Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-11-24
Geographic News
oUAkEs AND TIDAL WAVES
Bulletins BY the
National Geographic Society

/ <tIflNIAldu naval OIlCCls ouIlIS a
similar upheaval, when his vessel
was carried three miles up the coast.
two miles inland, and dropped at
the foot Of q range of the Andes
Mountains.
Earthquakes and tidal waves are
discussed in a bulletin from the Ma
tional Geographic Society which
also quotes from a communication
by the late Rear Admiral L.. G. Bill
lings, whose unparalleled adventure
occurred some hundreds of miles
north of the recently devastated
towns.
There is no natural phenomenon
more deeply interesting and yet SO
little understood as the seismic dis
turbances which have from earliest
history devastated the earth and
carried terror and dismay into the
hearts of all survivors," says the
bulletin.
up to 1908, it is computed by
an eminent scientist, Compile de
Ballore, there had been 159,7S2 re-
corded earthquakes. OF later years,
when more accurate records have
been kept, they have averaged
about sixty a year. There is COM
fort to the jewellers in most of the
world to know that "a per cent Of
recorded shocks have occurred in
two narrow, well-defined belts-one
called the Mediterranean, with So
per cent to it's credit, and, the other,
the Circum-Pacific. with II per cent
while the remainder of the world
has only 6 per cent, widely distri-
buted.
U. S. Had One Major Quake
1.-THE United States has been sin
gularly free from recorded seismic
disturbance, perhaps the most dis
astrous being in 1911, when a very
severe shock occurred in the Miss
issippi Valley south of the Ohio,
which was felt in New York in one
direction and in the West Indies in
another. This earthquake changed
the face of the earth. A vast ex-
tent of land was sunk, lakes were
formed, and even the course of the
Mississippi river was obstructed for
a time.
"Most of the earthquakes occur
ring of late years can hardly be
classed with the great ones of his
tory, nearly all of the destruction
being caused by uncomfortable fires.
In the more stable zones long peri
DDS may elapse between Shocks. as
for instance, in Kingston, Jamaica,
215 years interviewed.
1.-THE u of earthquakes and
OlCdDO6 Is oil SluolNS
not yet settled to the satisfaction OF
the scientist. Tremors of the earth
may be caused by many things. The
explosion of mines, falling in OF
caves, slipping of rock strata. and
. many other movements Of the earth
may cause them; but for the great
shocks which have required almost
since the history of the world began
we must look further.
a, Still Ignorant of Causes
Though many times there seems
to be In intimate connection be-
tween earthquakes and volcanoes,
the law regarding them has not
been established. Some remarkable
, condolences have been observed in
late years. The terrible ~cataclysm
of Mount Pelee, which. on May 8,
= 1902, almost instantly killed 10000
inhabitants, was preceded by the
earthquake which in January and
/ April of the same year wrecked q
number Of cities in Mexico and
Guatemala. The distance between
these points is at least 1000 miles.
: showing how deep-seated must
has been suggested. there was COM
, munication between them. The
l great San Francisco earthquake
was preceded only two days by one
of the most violent eruptions of
Vesuvius recorded in many years.
, cit is also a significant fact that
D the Tuning island off the coast of
Alaska, called Bogoslof No. 8, APP
peared at almost the same time. A
! revenue cutter. visiting this island,
: was astonished to see that the
high, on the island, had disappear
ed, and in it's place a bay had been
! formed. ~Soundings showed a depth
of from 8 to rs fathoms of water.
Quakes Preceded Katmai Explosion
1.-THE greatest of recent volcanic
disturbances which blew the top off
of Mount Katmai in Alaska ana
, gave birth to the wonderful Valley
of Ten Thousand Smokes was pre-
ceded and accompanied by a series
of seyer earthquakes"
Admiral Billings described the
great tidal wave which he saw at
africa, then in Peru, some years ago.
/ He vas an officer on the u. S. S.
"Wateree" which was anchored in
the harbor at africa at the time OF
the cataclysm.
!, Sometime after the initial ire
NOR" he wrote, "the sea receded
) until the shipping was left stranded
while as far to seward as our vi
SION WOulQ TcdCli, we SdW Iao ioShS
. bottom of the sea. never before ex-
l posed t % human gaze, with strug-
) Cling fish and monsters OF h deep
left high and dry. The round-bot-
toned ships keeled over on their
!. beam ends, while the 'Wateree'
! rested easily on her fioor-like bot
, tom; and when the returning sea.
not like a wave, but rather like an
enormous tide, came sweeping back.
rolling our unfortunate companion
ships over and over, leaving some
bottom up and others masses of
wreckage. the 'Wateree' rose easily
n over the tossing waters unframed.
:. From this moment the sea
seemed to defy the laws of nature.
Currents ran in contrary directions,
= and we were borne here and there
with a speed w could not have
equa1ed had we been steaming for
r our lives. At irregular intervals
the earthquake shocks REQUIRED,
but none Of them so violent or long
continued as the first.
Sea-bottom Laid Bare for Miles
about $3.50 p. m. the lookout
hailed the deck and reported a
breaker approaching. Looking sea
ward, we saw, first, a thin line of
!, phosphorescent light, which doomed
higher and higher until it seemed to
touch the sky; its crest. crowned
with the death light of phosphores-
l cent glow, showing the sullen mass
es Of water below. Heralded by the