Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1892-10-22
THE WAVES AT WORK.
Tremendous Power a Neptune's Forces
When AGitated by the Wlnds

Tremendous Power a Neptune's Forces
When Asitated by the Winds.
The average force exerted by a wave
Of the Atlantic in winter time is
about one ton on the square foot, and
on several occasion, both in the At
lantlc and the North Sea, the winter
breakers have been known to exert a
force Of from three to three and q
half tons on the same extent of sur
face. 1t Is easy to understand, there
fore the effects of such terrific shocks.
repeated necessarily during the win
ter storms, must be disastrous.
A strong, solid mass of hard, rock
may, indeed, withstand them for a
considerable time. but rocks already
cracked and assured must, inevitably,
sooner or later, go down before them.
This destructive action is not con-
fined to the land level with the sur
face OF the sea, for the waves may
leap up hundred feet or more and
strike a tremendous blow on any OBJ
ject within their reach. Walls have
OOOh OVCA OuIOWu az al CACNoGlOu VI
1876 feet above the sea by this upward
rush.
MI. Stevenson tells of blocks of
rocks weighing between nine and ten
tons each having been washed to-
gether at a height of sixty feet, and
OF others weighing from six to thir-
teen tons having been quarried out
of their original beds seventy-flve feet
above the sea. He mentions also
that one block, weighing eight tons,
was driven by the force of the waves
over very rough ground to distance
Of about seventy feet, and this at a
height Of twenty feet. In the build
ing of lighthouses the force of the
waves is often too apparent, huge
stones are flung about like pebbles;
iron fastenings are wrenched out and
twisted as if they were ropes of
straw.
Tremendous as must be the effects
of the sledge-hammer blows of the
stormy sea, yet these would not break
down a rock-bound coast rapidly, be-
cause, as already noticed, solid front
of massive rock can sustain for long
time even the most tremendous
shocks. There are, however, several
circumstances which enable the wave
to get, as it were, behind the strong
outer ramparts, and to carry on the
work of destruction more rapidly.
In the first place, the meteorological
.<x1
continually at work wearing down
and breaking up the land. Every
joint and flssure is sought out and
widened by these untiring workers,
and masses of rocky debris are broken
off and hurled into the seething wa
tiers. BY the action of the waves
these are broken and ground down,
and boulders, single, sand, ETC.. are
formed from their fragments, and are
used as missiles to batter down the
portions of the cliffs.
The waves catch them up and hurl
them against the land with great
force, like the discharge OF artillery.
The face of the opposing rocks is
ground and cracked by the unceas-
ing shower of stones and sand. Holes
and caves are gradually worn out,
into which the waves penetrate and
carry on the work of destruction I'M
until at length the mass
is undermined and falls with
crash. shivered into fragments, upon
which the wild waves continue their
work, grinding them
down to serve in their turn as instru-
ments of further inroads.
Then, again, the high sea waves
rushing upon the land, fill with wa
ter all the chinks, gulleys, or other
openings that may have formed in the
rocks, and the pressure of the water
tends to rend these asunder, after
which they are easily broken up and
cast into the sea.