Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-10

bottom: the Schladabach. 143 degrees: the
Wheeling. ZIG degrees; the Pittsburg 12s
degrees, and accord ug 10 the German
average, the Parushowltz well, which has
not yet been reported. would show n tenn
perature at the bottom somewhere between
155 degrees and leo degrees Fahrenheit. 1t
would not take very much more digging
before the heat of these wells could be utl!-
lied All things being equal, the Ptttsburg
we'll, at 10000 feet. should develop tenn
perature greater than that Of bo!.ing wa
ter. especially the heat Increases more
rapidly as the hole gets deeper.
But these wells were all bored in what
might be called the normal crust of the
earth. where the strata lie in stu Had
they been dug in Wyoming. in the geyser
basin. for Instance, 1t is probable that
steam very hot water would have been
encountered not many feet below the sur
face. for after all the geyser is one of
natures deepest holes. since 1t connects in
one way or another with the internal heat
of the earth and. therefore. we have a sort
of indication of how an artificial deep hole
might act II once 1t were driven down far
enough to form vent for the heat of the
earth. On the other hand. had one of the
wells been driven down under Michigan,
through the copper beds. II is probable that
even 10000 feet would not beget tempera-
ture too hot for breathing purposes, let
alone sufficient for the production of steam.
This to the lay mind must appear strange
In view of the fact that the region is full Of
copper bearing rock and therefore. ought
to conduct heat readily Nevertheless II Is
a fact that these rocks do not conduct the
heat. The temperature of the lowest Calu-
met and Hecla shaft never goes far from
10 degrees. Prof. AgassiZ buried thermom-
eterS at various depths in the mines and
got very little variation. Prof Pierce Of
Harvard obtained some slabs of rock from
the lower levels and by means Of an cleo
trio thermostat tested their heat-conduct-
ing properties which were reported to be
small in comparison with those of some
other rocks. His idea in this case, however.
leans more to an approximation of heat
| A. .;,-if, nfr nrlr irot
to form estimate Of the earth's age,
since If the cooling rate of all rock Is
known then taken in relation to thickness,
ii would be possible to determine approx
mately how long 1t has been since the ex-
terror of the earth molten. The deep
| wells furnish data in this connection also.
The Land Under Sea.
Among other theories concerning the Cal
umet rock it is suggested that perhaps the
proximity of the waters of Lake Superior
| have cooling effect on the copper mines.
| Low temperatures are characteristic or all
! the subaqueous deep holes. Beside the
| chasms in the ocean bed the holes In the
! land are as pin punctures, for more than
| half of the whole sea floor lies two miles
| below the surface of the water. One-eighth
of this latter area is depressed below three
miles This eight itself is 100000 square
| geographical miles in extent and contains
! areas or, rather. basins which dip in
places over five miles below the surface
| These last almost unfathomable holes in
the ocean bottom occur only in three
places, or, at least only three soundlngs
! of five miles more have been made
| There may be others, of course even deep
er which have as yet remained undlscoV-
| cred The deepeSt of these holes exists In
the South Pacific to the east of the ker-
madecs. 1t is 5,155 fathoms deep or $50
| feet more than five geographical miles Tho
| sounding that went to its bottom repre-
sents the farthest reach of humankind to-
ward the center of the earth. Yet what
| came back with the rod was meager in
view of what might have been expected,
A little globigerina ooZe. little OF that
curious red clay which covers nearly half
| of the sea floor, a few manganese nodules,
some minute magnetic spheruIes OF cosmlc
origin, that was all; these and the positive
assurance of intense darkness and bitter
| cold. The ooZe what was left OF ami
NAL carcasses sweeping downward through
| centuries; the clay the plastic rem
nants of even earlier periods; the spherules
were representatives of meteoric particles
| which had plunged through immeasurable
! distance from "outer dark to inner dark.
Volcanic debris, oxides of iron. zeolitic
| crystals, manganese noduleS ana remains
| of whales and sharks are characteristic OF
these deep holes. One haul of trawl in
the Pacific brought up from a depth OF
| nearly three miles many bushels OF man
ganese nodules 100 sharks teeth and 80
| fragments of the bones Of whales. But be-
yond these, all other objects which might
be expected to drop from the surface
are wanting 1t is not surprising, how
ever, in view of the terrible pressure Of
the water at these great depths. Nothing
not especially adapted for it could with
stand it. 1t is calculated that at one mile
beneath the surface the. pressure OF the
water on all sides of an object is one ton
to the square inch. In view of this 1t was
formerly supposed that the pressure at the
lowest depths must be great enough to
turn the bottom to stone. But the dreadge
shows this to be untrue.
Habftants of the Depths.
The fish that live in these deep holes are
soft and gelatinous, the only condition, in
fact, which would save them from the ef-
fects of the pressure. The water permeates
their soft structure and counteracts its own
pressure. AS suggested above, it is very
cold in the deep holes. Prof. Agassiz men
tons how cold the ooze from the bottom
feels-how cold mud nearly froze his hands
stiff under the broiling sun. 1t gave him
an idea for cheap refrigerat ton, and he low
cred a bottle of wine nearly two and one
half miles under water for the purpose OF
freezing it. 1t came up cold enough. to be
sure but full of muddy salt water, which
had forced its way through the cork.
Forty-three areas have been found on the
sea bottom lying deeper than three miles.
Eight of these are deeper than four miles.
These are: Mares Deep in the north At
lantic: Ross Deep, In the Antarctic: Weber
Deep, in the Banda sea; Challenger, Tusca-
rora and Sappan deeps, in the north Paci-
fic, and Aldrich and Richards deeps, in the
south Pacific. Three of these deeps contain
five-mile holes. They are Aldrich. Tusca-
rora and Weber deeps. But the Aldrich
deep hole is the deepest, as was stated
above. Yet. deep as it is. in spite of the
fact that Mount Everest, the highest noun
tain in the world If dropped into the hole
would sink out of sight in the ocean, that
little pinnacle called Sunday Island stand
ing squarely in this five-mile hole is able
to rear its head 1900 feet above the surface
J of the Incidentally this conveys a
vivid idea Of the contrast nature is able to
make in the matter of high hills and deep
holes.