New-York tribune., 1906-04-19
s11R1Ecr TO EARTHQUAKES.

Professor James F. Kemp. of Columbia UNI
,,ersitv said Yesterday that the probable cause
of the San Francisco earthquake was the slip
ming along some fault" line-that Is. rllt
where two geological deposits either OF the same
or different periods meet in the interior OF INC
earth.
"The Pacific coast line is of the latest ao-
ditions to the continent" said Professor Kemp
land because of this is far more SUBJECT 70 sel'-
mic disturbances than any other porl'oi Vi '
country EARTHQUAKES are quite common. as is
shown by the records quoted in the Geoloslc"i
society's bulletins According to these there
were * such disturbances in California and
elsewhere along the Pacific coast in 1896 50 IN
1897 and ~ In 1895 those being the latest hs-
ures have.
THE worst shock felt In San Francisco prior
to the present one was on March 80. lo9e Inc
earthquake was felt mostly at the Mare Isiaiiu
NAVY Yard. Vallejo and Benicia. At the navy
yard the damage done was about S342Ooo
It was pointed out to Professor Kemp that
San Francisco is along the same parallel as
Vesuvius and two other places in whlch seismic
disturbances have recently occurred. the Ciscau-
casian region and the Canary Islands. While this
was an interesting coincidence. Professor Kemp
said he thought there was no connection between
the three In fact Professor Kemp was en-
phaticaly of the opinion that the earthquake
had nothing whatever to do with the recent
eruption at Mount Nesuvius with volcanoes
anywhere.
1.-THE outer crust of the earth adjusts itself
from time to time" he said, and this is most
probably one of those instances. Scientists do
not vet fully understand the exact nature of this
adjustment but there are two suggestions as to
the probable cause which generally accepted
first that on account of the radiation of heat
sv,Har io ChTiT
earthquake is the natural way the surface ad-
justs itself to the new conditions; second. that
the earth is gradually slowing up in its rotation
that it is 1attening at the poles and swelling at
the equator and that this the interior
sppings,
The disturbance is unlikely to travel east
ward" Professor Kemp said.
Seismic disturbances follow the direction Of
the mountain ranges of country. and in Amer
lea this is generally north and south. The lines
of extreme weakness are always parallel with
the coast line of continents he said
The Pacific coast line formed by giant
upheaval in prehistoric times. and beach lines
can still be seen far from the sea, showing that
the water was much higher at one time than it
is now. No change in the coast line has taken
place in recent years. except In Alaska where.
in the neighborhood of the Muir Glacier. five
years ago. the line of the continent was raised
Within the last century there change in
the Pacific coast line of South America"
There are no Instruments at Columbia Cniver-
sty for recording seismic disturbances Accord
ing to Professor Charles P. Berkey of the de-
partment OF geology the nearest such instru-
ments at Albany.
There is possible connection between the
San Francisco disturbance" said Professor
Berkey, and the recent eruption of Vesuvius
Earthquakes are not necessarily of volcanic ori-
gin. The earth's crust in cooling contracts. and
often contracts unevenly, so that it causes the
strata to slide. Such a sliding of the earth's
crust might have caused the San Francisco
earthquake
Professor William Hallock. of the department
of physics at Columbia agreed with Professor
Berkey as to the causes of the San Francisco
earthquake.
NOT DUE TO VOLCANIC CAUSES.
Professor Edmund Otis Hovey. of the Aneri
can Museum of Natural History who visited the
scene of the Mont Pelee eruption and recently
reported on that disaster said that in his opin-
ion the San Francisco earthquake had nothing
whatever to do with volcanic causes. but was
due TO the effort of the rigid crust of the earth
to conform TO the contraction caused by loss of
heat in the interior.
In places where the latest geological forma-
tions found he said. "a constant shrinking
goes on within the earth. and there is a tension
which is relieved only by an earthquake or
eruption"
do you think the San Francisco earthquake
of to-day is the elimination of the numerous
smaller quakes that have occurred in recent
years?' he was asked.
That Is hard 10 say. II may be but one of the
series and other disturbances may follow
II II were not that the centre of this disturb
ance was IN ati ene heart of big city. where the
consequent devastation was great. might
not have heard very much about It."
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