Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-07-14
Causes Of Earthquakes.
ARE THEY PRODUCED THROUGH THE
sHRINKAGE OF THE SURFACE OF
TIE GLOBE.

THE GLOBE
Without doubt the consensus of iudg
ment among physicists is that earth
I quakes result from the shrinkage Of the
I surface Of the earth from the ceaseleSs
dissipation of its heat into the cold Of
Of space. As this loss Of heat pro
I crosses strains are inaugurated through
I out the surface of the earth, and on ac
/ count of that surface being Of unequal
! strength there arrives q moment when
a breakage Of a portion Of the surface
1 takes place along the weakest portion
4 thereof Every miner is familiar with
| the faults" which he encounters in the
/ line Of his drifts, and rarely can he tell
/ whether the continuation of his vein Is
/ above or below him when he comes to
| a bare wall at the abrubt end OF his
vein 1t is well known to biologists
that the faults are extraordinary depths
| as shown IN the region cut through by
the canyon of the Colorado.
The phenomena attending these great
descriptions are weakly exhibited in the
earthquakes of today. when small dis
locations occasion comparatively great
results. In the earthquakes in Japan.
notably in that of 1854, and in great
earthquakes along the Andean coast
of South America, there have been
relatively small changes of surface that
have exhibited but little change of the
surface of the earth. Nor has there
been any exhibition OF forces in these
earthquakes that cannot be explained
on the theory of the rupture of rela-
lively very small area of the earth's
surface.
In the great earthquake Of Krakatos,
a few years since, there was an unusual
exhibition of explosive forces accom-
panying the ruption of the surface,
when volcanic agencies blew up half
of a high rocky islet and left a great
depression below the surface Of the
water. There has been no such other
exhibition in modern times. for the
material of the islet and the submarine
material was projected into the higher
atmosphere in very minute partic es,
and gave rise TO the extraordinary tx
hibition of the beautiful red skies is
ible near sunset. This matter was ar
ried around the whole earth in The
higher atmosphere.
The mechanical theory of heat will
readily explain how great disruption
of the earth's surface may produce all
phenomena of volcanic action when
the conditions of the material and the
xtent OF the rupture are invariable
Imagine what must have been the in
tensity of heat developed when faults
of one mile deep were formed, and the
terrible friction of two surfaces of such
great extent were involved. We can
only approach the subject by the
mathematics of the theory If heat, and
certainly not by any experience.
Along this coast the lines Of rupture
of the weak parts of the earth's crust
are shown in the depression of the pla-
teau Of the Pacific ocean bed and the
parellism of at least four lines Of coast
mountains and the great backbone Of
the Sierra Nevada and Cascade range.
And these lines and the closely adjacent
country must be the seat of seismic
changes, as the earth gradually loses
its heat We have the evidence clearly
before us that along the lire of rupture
of THESE ranges there have been many
overllows of lava forming the oasaltic
id1 bio NtSiDtC III lbI ANthRAh III
certain localities, and especially in the
many overflows along the northern
part of the Cascade range.
The dynamical theory accounts for
these resultant exhibitions. and it is
easy to imagine that there must have
been many other concOmitant exhibit
billions of electrical and volcanic forces
In the great chain of the Aleutian is
lands, where so many extinct and active
volcanoes exist. every earthquake along
this weak line in the earth's surface
accompanied by renewed activity in
the earth's surface is accompanied by
renewed activity in the living volcanoes
and it may be safely assumed that all
the phenomena may be traced to the
contrl action aud rupture of some part
of the surface or crust from the cease
less but slow cooling of our planet
Professor George Davidson in San
Francisco Examiner
CHEAP STONE ROAD