The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-10-18
The VOLCANIC slTuATIoN.

THE VOLCANIC SITUATION
Friday mornings dispatches announce another vol
canlc eruption soufriere the island Of St Vincent is
beching out hot sand and ashes later to he followed in
al probability by FIRE destruction. OH mother earth
seems off For many months conditions have not been
normal on her surface to say nothing Of admontons Of
inside perturbations b. many the extremes Ct weather
for the past few months have attributed con
neced with the eruption of hit Pelee during which
time Old cold and extinct volcanoes have shown signs
Of life SO volcanoes and their moods are becoming mat
tiers Of interest
There are from 300 to 96O volcanoes On the globe.
This estimate includes merely live volcanoes and voce
which within recent times have been in action II
we should many mountains scattered over the
earth which show today signs Of volcanic action in the
more remote past the estimate would have to be in
creased by many hundreds
Volcanoes would seem to be arranged. with more or
less symmetry in belts circng the great oceans A
ring surrounds the Pacific Starting at the South
Shetland Islands several hundred miles south of Cane
Horn belt Of volcanoes extends up the west coast Of
South America Alaska it the Pacific along
the Aleutian islands to Kamschatka; thence it follows
the east edge the Pacific through the Kurie islands
Japan Formosa, the Philippines the Mouccas the soo-
mon islands, the North Hebides. New Zealand and fin
ally ends in Mounts Terror and Erebus the Anarcc
me volcanoes great DSiJ are
places ranged in chains as along the west coast OF Cen
America and the Aleutian islands, elsewhere they
separated by long distances but nevertheless they
would seem have some connection with each other.
Sometimes the lines of volcanoes surrounding the Pacific
is very narrow in Central America, and then again
broadens hundreds of miles, in the Western United
States where extinct volcanoes the east edge of the
belt are hundreds of miles from the and distant
from each other
Within this great Pacific circle of volcanoes. $4,000
miles in length many volcanic islands: the Ladrones
the Hawaiian islands, with the famous Mauna Loa; the
Galapagos the Samoan islands well as the Tonga and
FIJI archpeagoes and many smaller groups. The coral
may be also classed volcanic as they rest in
great part in volcanic foundations
Eastward from the circle around the Pacific branch
belt extends through Sumatra and Java On the brok-
sthmus which ages joined Asia and Australia are
over 100 volcanoes, many of which constantly belch
ing forth mud lava or ashes This is the great focus OF
volcanic action Of the earth
Round nearly three sides of the Atlantic basin vol
canic districts are scattered with apparent
try north Hekla and nearly score others
separate Atlantic from the Antarctic Stretch
ing from Iceland north to south irregular sub
merged ridge bears volcanic mountains of the Azores
the Cape Verde islands, Ascension, St Helena and Iris
tan da Cunha On the edge of the Atlantic are the
volcanoes on the east coast of America The volcanic
belt Of the Mediterranean shores is prolonged to the
mountains Of Armenia and Western Arabia. There are
said to be some volcanoes in Thbet and Manchuria.
Esee Reclus attention to the fact that the
great ceners volcanic action in the western and east
ern hemispheres at exactly opposite ends of the
globe-are antpodes with each oher-and that these
centers OF activity the poles OF fattenng They
also flank, the west and the east the i'm
Inense circle around the Pacific.
Heka in Iceland, and Mauna Loa- in the Hawaiian
islands simply forth masses of lava that flows like
noasses Vesuvius and Mt Pelee the other hand,
represent explosive type of volcanoes TO which also
belong the volcanoes of the Andes and of Mexico.