Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-03
EARTH'S AWFUL GUNS
That Hurl Rock Projectiles Of 100
Cubic Yards 16 Niles High.
SOLID STREAMS A MILE In AIR.
They Explain Mountain Formation and
Prove Molten Interior.
CLOSE. RELATION TO EARTHQUAKES
SOLID STREAMS A MILE In AIR.
CLOSE RELATION TO EARTHQUAKES
WRITTEN FOR THE DrsPArcH.I

| WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPArcH.J
| In 173S Cotopaxi ejected its blazing rock.
cts more than 5000 feet above its crater,
while in 1867 the flaming mass, struggling
| for an outlet, roared so that its awful voice
was heard for more than 600 miles. In 1877
the crater of Tunguragua one of the great
| peaks of the Andes. discharged torrents Of
mud and lava, which damned the river,
opened new lakes and made a deposit 600
feet deep and 20 miles long in o valley
averaging over 200 feet wide
The molten stream from Vesuvius, which
passed through Terre del Greco in 1877, con-
tanned 80, 100000 cubic yards of solid matter.
The year 1898 witnessed the destruction of
Terre del Greco the second time from the
eruptive action of Vesuvius, when the
mass of lava amounted to $4,000, 900
cubic yards. In 1850 Etna poured out q
blazing river that covered "a square miles Of
surface with boiling lava from 10 to 40 feet
deep. It was on this occasion that the sand,
ashes and scoriae formed Mount Rosini, near
Nicholisa, a cone-shaped structure, two
miles in circumference and over 4, 900 feet
high. A stream of lava thrown out by Etna
in 1910 was in motion at the average of one
yard per day for nearly ten months after the
eruption.
Spit Out More Than Its Volume.
Vesuvius in A. d. 70 vomited forth an
amount of matter whose bulk far exceeded
that OF the mountain ITSELF In 1850, Etna
disgorged more than 20 times its own
mass. Syria, Egypt and Turkey
have received contributions of ashes
from Vesuvius From this crater were
hurled stones of 800 pounds weight to
Pompeii, a distance of six miles, during an
eruption in 70 A. d. Cotopaxi has cast a
rock containing 100 cubic yards distance
of nine miles, and which, calculating from
the angle of ascension, must have reached
an altitude of 16 miles. On more than one
occasion this volcano has shot mp solid
stream to height of over 5000 feet In
1915 volcanic eruption in Java covered
400 square miles with ashes and lava, and
out of population of Is, 900 only 20 per-
sons escaped with their lives.
During the terrible earthquake of 1888,
not less than 20 large and small Javanese
volcanoes were vomiting at the same time.
Fifty square miles of land and two villages
entirely disappeared and section of q
mountain chain, 65 miles long and 20 miles
broad, was wholly swallowed up, leaving a.
lake: instead. It was the vapor from this
eruption that caused the remarkable after
sunset glows over the greater part of the
earth, during the fall of 1888. The same
country had another destructive outbreak
and a series of earthquake shocks in 1891.
A Pile Six Miles H,gh
The Hawaiian group of islands in the
South Pacific Ocean is wholly volcanic.
They appear where the ocean is from 16, 900
to IS, 900 feet deep, have bases that are con-
fluent, and have diameters ranging from 10
to 60 miles. The peak of Mauna Loa, on
one of these islands, is 49, 00O feet above the
sea, thus indicating a mass of uplifted mat
ter 81 900 feet above the ocean floor.
These illustrations will suffice to convey
an idea of how permanent matter is beiehed
onto the surface from the interior OF the
earth, but the volatile substance, the CASE
Gus matter, cannot be easily estimated yet
this is the vehicle, the motor the active
agent in all these processes Here we have
clear and altogether logically physical
explanation of the causes that underlie the
formation of mountains
The primary cause of volcanic outpour-
ings is the pressure of the cooled shell of
the earth on the gaseous and molten in
terror. As these interior substances come
forth the shell generally settles, and, as it
has to accommodate itself to slowly de-
creasing interior, a wrinkle, or a number of
wrinkles on the shell, is the inevitable con-
sequence. These wrinkles we denominate
mountains. We can readily account for the
'chain" system in mountain formation and
can also understand why they are so gener-
ally parallel TO coast lines, and also whv they
disregard tile chain formation
and display themselves oonspicuou<iy.
But whence comes this incandescent in
terror? This is still primeva heat-the fiery,
condition which is the incipien5
stage of nearly all bodies in space.
Earthquakes Related 10 Volcanoes.
II we inquire into the relationship
between volcanic acticn and earthquak"swe
shall find such relationship to be verv in
innate The earth's cruss is too thick and
the rock stratifcation affords too much
resistance for outbreak to occur
Wherever there Chances to be
more than ordinarily heavy pressure.
This overpressure. then, may exhibit itself
in various WAYS on the surface. depending
ON its internal environments. This greater
pressure of IL certain area, in obedience TO
the law that impel~ force to follow the lines
of least resistance, may extend literally
into q region OF lesser pressure, with or
without perceptible ruinbling or jarrinS
of the sur.ace. The variation in the phe-
nomena, however, will be due TO the many
varying factors, which can only he deter
mined by careful analysis of the action
md referring it back syntheticalIy to such
rauses as would necessarily produce such
action.
An earthquake then is only the premon-
tary disturbance that indicates an increas-
ng or II readJusting pressure ana which, in
The fullness OF its time, will eXpend itself in
In emission to the surface. This may some
times involve centuries andslarge areas that
ire Jared may never realize more than such
arring as weaker localities. or localities
having rents. may experience the result of
he final action.
Earthquake and volcanic action are then
necessary consequence from the physical
.on stitution of the globe and such manifeS-
alton may be expected Ion z after the sphere
s at all haDitable. The universe knows of
n Sr1ph ahSnlnta nupnH1ner ra-r
lrma. n.