The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-03-15
THE EARTH GETTING BIGGER
NOT STUNNING, rs PROF. SELy
NOVEL THEORY.

Evidence That Mountain Ranges. IoL
canoes and Earthquakes Are AICau,,.
by Leakage In the seas Bottom
New COntInsnt In Process Of Beading
In the March number Of the procc,5,,,,
OF the American Philosophical Spc,o,
which has just appeared. Prot. r. j
See, U. s. ~, the astronomer, has A nano,
on The new theory OF earthquakes And
mountain formation o. illustrated by uroo-
esses now at work in the depths Of the sea
In II he gives further evidence in srpno,,
Of HE proposition that mountains ar.
formed by the action Of the sca, and not
at all by the secular cooling and shrink.
age Of the earth. The old theory which
compares the earth to a withered appls ,
pronounced unsound.
In two previous papers Prof, SEQ argued
that six great classes Of phenomena. namsly
earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain forma.
tion, the formation Of Islands and plateau,
seismic sea waves following great earth.
quakee, and the feeble attraction oi moun.
tains long noticed In geodesy. are but an.
ferent effects Of one common cause The
secular leakage Of the ocean bottom Th,
forms steam beneath the earth's crps,
which brings on earthquakes, and the earth,
quakes uplift islands in the sea and
mountains along the shore by the expulsion
Of lava under the land.
When the earth's crust ia thus uplifi.d
along the seashore mountains are pro.
duoed, and some OF the mountains break
into eruption and form volcanoes. The
expulsion Of lava from under the sea under.
mines trenches In the sea bottom and The
crust goes down and forms the deeps often
noticed near the land. The sinking OF
the sea bottom after an earthquake pro
duoes the seismic sea wave 80 often follow.
ing great earthquakes.
Thus the uplitt Of the coast into noun.
tains and the sinking OF the adjacent sea
bottom into a trench ia the effect of IN,
expulsion Of lava from under the bed Of
the see. This expulsion IA due to steam
which forms under the sea but not under
the land; and hence when the steam pres-
surS becomes very great il pushes out
under the land and uplifts the coast.
In 1899 the coast near Yskutat Bay,
Alaska, was uplifted by q great earthquake
for a hundred miles, and at the maximum
the rise was forty-seven feet. This shows
that a vast quantity Of lava was expelled
from under the bed Of the ocean and pushed
under the land.
In the present paper Prof. See seeks to
show that the Aleutian Islands are merely
a branlh Of the Rocky Mountains still 10,
the ocean that demonstrate exactly how
all mountains we're formed. In the deep
waters just south Of the Aleutian Islands
the sea bottom lie sinking into a deep trer Oh.
II 10 from 5000 to 1000 fathoms deep and
just parallel TO the islands.
At almost every big earthquake in this
region some one OF the Aleutlan Islands
is upllfted, and sometimes a new volcano
breaks out. On the other hand, q seismic
sea wave frequently accompanies this
movement, showing that the sea bottom
to the south has sunk. The uplift OF the
Island and the sinking OF the sea bottom
show that lava is being expelled from
under the sea.
Prof. See gives maps Of the ocean depths
near the Aleutian Islands and also near the
Kurile and ~Japaneoe islands. and a. the
earthquakes follow these substances. he
says. II is evident that the cause Of these
disturbances 10 everywhere the same.
namely. the expulsion Of lava from under
the sea, 30 that the bottom sinks down into
q narrow trough.
In this way the island Of Japan wal raised
from the sea. The hole In the sea bottom
Just eASt OF Japan made by the expulsion Of
lava 10 called the Tuscarora Deep, from the
American ship Tuscarora, which first dis
covered this deep trough. It is evident
that the island Of Nippon came out Of there
because II 1t were loosened and thrown into
the hole It would about all it up.
In the same way the Aleutian and Kurit
islands II dug OF and thrown into the ada
cent trenches near them would All up the
troughs which now appear there. II We 60
along In q field and come upon q trench With
q ridge beside 1t, adds Prof. See. We know
that the ridge was made by dirt TAKEN out
Of the ditch
This investigation showing how noun.
tSins are formed In the sea may prove Of
profound significance for all the sciences
which deal with the earth. Prof See de-
olares that the Ssa bottoms leak even when
the underlying rock is twenty miles deep,
and that all the mountains were once in the
depths Of the sea. They we're uplifted BY
earthquakes pushing up the land and not At
all by the shrinkage OF the earth,
Prof, See calculates that the earth il nov
expanding from ten TO a hundred times
moro rapidly than II is contracting uhderths
influence OF secular cooling. Thus all ne old
books on geology must be rewritten.
He discusses also a mountain range nov
forming in the sea between Samoa and New
Zealand. Here the Sea is very deep and has
a ridge to the west just as in the case Of The
Kurile Islands. The Pacific Ocean Is erecting
a wall OF the west just like the South Amer
lean Andes OF the cast.
The mountain chain between Samoa and
New Zealand is about 1900 miles long and
eventually will be very high, II is still be-
low the water, except a few Of the peaks
which project as islands,
In the course Of geological ages the vest
ern ridge will form a high range, and then
like the eastern side Of the trough will fold
up and form another high ridge parallel
to the first. This is how parallel mountain
ranges are formed, and it is all the work
Of the sea, acting under simple laws.
MOURNING CANES.