Evening star., 1935-03-28

Some of the steps of earth's creation
are being duplicated at the Geophys-
ical Laboratory of the Carnegie In
stitution of Washington.
BY reproducing temperatures and
pressures comparable to those which
obtained in nature while the primary
rocks were in process of formation, II
has been possible TO produce some OF
them synthetically.
The process was described by DR.
Norman l.. Bowen of the laboratory
staff the other night. He has been
engaged upon this problem for many
years. 1t concerns especially the
origins of the so-called igneous rocks
the primary material of the planet
Once the globe, DR.. Bowen explains
was a molten, liquid mass. Slowly il
cooled and solidif1ed. 1t emerged from
the cooling period a ball of barren
stone. From this everything else has
been derived The "igneous rocks
resulting from the cooling, and from
the subsequent cooling of molten lava
LA oOilC PldScop uIluCl WSHI dllUuS
metamorphoses. They were cut down
by water and wind and sedimentation
set in. The sediment upset balances,
was subjected to enormous pressures
and became the sedimentary, or Sec
ondary, rock within which is preserved
the fossil record of the past. Further
more, In the terrific stresses and
strains which the planets surface has
undergone through the ages both
igneous and sedimentary rocks have
been subjected to heats and pressures
which completely changed their ma
ture, resulting in still q third type
metamorphic rocks.
Said DR.. Bowen: when igneous
rocks. deep-Seated or volcanic, are ex-
amined In detail they are found to
exhibit a great diversity of physical,
chemical and mineralogical charac-
ters. They have been classified into
hundreds of different types as a result
Of detailed study Of their chemical
and physical characters. The origin
Of this diversity is the fundamental
problem. It is possible, of course, to
assume that different rock types have
come into being through special acts
of creation or that they have always
existed as distinct entities since the
beginning Of time. But pathological
studies show that different rock types
found in association with each other
show certain mineral characters in
common that point to family rela-
tionShip and distinguish them from
other associations that show other pc
culiarities.
THE neutral conclusion is that the
individual members of any one group
have come from a common source,
and that source is believed to be the
common parental magma. From it
they have been derived through the
operation of several physical and
physico-chemical processes"
Down in the depths Of the sea
there is an unearthly blue light. But
one is conscious only Of the strange
light itself. Nothing can be seen
with 1t. william Beebe. the natural
iSt. reports this light as far down as
1000 feet in accounts of his deep-sea
explorations. At 1000 feet there is
no sensation of light at all. One Is
in perpetual darkness.
What is the nature of this transi-
tion zone from ever-weakening light,
with which one can see more and
more dimly, and the vivid light Of the
transition zone to utter darkness
which does not enable one to see any
thing? DR.. E. o. Hulburt OF the
Naval Research Laboratory here offers
an explanation of the phenomena in
this weeks Science.
First, be points out. with increasing
depth the water cuts out band after
band of the visible spectrum. The
last to 60 Is the violet, after which