Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1907-01-30
Old EARTH NOT,
YET FULL GROWN
SECRET OF THE DISASTROUS
EARTHQUAKES.
M ERELYE SETTLING DOWN
President Van Hlse Delivers Lecture
of Nc. lively Interest Before
Science Club, Telling of Earth
Movements That History Records
as Terrible calamities.
Madison. Jan. ?

MdulSOu, Jan. "a
President Van Hise OF the univer-
sity gave an address last night be
fore the Science club, on Earth Move
ments and Earthquakes, illustrating
his descriptions OF the great earth-
quake OF Japan, tie faults and raised
beaches of the Alaskan earlnquake,
and the faults and other phenomena
of the San Franciscan disaster. lie
also spoke in detail OF the recent
Jamaican disturbance.
Within the past year have oc-
Cured the three great earthquakes OF
san Francisco, Santiago and hlng-
ston; and also the great eruptions OF
Vesuvius, while only a little earlier
occurred the outbreaks oil Martinique
and St Vincent said President Van
Hise. The question naturally arises
as to whether any Of tnese phenom-
ena is the cause of any other This
question can be unqUalIiiedly ans
wered in the negative. These differ
ent volcanic outbreaks and earth-
quake shocks are the result of the
same great cause. a period of read
justment of the earths crust. A
study of geological history shows
that, in the evolution of the earth,
there have been long periods OF rel
alive quiet followed by briefer pc
Rod of great readjustment. 1t is IN
these great readjustments that the
volcanic plateaus of the west were
poured out, and the great mountains
Of the tertiary period were DuIIt up.
While We are now plainly in period
of relative quiet =, appears that the
earth crust is in one OF its very
minor periods of REIMBURSEMENT, which.
while of little consequence to the
earth as whole, has resulted in these
great disasters to man.
Earth Not Completed.
The earth is now, as 1t has been
IN the past, in condition of hux.
That the atmosphere and hydrosphere
are in motion we are well aware, but
hat the atmosphere has continuous
although slow motion, we do not
usually appreciate. The earth is not
finished. but is now being ever re-
made, as it has been in the past.
A study of the phenomena exhibited
by the ear.h's surface shows that
again and again the continental areas
have risen and fallen so that they are
now above the sea and now below 1t.
Besides these great vertical earth
movements there are also horizontal
movements of the earths crust. One
Of the results of these horizontal
movements is mountain ranges.
During the uplifting Oh mountains
these rocks are bent, nodded, or even
Dncated. Rigid rocks which at the
surface arc as brittle as glass are
bent back upon themselves like the
leaves of fan. During these great
earth movements not only is there
folding of the rocks, but they are
fractured in complex fashion This
fracturing is usually confined to the
upper part of the crust OF the earth,
perhaps largely to the outer ten
miles.
understood that the rise OF a noun
tain range with its folding and frac-
turing occurs all at one time. The
process goes on through many centur-
les, and while a mountain range may
be young from a geological point of
view. reckoned in years, the period is
very great.
When in the process OF the read
lustment of the earth a great frac-
ture is produced and there is displace-
ment of the rocks along this fracture
the phenomenon is called a fault A
fracture many miles, sometimes hun
dreds of miles in length, and several
miles in depth. Its formation pro-
duces tremepdous shock From tho
plane of the rupture rock-waves go
out in all directions, having great In
tensity near the fault plane, but grad!
ually dying out. Such a rock rupture
and its resulting waves is an earth
quake. The fault fracture of the San
Francisco earthquake has been traced
Tor distance of more than 300 miles
along the coast of California
The area in which the vibrations
of the rocks are perceptible to the
senses in the case of some of the
great earthquakes is to be measured
in millions of square miles and the
shocks of the greater earthquakes
have set the entire world into vibra-
ton as is shown by the delicate
seismographs scattered at various
places over Ine world OF the COM
paratively recent earthquakes, that OF
Japan in 1891, that of India in 1897,
that of Alaska in 1892 and those at
San Francisco and Santiago lasi
wear, we're world shakers
other Phenomena.
The ether phenomena which ac-
company earthquakes, beside the
fault scarps, are land slides ponds.
: