Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-05-29


NQUISITIVE man has conquered the sea
and the air. but, strangely enough, the
earth upon which he has trod for ages
still remains mystery to him. Man. in
an aluminium ball, has assembled into the
stratosphe~e 10 miles above this whirling
globe: man in pressure-resisting suits has de-
scended through the Surging deep to the oceans
floor: but into the earth itself man has worked
his puny way scarcely more than mile. What
little he knows about the interior of the globe
has been pieced together from rock fragments
which have worked to the surface from depth
of not more than 40 miles OF the structure and
materials comprising the remainder of the 1000
miles to the earthS he knows only what
can be con iectured from the action of earth
quake waves.
What lies under this outer shell upon which
he treads so unconcernedly? Abysmal pockets
of roaring fires and explosive gases? Pools OF
white hot metals that flow like water? Pres
Sures of inconceivable strength and gravita-
tonal forces that could squeeze and rend this
globe into a million shapeless meteors hurtlng
the painless realms of outer space? Whence
comes the heat which makes boiling liquid of
solid rock and spoutS it the face Of the
globe from volcanic fountains? What giant
thing is at work grinding, tearing heavng,
swallowing the very crust upon which we walk?
What Gargantuan octopus is secretly sucking
down the seas of earth?
TO answer these questions and scores of others
which have puzzled investigators for CEN
turtles Harvard University is undertaking a
five-year study to cost 500 900, which will
embrace the major mysteries of geology. The
university is to raise half of the sum required
other $4,000. The money for the first years
work already has been secured and the investi-
cation is now in progress under the direction
OF such noted scientists as r. A. DAILY geologst
P. w. Bridgman, physicist L. c. Grafton, engi-
neer; Harlow Shapley, astronomer, and D. H.
Mclaughlin geologiSt.
The study of earthquake waves SO far has
offered the best means of painting a plausible
picture of the earth's interior. The quakes
cause three kinds Of wave motions in the earth
which travel at different speeds. BY careful
measurements the seismologist learns from
these waves the location of the quake. it's
intensity and what conditions they encoun-
tered on the journey from the earthquake CEN
ter to the needle of the seismograph. Charting
of the earthquake waves which pass through
the depths of the globe indicates that they
change in speed and direction before emery
ing to the surface. This change in velocity
and course Is laid to the difference in density
and other attributes of materials under enor-
nous pressures at the earth's core
If these Conditions are reproduced for
scientific invest cation and analysis the results
can be combined with those already obtained
through seismoogy and the true story Of the
earth's secret will be secured at last.
without exact physical data" says the
Harvard announcement, deductions from the
records now obtained at numerous stations in
many parts of the world are hardly more than
shrewd guesses, without the precision necessary
for acceptance and confident use in the science
The key to the message from the earth's
interior is to be gained from more exact
knowledge of the physical properties of the
rocks, and to obtain it experiments are already
in progress.
The mechanics of fracture of rocks and
minerals under various stress conditions and
at temperatures comparable to conditions at
depth in the earth, the exact nature of rock
flow under enormous pressures that prevail
when portions OF the crust are folded the in
f1uence of stress on physio-chemical systems
comparable with those afforded by aggregates
Of common rock minerals only few of the
problems of utmost geological significance that
are dependent upon high pressure studies
Geophysics is essentially field intermediate
between geology and the physical science. To
an increasing degree progress in geology
corning the physical and chemical conditions
that govern changes in the earth With the
new concepts of modern science brought
effectively to bear on the earth's problems, It
is believed that geology may reap a harveS,
comparable in value to that gained by
astronomy through coordination of sciences
in astrophysical research
Artificial vibrations comparable to earth
quake waves sent into the earth and reflected
or refracted from the rocks bring back in