Evening star., 1947-08-21
Rome Seismographs
Recording 0uakes in
|Unstudied Regions

Unstudied Regions
(The author of this article is
the 27-yedr -old geophysicist In
charge of seismological recordings
on the Rome Antarctic erpedi-
tion.)
By Andrew Thompson
North American Newspaper Alliance
RONNE EXPEDITION BASE
MARGUERITE BAY, Antarctic
Aug. Is Delayed .-Ihis expedition
has been making successful obser-
vations of earthquakes and the al
lied phenomenon called microseisms
We have gathered an Unexpectedly
large number of valuable records in
view of the limited seismologlcal
equipment available.
Earthquakes are believed to be
the breaking of the earth's crust
under great stress, and their re-
cordings give us one Of our few
means of studying the earths in
terror.
EARTHQUAKES are found In belts OF
weakness in the earth's crust, such
as mountain ranges and deep ocean
troughs. The great seismic regions
of the earth are mainly in two
great belts, one surrounding the
Pacific and the other running
through the East Indies, Himalayas
Alps and the West Indies.
Observations Pushed.
Recording with modern sensitive
instruments have been made only
since about 1915, hence such belts
are not fully defined and even now
many areas are beyond range OF
existing instruments. Though about
80 per cent of the earthquake energy
of the earth is released In the Pa
cific belt, knowledge of this area Is
lacking from Chile to New Zealand
We now are making observations
on this unknown zone.
The area is a continuous belt OF
mountains. 1t is believed the An
dean structure extends south
through Antartica's Palmer PENN
sula, and our geologist, DR.. Robert
Nichols, will try to trace 1t and
find If it connects the Edsel Ford
range and Rockefeller Plateau. The
latter Is near a great fault zone
containing the only active Antarctic
volcano.
We have picked up several weak
quakes so to 80 miles away, possibly
in the sound between Alexander
Land and Palmer Peninsula, which
is probably a faulted area. We re-
corded a large quake on July 23
which was picked up in the United
States. Our estimate Of its location
confirmed by the Jesuit Seismologi-
cal Association and the Coast and
Geodetic Survey, was In the Sand.
wich Islands. This is in the pos
sible trend of the Andean structure
Most of the distant quakes recorded
here lie in the belt from New zea.
land to Japan.
Microseisms Studied.
Our study of microseism is in.
teresting. These are ever-present
tiny vibrations in the earth. Ths
Navy has correlated microseisms
with tropical storms and, by use o1
seismographs, has tracked many
Atlantic and Caribbean hurricanes
Although we have limited instru.
ments for this work, we have found
good correlation between bad wealth.
er periods and microseismic records
on our seismograph. So far all wind!
over 80 miles per hour have cor.
responded with strong microseisms
and we hope to use these indication.
for general weather analysis tne
forecasting.
An interesting sidelight on oul
chronological work is the recording
of local disturbances, probably due
to ice falls or ice slides. These
should increase in summer. So fal
we have correlated loud sounds ol
falling ice with disturbances re.
corded on our seismograph and with
tidal waves recorded by our tide
gage.
It is evident that a vast field o1
important scientific investigation
lies at hand.