river carries out in the form
OF dissolved matter, mud and sand about
one cubic mile in twenty years, or five
cubic miles in 9 century; thus these vol
canoes Of the Java district have brought
up from the depth of the earth and con-
uibuted to the sea many times as much
detritus as has been conveyed to the
ocean by the greatest river in North
America. Allowing for the greater poros-
ity of the volcanic dust, it still seems not
unlikely that the elections from half
dozen great volcanoes Of the East Indian
archipelago, in period of n little more
than a century, from 1872 to 1888, far
exceeded that brought into the ocean by
all the rivers of North America in the
same period,
Although the volcanoes Of this district
are by far the most powerful which are
known, we still cannot fairly reckon that
their elections represent anywhere near
the half of the total quantity which came
to the earth's surface from such vents
during the above named period of III
wears For during this time some scores
of great crators were in eruption, lnciud-
ing Skaptar, in Iceland, Vesuvius, Etna,
various volcanoes in South America and
elsewhere. 1t seems, therefore, not IN
likely that the solid material contributed
by VOLCANOES TO bnS sea 1LOOI LidJs Oii GilS
average, amount to as much as that taken
by the rivers from the land.
Among the solid substances which are
elected by volcanoes we find some of the
most indispensable elements Of organic
life, including phosphorus, soda, potash
and other materials. The value OF these
materials to vegetation may be Judged
by the fertility which so often character
ICES the regions in the immediate vicinity
Of volcanic cones which cast forth large
amounts of ash. If the rainfall be sufh-
Gent this ash quickly dscomposes into a
fertile soil, which tempts the husband
man to replant the fields as fast as they
are ravaged by the explosion. Were it
not for tho constant return Of these
rarer and precious materials to the su-
periicial part of the earth by means Of
volcanic action, it is likely that the
earth's surface would want many of the
substances most necessary for organic
life We thus see that volcanoes play a
very important part in the physical his
tory of our planet. The action is, in a
large degree, restorative. They help to
maintain tho earth's surface in condi-
ton in which it may nurture hfe.-Cin-
cinnati Commercial Gazette.