Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-04-18
CONTINUED Next Weekly
Tn. Crust Of the Earth.
Stanley T.. Bailey. in the English
Mechanic.

=! inc earth is represented by a sphere
1874 Inches In diameter, the 30 miles or
crust which is formed OF known material.
VIII consist of a layer only one-sixteenth
inch IN thickness. and what is below this
is quite unknown.
The highest ounta on the earth is
Mount Everest. In the Himalayas, e. ~.
feet b.49 miles). The deepest part of the
sea has been found at a distance of abou,
At miles off the northern coast of the
island OF Mindanao. In the Philippine.
miles, was sounded.
In Il model globe 1874 inches in diameter.
representing the earth, where onc-six-
teenth inch is equivalent to 30 miles. a
hcight OF five miles would be represented
by one-ninety-sixth inch, which is about
the thickness of a sheet OF thick paper:
so that although the highest mountains
ana the deepest seas appear to be enor-
nous to us. they are nothing more than
slight creases on the surface of the earth.
A mass of iron when cooled from a red
heat. say of lao degrees Fahrenheit. to
a. normal temperature of Go degrees
f%ahrenheit contracts about 1-l07 of its
length. and assuming that the earth ha.
contracted to a similar extent from a red
neat. the total contraction would amount
to about TAG miles. which would give the
original mean diameter as 1887 miles.
The effect of this contraction has been
w AosOSoSG StiC 0S VI surface LORNA
tons and produce folds. much in the game
way as the skin of a dried apple is
wrinkled when 1t shrinks, the ridges of
the folds become mountains In the case
OF the earth. and the hollows are the
valley. where the isolated and elongated
islands in the seas are the tops OF sub
marine mou tains, which have their cor.
responding valleys in the deepest parts of
the seas.
Many oceanic n marine islands, such
as Ascension. Trinidad. Teneriffe, Samoa.
FIJI, ava New Hebrides. Solomon
are the cones of great volcanoes. the tops
OF which project above the sea level.
while all dry lands. islands and CONT
nents may be considered as the uppe,
portions Of mountains which have their
valley below sea level. A comparison or
the greatest elevations and Impressions Oh
the surface of the earth. with those on
the moon. shows that those on the latter
arc much greater when compared with
the respective sizes of these bodies.
NIhe largest crater rings On the earth
are IN central Italy; they are now lakes,
but were at one time the necks OF volca-
noes. One Of these. the L.ago di Brac-
ciano. which is q miles northwest of
Rome. is six and one-half miles In diam
eter. while the other. the I4ago di Bolsena.
which is about IS miles from Rome, is oval
IN shape, and loA miles by nine miles.
AHeso uiHietiSioLS SHOW what enormous
forces must have been at work at one
time. both on the earth and the moon. to
produce such large volcanoes: while at the
present time It has been estimated that
there are about 1000 volcanic eruptions
per 100 years.
The crust of the earth 10 never complete
ly at rest anywhere. for there are con-
slant clippings OF strata, due In some
cases to the higher angle OF inclination.
especially on mountain slopes. and In
others to the action OF water percolatinR
through and lubricatlng the strata or In
saturating the ground. a. seen In the hog
slides.