The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-09-06
From the London Mail.

From the London Mail.
II HEsE earthquakes are probably
Wy due to the faultins or breaking
of strata, which are being
buckled upward in the process of noun
tain formation. The Andes rise to a
height of 1900 feet, while Immediately
in front of them is the ocean 24,OOO feet
in depth. These deeps run along the west
ern shore OF South America and form an
oceanic trough. From the bottom of this
trough to the summit of the mountain
the slope is about one in twenty and in
all parts of the world where we find deep
slopes of this character having length
let us say, of two geographical degrees
or 12O miles, we find that we are in dis
trict of instability and that fraeturing
frequently takes place.
Geologically speaking, these steep slopes
are of recent production, and we find
many evidences along the coast line
where they occur of recent elevation or of
depression, generally the former, indicating
that the ground is still being buckled.
Accompanying this process sudden yield
ings from time to time take place and are
announced to the world as large earth
quakes.
What causes these movements is more
or less matter of conjecture. 1t may
be due to the contraction of the nucleus
of our world through loss of heat, leav-
Ing behind 1t a crust which is not strong
enough to support itself, and, therefore,
as 1t falls inward is bent and broken.
That Is an operation dependent upon in
ternal change within our earth resulting
from loss of world heat. An operation
which also might affect earthquake
frequency may be traced backward to
sun heat. From sun heat we get evapo-
ration of moisture to form our clouds,
which are precipitated as rain, forming
rivulets and rivers. These are continually
taking materials from the high lines of
continents, or in other words, removing
loads, in the form of sediments, which
are carried down to be deposited eventu-
ally on the sea bottom.
If we can imagine the crust of our
world to be supported by flotation the
general result is a sinking where the ma
terials are accumulated, whereas the other
part from which the materials have been
derived tends to rise. AS an accompani-
ment of such movement it vs. easy to i'm
agine that sudden yielding should take
place.
From measurements now being made
in the devastated area of California, 1t
would seem that movements of some six
feet or seven feet have taken place along
lines approaching 800 miles In length. The
breadth of the area where faultng is
visible ON the surface might be 200 miles.
That is to say, that an area of about
10000 square miles has been shattered
There are many good reasons which would
lead us to expect that these faults may
extend through what is called the crust
of the world, or to a depth, let US say
of thirty miles. The inference from this
have been suddenly shifted Such esti-
mates may be run up to 100000 cubic
miles. 1t is the impact of enormous
masses like these which gave rise to the
initial impulse which set the whole of
our world in a state of vibration
Prior to the 1877 earthquake, one of SIM
liar character occurred in 1868, sending its
sea waves across the Pacific to alarm the
inhabitants of Japan, who In many cases
removed their household goods to high
places for the sake of security. The more
classical earthquakes occurred in 1885
and 1887 The first was felt for dis
lance of nearly 1000 miles along the Chill
can coast. 1t was accompanied by eleva-
tions. Rocks which were below the sea
level prior to the disturbances appeared,
and remained above the surface, many
places became shallower and streams in
creased in the rapidity of their flow.
question just now receiving attention at
the hands of astronomers relates to the