The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1910-11-11

Birth III A VOLCANO.
Natures Process In Forming a
Mountain Of Lava.
THE FORCE or AN ERUPTION.
Vpheaval That Destroyed the East
Indian Island Of krakatoa IN 1883
Propelled AZ Air Wavs Three and
Half Times Round the Earth.


n OF as burning mountains, they do nor
burn at aii. nor, 10 the proper sense Of
thc word, are they mountains at ait.
A voiecnc is really flaw in the crust
Of the ealth through which the fierce
glowing healf lying below the crust has
managed II burst hole. Through this
bole great foods Of melted rock spout
up. sone volcanoes work at inter-
walls; some are in eruption all the time
As the melted rock jets up into the
air and falls It naturally builds itself
into a mountain round the hole. The
nc<c eruption has TO burst its way
through the heart Of that mountain.
The chimney it spouts through is usu.
ally called "the pipe
Sometimes an eruption is SO fierce
that when the lara another name for
melted rocky spouts out 1t is burst into
bits. When It falls it is sometimes as
fine as dust, sometimes the size OF Gin
ders Most volcanoes. indeed, are sim
ply gigantic cinder heaps.
When the force Is not so great the
lava IN the pipe simply bubbles over
and dows down the sides Of the noun
tain, exactly as porridge boiIs over the
edge of pot As lava Is liquid. the
slope OF lava volcano Tor lava cone
as It Is usually called is always very
gentle. Falling cinders. on the other
hand, pile themselves up quite steepIy.
A lava cone, then. il always less steep
than cinder cone.
And volcano never burns. What
looks like fame il only the glow OF
the white hot lava on the clouds Of
steam. The more steam there is fore
Ing Its way up the pipe the more the
lava bubbles, just as in the case Of
the porridge. II the pressure OF steam
n very great, then you have the lava
blown to bits and falling ais cinders
while the mighty clouds Of steam rise
/ high above the mountain. 1t is this
steam that is mistaken for smoke.
Sometimes cone sends out lava and
cinders alternately. SO that You have
great mountain Of cinders bound to-
gether by layers and walls OF lava.
These walls OF lava are due to the
fact that sometimes more lava wants
to come up the pipe than the pipe will
hold. SO the lava bursts its way out
through weak spots in the sides of the
mountain Etna has no fewer than
7eG OF these cones on its slopes, One
or them. Monte Rossi. is hill in
lIself being 45O feet high. Indeed. a
model OF Etna looks as II 1t were COW
cred with pimples,
When Etna is really reused it is far
more dangerous than VesHvius. In
l1G9 1t nearly destroyed the city Of
Catania, killing $4,000 people. In 1869
It found its pipe SO inconveniently
small that 1t had to crack one Of its
Sides This crack WAS no less than
twelve miles long, AIT the bottom
white hot lava could dlmy be seen
through the clouds Of steam. In 1855
millions OF gallons Of boiling water
were shot out OF the Val del Bove.
which is great circular pit on the
slope of the mountain. four or fve
miles 10 diameter, Its sides being cliffs
nearly a mile high In places.
The greatest volcanic eruption ever
known took place IN the East Indies
IN 1888. The story makes almost in
credible reading The volcanic island
Of Krakatoa commenced proceedings
bv blowing half Of itself into thin air
FROM the opening no less than q cubic
mile of rock wus shot out.
A column Of steam and lava dust
rose into the air to height six times
as great as that of Mount Everest. It
spread and spread till for hundreds Of
miles around the air was black as mid
night Sounds as OF distant cannonad-
ing were heard 1900 miles off.
Sea waves fifty feet high Killed 3d.
900 people and we're felt as far Off as
California. Instead Of an island half
= mile high there was now a hole a !
quarter Of a mile deep. The shock of /
the eruption sent air waves three and /
a half times around the earth The
6ne dust In the upper atmosphere add
I'd for months afterward strange
glow to the sunsets In England and
did not vanish completely for three
years.
The exact cause OF the eruptlons Is /
not known Tor certain a popular the 4
Dry Is that they are caused by water
getting in 70 the white hot mass which
IS supposed to lie under the outer crust
of the earth. And it is certainly a fact
that practically all volcanoes are close
10 the edge Of the sea
Some lava dows slowly, some quick /
". vesuvius in 1905 sent out lava
stream that in four minutes had reach.
ID spot four miles of. The size VI
ava stream is sometimes gigantic, IN
1888 Skaptar Jokull in Iceland emitted
wo streams at one time. One was
'orty miles long by seven miles broad.
he other fifty r-lles by fifteen. The o
average depth Of both was about y D
hundred feet n
Lava cools very. very slowly, except 4
~ fhe surface. which cools at once
L IS an extremely bad conductor Of
leat. Twenty years after stream Of
avn was sent out from Jorulio. in Mex
co. tourists could light sheir cigars