The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-07-20
EARTH'S CRUST is BEING
CRACKED.
(AlorninC Examiner


The earth's surface has been more
disturbed In the last two years than
during any time In the past ten years
Earthquakes are rocking the equa-
torial belt and volcanoes are throwing
out great streams Of lava. Here Is
statement of the disturbances in the
Aleutian islands. that archipelago ex-
tending from the southwest tip of the
mainland of Alaska to the waters of
Japan;
When a scientific party from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
visited the scene OF these wonderful
happenings, In the summer of 1907,
the group was studied under condi-
tiCns of the greatest advantage. The
two new cones. rising 500 feet above
the surface. were steaming Ike pud-
dings II was estimated that the en-
tinct volcano, Castle Rock, had a
height Of 5000 feet from the bottom
Of the sea-2,000 feet lottier than We
suyius. The outpourlngs of lava had
made land all around the four cones.
THE explorers found that the sea
lions were luXuriating along the hot
shores and In the fuminG waters, while
sea birds were making their homes and
laying their eggs among the jagged
rocks, and grass was beginning TO
grow There was another convulslon
in the fall of that year. but this time
no new volcanic pinnacle rose to
startle the inhabitants of Unalaska
But what happened was equally start
ling McCulloch rock collapsed and
In its place a steaming lagoon was
created Metcalf cone had already
been split in half and one half had
disappeared"
This summer the island of Bogoslof.
otherwise known as Castle rock, which
hundred years ago rose up suddenly
out of the sea, has disappeared In
large part and gone back to It's orig
Inal nothingness at the bottom OF
| Boring sea. leaving naught in It's
place but some very hot water
But the most titanic conyulsive
movement of old earth, since Krakato
was blown out of the Indian ocean, Is
now occurring in the Samoan group.
which is described by Harpers
Weekly.
In the island of Savaii In the Sa-
moan group. during an August night in
| the year 1905. there arose from the
/
volcano that in four years of its
still ceaseless activity has sent forth
more molten lava than has any vol
cano of which there is record
To-day this flow Of lava in some
places 700 feet in depth, is filing up
the sea along a frontage of more than
seven miles, has destroyed about fifty
villages and as many square miles Of
what was once the most productive
area In all Samoa From Apla. about
fifty miles away on the island of
! Upolo. II is sometimes possible TO read
at night by the glare of the Sayaiian
! volcano. whose twin pillars Of yapor
by day become columns OF red.
Above the ever-secthing lake of fire
within the crater hangs great Grim
son cloud. while eight miles distant
from the volcanic cone appears q les
ser cloud sometimes divided into
many columns of apparent fre. 1t is
but the steam arising from the sea,
colored by the red glowing lava that
pours a Niagara of fire over the cliffs
that the ceaseless torrent of molten
rock builds higher and higher every
day. The ocean steamers touching at
Apla pass within close halling dis
tance OF this dramatic spectacle
Scientists who have seen the most
recent flow say that every minute
100000 tons Of lava flow over the
lower rim of the crater, and this not
resembling in any way the other lava.
but like molten iron spreads over the
old field and beyond. until at the sea
there is a Niagara OF fire fully ten
miles In width. AS this molten lava
falls into the ocean it turns to fine
black sand and sinks. and SO new
coast line in being built up in water
800 to 400 feet deep,
The moving, molten lake advances
at the rate of four miles an hour. AS
IL pours itself into the sea columns Of
wator are raised in steam TO incalcu-
liable height and this, descending In
Il fine rain of brine, destroys vegeta-
ton and corrodes the galvanized iron
rootinGs of churches and trading sta
tions for miles around,
AS the torrents OF boiling lava
break against the basalt cliffs or hum
mocks left by the old flow. cliffs arc
melted by the heat, hummocks disin.
tegrated and carried forward by the
flow, to be hurled into the sea, whore
they explode like titanic bombs, and
this Is taking place every moment
along an Overwhelming sea front OF
ten miles ct least For more than =