The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1900-08-10

'ence in them from present species Dali
says, THE conclusion to which | came
was that the whole mass of Diamond
Head had been slowly deposited in
comparatively shallow water, and
gradually elevated. The election of
material at first must have been inter
mittent with long quiescent periods, to
enable the shore to have been repopu-
lated with molusks and corals." Those
mollusks and corals are found in the
layers of breccia and We're evidently
fragments of the coral reef through
which the eruption of the crater had
torn it's vent.
conception of the process of formation
OF tufa cone like Diamond Head.
That process is extremely rapid. The
hot mud is driven high into the air,
and falls in vast showers around the
vent, building up ring of soft, lam
mated tufa rock, which at once &C.
ments and hardens. If the showers of
mud We're intermittent, with long qui-
escent periods intervening, that would
be evidenced by layers of soil inter
posed between the laminae or strata of
tufa, which is not the case. Diamond
Head was evidently the product of a
single gigantic explosion, and not OF a
protracted succession of volcanic ac-
tivities. 1t Is older than the KokO
Heads, because more deeply fluted by
weathering. but cannot be older than
the Pleistocene. Mr.. Dali may be cor
rect in referring to the extinct fossil
species of oyster found in some Pearl
Harbor beds, TO the Pliocene. But he
seems to go very far, in saying that 1T
is probable that Oahu was land, inhab-
lite. by animals, as early as the Eo-
Gene" The immense erosions of Oahu
prove great antiquity-but, the Eo-
Gene?
DR.. Hitchcock seems disposed to ac-
cept the hypothesis of Professor Agas-
siz that vast aggregations of limestone
accumulate on the ocean floor and by
their weight engender assures through
which volcanic eruptions break forth
DR.. II. thinks 1t not improbable that
such limestone beds underlie the noun
tains of Oahu. But the evidence seems
to confine the existence Of limestone
beds to the fringing coral reefs. 1t is
characteristic of the secondary craters
along the shore to have discharged
great quantities OF limestone, coral and
shells. But no caleareous matter seems
to have been thrown out by interior
craters like Tantalus or Luakaha. If
the vents of those craters came through
limestone beds three or four miles be-
low. surely some fragments of the
white rock would have been torn off
and brought to the surface. / have
NEVER Stel any VI mat
ter In the older lavas of our mountains
There is certainly none in the varied
ejecta of the great explosion of 1890
from Kllauea. 1 think those alleged
limestone beds under our mountains
have no existence
DR.. Hitohcock's four pages on our ar
tesian wells are highly instructive, and
embody quantity of important facts.
lie finds no law for determining the
depth Of the wells. There does seem
To be "A general rule that the deeper
wells are those farthest Stewards from
the general slope of the mountain mass
On pages 65-67 is an "order OF Events
In the Geological History OF Oahu"
Seventeen numbers are named In the
series. We should make the "aeoumu-
lation of dunes In ~ preoede the de
preston" In 10, for reasons indicated
above, The whole discussion II care
fully arranged and easy 10 understand,
II should be widely read and studied
by residents Of Oahu 20 obtaln an In
lelilsent apprehension Of the rocks con-
htAntlS IN slight.