The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1920-09-08
EARTHQUAKES CAUSED
BY STEAM PRESSURE
Most Big Land Jars Happen
Along Ocean Shores, Says
Noted Authority.

Prof. T. ]. ]. See In the Americana.
All important earthquakes are due t
steam pressure accommodating within Of
just under the earth's crust, which
must have relief, whether by volcani,
eruption, uplifting Of mountain chain'
parallel to the sea, or the formation
and movements of faults in the earth'i
crust.
The earth has temperature of some
1000 degrees Fahrenheit at a depth OF
less than twenty miles and the leakage
of the earths crust is Well known
But in connection with the penetration
OF water we may recall the porosity oil
all rocks and even metals. Under suffi-
cient pressure water has been forced
through solid layers Of gold, silver, lead
iron and steel and under a pressure Of
1000 atmospheres Anagat forced mer-
curry through three inches of sGlil steel
The oceans are deep enough to give q
pressure of about 1000 atmospheres on
their bottoms, and as the water pene-
trates downward the pressure steadily
increases.
AS Sir Archibald Geikle justly re-
marks, Daubroe's experiments showed
that, owing to capllarity, water may
permeate rocks against high counter
pressure of steam on the farther side,
and that so long as water is supplied,
whether by minute assures or through
pores Of the rocks, 1t may, under pres
sure OF its own superintendent column,
make its way to highly heated regions.
1t may thus increase the steam pres
sure within until it is sufficient to raise
duce earthquakes by the movement Of
the crust along an adjacent fault.
IL has been found by experiment that
gases are rapidly absorbed in hot steel
and other metals, and the rapid absorb"
ton of water in molten rock is proved
by the vast clouds of steam arising
from lava as 1t pours from volcano.
The vapors which are thus freely emit
ted are as readily absorbed. Hence Ii
follows that as water permeates down.
ward into the earth 1t finally gets hot
enough to become steam in spite of the
pressure. and tends to diffuse among
the molten rocks below. But 1t cannot
descend to great depths without be-
coming superheated and having its ex-
plosive power enormously increased,
and the result Is that 1t is spread in a
layer just under the crust, and finally
brings on an earthquake.
Since volcanoes occur only in the sea,
on islands and along the shores of con-
tinents, but always die out inland,
while all the vapor they emit is steam,
except one part in thousand, which
is of secondary character, made up of
by-products due to moisture and high
temperature, 1t follows that steam is
the sole original cause Of volcanic ac-
tivity. 1t has long been observed that
earthquakes in a region near an active
volcano cease when the steam escapes,
and therefore imprisoned steam was
the sole cause of the previous shocks.
The distribution of earthquakes In
the interior of the great oceans is i'm
perfectly known, and hence the known
earthquakes appear mainly as belts
around the oceans, especially the Pa
cific. which includes in its boundary
seven eighths of the active volcanoes
in the interior of continents, is recog-
nized and the rarity Of earthquakes
within these inland regions is also con-
st,tn