The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-01-25

A Great Trough Over Five Miles Deep on
the Coast Of Japan.
Some interesting information regarding
the great depths OF the ocean, the San
Francisco Call says, has just been given by
Admiral Belknap in a paper read before the
Asiatic society OF Japan. The admiral is q
veteran in the stndy. Sixteen years s2o
when he commanded the United States
ship Tuscarora, he surveyed the bottom of
the Pacific from the coast OF California to
Japan, with a view to ascertaining whether
1t would be practicable to 10y a submarine
cable from San Francisco to Yokohama. It
was while engaged in that enterprise that
he discovered the deep trough which lies at
the bottom of the ocean parallel with the
south shore of Japan and tho Aleutian
chain. This trough or hollow extends at
least from the meridian of Hakodadi to the
eastern extremity of the Aleutlan CHAIN
and turns quite close to the land, often
within eighty or a hundred miles of low
water mark. It appears to serve rs the bed
of the marine river known as the Black
Stream, or kurosiwo current, to which San
Francisco is indebted for her equable eli
mate.
Up to the time of Captain Belknap's dis
coyery the Kreatest depth which had been
SOuuucA Ill tuG OC6hlt' WHb OuG Oh 900
fathoms. or somethsne over four miles.
which was obtained by the Challenger a few
miles north OF the Virgin Islands in the
North Atlantic. In the South Atlantic a
depth OF 1884 fathoms has been found, and
that still remains the greatest depth that
has been sounded in the sea; in the South
Pacific the Challenger had at that time
found no greater depth than $500 fathoms.
The Tuscarora found in 1874, at Il distance
of from 100 to 200 miles from the shore OF
Japan, depths of 1850. 4.643, All, 4.655 and
1867 fathoms. When it is remembered that
4,65 fathoms are equal to 1890 feet. or
five and a quarter miles, the prodigious
size of this chasm can be conceived. Mount
Everest, in the Himalayas, which is sup
posed to be the tallest mountain in the
world. is only $4,000 feet in height; if that
could be plunged INTO the bed of the Ku-
rosiwo current its summit would only be
about 1000 feet above the level Of the sea.
Two years II a half ago the British gov
inner dispatched the surveying ship
Egeria to survey the bottom of the South
Pacific, with a view to ascertaining the
prospects OF submarine cables. Captain
Pelham Aldrich, who commands her, has
transmitted to the admiralty a series OF re-
ports of progress which contain valuable
information. Up to the time he sailed the
deepest spot which had been sounded in the
South Pacific was about 100 miles west Of
Callao bay. in Peru, where Captain Belknap,
in the Alaska. had found 1857 fathoms. In
1888 and 1889 the Egeria found a deep hole
lying west of the Friendly Islands near
south latitude tEirty-four degrees and west
longitude IT'S degrees. There she got
soundings of 4.428, 1895 and 1880 fathoms.
Another similar hole, 4,475 fathoms of
water in it, had been sounded By the Chal-
lenger about LEO miles west of the Ladrone
Islands, between them and the Philippines.
No such depths as these ave thus far been
discovered in the Atlantic, either north Or
south of the equator.
If it be safe to theorize on 30 slender an
accumulation of facts as these. it may be
said that the deepest waters on the globe
are to be found in the Pacific. There are a
few holes of moderate depth in the Atlantic,
and a mariners tale ascribes considerable
depths-which have not been veriied-to
parts of the Indian ocean; but the greatest
cavities in the earth's surface which have
been measured underlie the vastest body OF
water existing on the globe. 1t may also
be observed that there appears to exist a
proportion between the average height of
the mountains OIL the shores of the CONT
nents which bound it. The average depth
of the Pacific, leaving ridges and depres-
sions out of view, is not far from, 1900
fathoms; the average height of the pealls
of the Rocky mountains and the Andes
| will not vary far from 10000 feet, or LEGO
fathoms. The depth of the deep spots i'll
the bed OF the Kurosiwo current OCCASION
ally reaches 1900 feet; the height of
| Mount Aconcagua in Chill is q, $50 feet.
Admiral Belknap considers it established
that the deepest spots in the oceans are
near the shores; but the holes near the
Friendly islands cannot be feconciled with
this theory.