Evening star., 1927-04-23
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

every year is equivalent to 1 mile
square by PAL feet deep. In 80 years
it would bury the whole District OF
Columbia, with the National Capital,
like an American Pompeii, as deep as
the Washington Monument Is high. IL
has created many States. for in the
| 25 or so millions of years since the
| ice age that load of sediment mas
been freighted annually from northern
| Mississippi Valley, until 1T has punt
| the delta southwark from cairo 10
| far below New Orleans, and the new
''made ground" now is called Western
Kentucky, Tennessee, all of Missis.
sippi, half of Missouri, Kansas, Indian
| Territory and Texas, and all of Louis
| lana. 1t Is all made ground made
| by the Father of Waters, the great
American Vulcan.
That engineering feat WIFI go on
until the delta fills the present Cur
of Mexico with the persistent deposits,
unless some earthquake upheaval
overturns the slope. The Arctic was
once tropical. All things are possible
in geology. The world is ever reshap-
ing. Geologic ages are 'as yester-
day" to the Creator.
When the current of the river Is
swift, it carries heavier loads of sand
and gravel. When the iver pours its
load out into the Gulf, the great vol
ume of still ocean halts the current
and eompels it to disgorge its cargo.
1t drops the sediment and adds II to
the reshaping continent at the delta.
v \ X X sac
Now, with the great shifting Of the
course Of rivers, due to the ice cap, 70
or so millions of years ago, and~this
freighting of cubic miles Of soil from
north to south. the form of the earth
is materially changed.
What is the result? Suppose It, be
Illustrated with two rafts of lumber
afioat and from one raft board
is taken--a thousand boards are
taken--and deposited on the other
raft. One raft then becomes Lighter
and rises higher out of the water,
while the other sinks lower with its
Increased load. The same happens to
the surface of the world. The lower
Mississippi Valley, receiving this added
burden year after year, sinks with
the load, while the upper river rises
not perceptibly in one year or decade
or century, but in the millions of
years. For the science of isostasy
teaches that the world substance, by
gravitation. Is in equilibrium unless
it is moving. When one section re
ceives added weight. it sinks and
pushes up some corresponding sec
ton. When the ocean bottom receives
added burden, mountains rise to bal
ance until equilibrium is restored
Even eroding mountains give way:
new mountains rise. The solid" earth
Is plastic-not nfiexible-however stiff
may seem the rocky stratum; IL
flows so or 20 miles underground
In such movement something must
give way; the stratum resists it's bur
den until 1t reaches the breaking point,
but ultimately it must snap. That
makes earthquakes-the constant stir.
ring of the plastic world-S,00O earth
quakes a year.
One of the 20 greatest earthquakes
known in history centered at New
Madrid, Mo-, situated ON the bank of
the Mississippi River, opposite the end
OF the Kentucky-Tenness boundary
where the Mississippi delta once
was before the ice age.
1t occurred in 1911, on December is.
The delta had moved on, millions of
years before, and then the strata at
last snapped with a tremendous rock
ing OF the whole continent, and with
rolling earth waves, like the long, low
swell of the sea. Forests tilted until
trees interlocked. and thousands of
trees went noatlng down the river.
Great assures, miles in length, opened.
some forming lakes which still exist.
Terrific shocks were repeated. January
% and February z, 1912, with slighter
shocks continuous for more than
year. The quakes were felt in Bos-
ton, Washington and Charleston, and
from Canada to Texas and Louisiana.
Comparatively few people lived in the
region where 1t centered, else the ia
talities would have been terrible. Later
Investigations by geologists discovered
assures 900 feet deep, now filled with
sand.
When another break in the Alissis-
sippi Valley may occur, no geologist
viii predict; the remaking of the con-
tinent grinds on. Creation is never
finished.
lcopxrlFht 1897. b. Psnl Y. colinS.I