Principles of Geology Part 28

The northeastern portion of Africa, including Egypt, which lies six or seven degrees south of the volcanic line already traced, has been almost always exempt from earthquakes; but the northwestern portion, especially Fez and Morocco, which fall within the line, suffer greatly from time to time. The southern part of Spain also, and Portugal, have generally been exposed to the same scourge simultaneously with Northern Africa. The provinces of Malaga, Murcia, and Granada, and in Portugal the country round Lisbon, are recorded at several periods to have been devastated by great earthquakes. It will be seen, from Mich.e.l.l's account of the great Lisbon shock, in 1755, that the first movement proceeded from the bed of the ocean ten or fifteen leagues from the coast. So late as February 2, 1816, when Lisbon was vehemently shaken, two ships felt a shock in the ocean west from Lisbon; one of them at the distance of 120, and the other 262 French leagues from the coast[489]--a fact which is more interesting, because a line drawn through the Grecian Archipelago, the volcanic region of Southern Italy, Sicily, Southern Spain, and Portugal, will, if prolonged westward through the ocean, strike the volcanic group of the Azores, which may possibly therefore have a submarine connection with the European line.

In regard to the volcanic system of Southern Europe, it may be observed, that there is a central tract where the greatest earthquakes prevail, in which rocks are shattered, mountains rent, the surface elevated or depressed, and cities laid in ruins. On each side of this line of greatest commotion there are parallel bands of country where the shocks are less violent. At a still greater distance (as in Northern Italy, for example, extending to the foot of the Alps), there are s.p.a.ces where the shocks are much rarer and more feeble, yet possibly of sufficient force to cause, by continued repet.i.tion, some appreciable alteration in the external form of the earth's crust. Beyond these limits, again, all countries are liable to slight tremors, at distant intervals of time, when some great crisis of subterranean movement agitates an adjoining volcanic region; but these may be considered as mere vibrations, propagated mechanically through the external covering of the globe, as sounds travel almost to indefinite distances through the air. Shocks of this kind have been felt in England, Scotland, Northern France, and Germany--particularly during the Lisbon earthquake. But these countries cannot, on this account, be supposed to const.i.tute parts of the southern volcanic region, any more than the Shetland and Orkney islands can be considered as belonging to the Icelandic circle, because the sands ejected from Hecla have been wafted thither by the winds.

Besides the continuous s.p.a.ces of subterranean disturbance, of which we have merely sketched the outline, there are other disconnected volcanic groups, of which several will be mentioned hereafter.

_Lines of active and extinct Volcanoes not to be confounded._--We must always be careful to distinguish between lines of extinct and active volcanoes, even where they appear to run in the same direction; for ancient and modern systems may interfere with each other. Already, indeed, we have proof that this is the case; so that it is not by geographical position, but by reference to the species of organic beings alone, whether aquatic or terrestrial, whose remains occur in beds interstratified with lavas, that we can clearly distinguish the relative age of volcanoes of which no eruptions are recorded. Had Southern Italy been known to civilized nations for as short a period as America, we should have had no record of eruptions in Ischia; yet we might have a.s.sured ourselves that the lavas of that isle had flowed since the Mediterranean was inhabited by the species of testacea now living in the Neapolitan seas. With this a.s.surance, it would not have been rash to include the numerous vents of that island in the modern volcanic group of Campania.

On similar grounds we may infer, without much hesitation, that the eruptions of Etna, and the modern earthquakes of Calabria, are a continuation of that action which, at a somewhat earlier period, produced the submarine lavas of the Val di Noto in Sicily. But on the other hand, the lavas of the Euganean hills and the Vicentin, although not wholly beyond the range of earthquakes in Northern Italy, must not be confounded with any existing volcanic system; for when they flowed, the seas were inhabited by animals almost all of them distinct from those now known to live, whether in the Mediterranean or other parts of the globe.

CHAPTER XXIII.

VOLCANIC DISTRICT OF NAPLES.

History of the volcanic eruptions in the district round Naples--Early convulsions in the island of Ischia--Numerous cones thrown up there--Lake Avernus--The Solfatara--Renewal of the eruptions of Vesuvius, A.D. 79--Pliny's description of the phenomena--His silence respecting the destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii--Subsequent history of Vesuvius--Lava discharged in Ischia in 1302--Pause in the eruptions of Vesuvius--Monte Nuovo thrown up--Uniformity of the volcanic operations of Vesuvius and Phlegraean Fields in ancient and modern times.

I shall next give a sketch of the history of some of the volcanic vents dispersed throughout the great regions before described, and consider the composition and arrangement of their lavas and ejected matter. The only volcanic region known to the ancients was that of the Mediterranean; and even of this they have transmitted to us very imperfect records relating to the eruptions of the three princ.i.p.al districts, namely, that round Naples, that of Sicily and its isles, and that of the Grecian Archipelago. By far the most connected series of records throughout a long period relates to the first of these provinces; and these cannot be too attentively considered, as much historical information is indispensable in order to enable us to obtain a clear view of the connection and alternate mode of action of the different vents in a single volcanic group.

_Early convulsions in the Island of Ischia._---The Neapolitan volcanoes extend from Vesuvius, through the Phlegraean Fields, to Procida and Ischia, in a somewhat linear arrangement, ranging from the northeast to the southwest, as will be seen in the annexed map of the volcanic district of Naples (fig. 40). Within the s.p.a.ce above limited, the volcanic force is sometimes developed in single eruptions from a considerable number of irregularly scattered points; but a great part of its action has been confined to one princ.i.p.al and habitual vent, Vesuvius or Somma. Before the Christian era, from the remotest periods of which we have any tradition, this princ.i.p.al vent was in a state of inactivity. But terrific convulsions then took place from time to time in Ischia (Pithecusa), and seem to have extended to the neighboring isle of Procida (Prochyta); for Strabo[490] mentions a story of Procida having been torn asunder from Ischia; and Pliny[491] derives its name from its having been poured forth by an eruption from Ischia.

The present circ.u.mference of Ischia along the water's edge is eighteen miles, its length from west to east about five, and its breadth from north to south three miles. Several Greek colonies which settled there before the Christian era were compelled to abandon it in consequence of the violence of the eruptions. First the Erythraeans, and afterwards the Chalcidians, are mentioned as having been driven out by earthquakes and igneous exhalations. A colony was afterwards established by Hiero, king of Syracuse, about 380 years before the Christian era; but when they had built a fortress, they were compelled by an eruption to fly, and never again returned. Strabo tells us that Timaeus recorded a tradition, that, a little before his time, Epomeus, the princ.i.p.al mountain in the centre of the island, vomited fire during great earthquakes; that the land between it and the coast had ejected much fiery matter, which flowed into the sea, and that the sea receded for the distance of three stadia, and then returning, overflowed the island. This eruption is supposed by some to have been that which formed the crater of Monte Corvo on one of the higher flanks of Epomeo, above Foria, the lava-current of which may still be traced, by aid of the scoriae on its surface, from the crater to the sea.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 40.

VOLCANIC DISTRICT OF NAPLES.

A. Astroni. B. Monte Barbaro. M. Monte Nuovo. S. The Solfatara.]

To one of the subsequent eruptions in the lower parts of the isle, which caused the expulsion of the first Greek colony, Monte Rotaro has been attributed, and it bears every mark of recent origin. The cone, which I examined in 1828, is remarkably perfect, and has a crater on its summit precisely resembling that of Monte Nuovo near Naples; but the hill is larger, and resembles some of the more considerable cones of single eruption near Clermont in Auvergne, and, like some of them, it has given vent to a lava-stream at its base, instead of its summit. A small ravine swept out by a torrent exposes the structure of the cone, which is composed of innumerable inclined and slightly undulating layers of pumice, scoriae, white lapilli, and enormous angular blocks of trachyte.

These last have evidently been thrown out by violent explosions, like those which in 1822 launched from Vesuvius a ma.s.s of augitic lava, of many tons' weight, to the distance of three miles, which fell in the garden of Prince Ottajano. The cone of Rotaro is covered with the arbutus, and other beautiful evergreens. Such is the strength of the virgin soil, that the shrubs have become almost arborescent; and the growth of some of the smaller wild plants has been so vigorous, that botanists have scarcely been able to recognize the species.

The eruption which dislodged the Syracusan colony is supposed to have given rise to that mighty current which forms the promontory of Zaro and Caruso. The surface of these lavas is still very arid and bristling, and is covered with black scoriae; so that it is not without great labor that human industry has redeemed some small spots, and converted them into vineyards. Upon the produce of these vineyards the population of the island is almost entirely supported. It amounted when I was there, in 1828, to about twenty-five thousand, and was on the increase.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig 41.

Part of Ischia seen from the West.

_a._ Monte Epomeo or San Niccola.

_b._ Monte Vico.

_c._ Another of the minor cones with a crater.[492]]

From the date of the great eruption last alluded to, down to our own time, Ischia has enjoyed tranquillity, with the exception of one emission of lava hereafter to be described, which, although it occasioned much local damage, does not appear to have devastated the whole country, in the manner of more ancient explosions. There are, upon the whole, on different parts of Epomeo, or scattered through the lower tracts of Ischia, twelve considerable volcanic cones which have been thrown up since the island was raised above the surface of the deep; and many streams of lava may have flowed, like that of "Arso" in 1302, without cones having been produced; so that this island may, for ages before the period of the remotest traditions, have served as a safety-valve to the whole Terra di Lavoro, while the fires of Vesuvius were dormant.

_Lake Avernus._--It seems also clear that Avernus, a circular lake near Puzzuoli, about half a mile in diameter, which is now a salubrious and cheerful spot, once exhaled mephitic vapors, such as are often emitted by craters after eruptions. There is no reason for discrediting the account of Lucretius, that birds could not fly over it without being stifled, although they may now frequent it uninjured.[493] There must have been a time when this crater was in action; and for many centuries afterwards it may have deserved the appellation of "atri jauna Ditis,"

emitting, perhaps, gases as destructive of animal life as those suffocating vapors given out by Lake Quilotoa, in Quito, in 1797, by which whole herds of cattle on its sh.o.r.es were killed,[494] or as those deleterious emanations which annihilated all the cattle in the island of Lancerote, one of the Canaries, in 1730.[495] Bory St. Vincent mentions, that in the same isle birds fell lifeless to the ground; and Sir William Hamilton informs us that he picked up dead birds on Vesuvius during an eruption.

_Solfatara._--The Solfatara, near Puzzuoli, which may be considered as a nearly extinguished crater, appears, by the accounts of Strabo and others, to have been before the Christian era in very much the same state as at present, giving vent continually to aqueous vapor, together with sulphureous and muriatic acid gases, like those evolved by Vesuvius.

_Ancient history of Vesuvius._--Such, then, were the points where the subterranean fires obtained vent, from the earliest period to which tradition reaches back, down to the first century of the Christian era; but we then arrive at a crisis in the volcanic action of this district--one of the most interesting events witnessed by man during the brief period throughout which he has observed the physical changes on the earth's surface. From the first colonization of Southern Italy by the Greeks, Vesuvius afforded no other indications of its volcanic character than such as the naturalist might infer, from the a.n.a.logy of its structure to other volcanoes. These were recognized by Strabo, but Pliny did not include the mountain in his list of active vents. The ancient cone was of a very regular form, terminating not as at present in two peaks, but with a summit which presented, when seen from a distance, the even outline of an abruptly truncated cone. On the summit, as we learn from Plutarch, there was a crater with steep cliffs, and having its interior overgrown with wild vines, and with a sterile plain at the bottom. On the exterior, the flanks of the mountain were clothed with fertile fields richly cultivated, and at its base were the populous cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. But the scene of repose was at length doomed to cease, and the volcanic fire was recalled to the main channel, which at some former unknown period had given pa.s.sage to repeated streams of melted lava, sand, and scoriae.

_Renewal of its eruptions._--The first symptom of the revival of the energies of this volcano was the occurrence of an earthquake in the year 63 after Christ, which did considerable injury to the cities in its vicinity. From that time to the year 79 slight shocks were frequent; and in the month of August of that year they became more numerous and violent, till they ended at length in an eruption. The elder Pliny, who commanded the Roman fleet, was then stationed at Misenum; and in his anxiety to obtain a near view of the phenomena, he lost his life, being suffocated by sulphureous vapors. His nephew, the younger Pliny, remained at Misenum, and has given us, in his Letters, a lively description of the awful scene. A dense column of vapor was first seen rising vertically from Vesuvius, and then spreading itself out laterally, so that its upper portion resembled the head, and its lower the trunk of the pine, which characterizes the Italian landscape. This black cloud was pierced occasionally by flashes of fire, as vivid as lightning, succeeded by darkness more profound than night. Ashes fell even upon the ships at Misenum, and caused a shoal in one part of the sea--the ground rocked, and the sea receded from the sh.o.r.es, so that many marine animals were seen on the dry sand. The appearances above described agree perfectly with those witnessed in more recent eruptions, especially those of Monte Nuovo, in 1538, and of Vesuvius in 1822.

The younger Pliny, although giving a circ.u.mstantial detail of so many physical facts, and describing the eruption and earthquake, and the shower of ashes which fell at Stabiae, makes no allusion to the sudden overwhelming of two large and populous cities, Herculaneum and Pompeii.

In explanation of this omission, it has been suggested that his chief object was simply to give Tacitus a full account of the particulars of his uncle's death. It is worthy, however, of remark, that had the buried cities never been discovered, the accounts transmitted to us of their tragical end might well have been discredited by the majority, so vague and general are the narratives, or so long subsequent to the event.

Tacitus, the friend and contemporary of Pliny, when adverting in general terms to the convulsions, says merely that "cities were consumed or buried."[496]

Suetonius, although he alludes to the eruption incidentally, is silent as to the cities. They are mentioned by Martial, in an epigram, as immersed in cinders; but the first historian who alludes to them by name is Dion Ca.s.sius,[497] who flourished about a century and a half after Pliny. He appears to have derived his information from the traditions of the inhabitants, and to have recorded, without discrimination, all the facts and fables which he could collect. He tells us, "that during the eruption a mult.i.tude of men of superhuman stature, resembling giants, appeared, sometimes on the mountain, and sometimes in the environs--that stones and smoke were thrown out, the sun was hidden, and then the giants seemed to rise again, while the sounds of trumpets were heard, &c., &c.; and finally," he relates, "two entire cities, Herculaneum and Pompeii, were buried under showers of ashes, while all the people were sitting in the theatre." That many of these circ.u.mstances were invented, would have been obvious, even without the aid of Pliny's letters; and the examination of Herculaneum and Pompeii enables us to prove, that none of the people were destroyed in the theatres, and indeed that there were very few of the inhabitants who did not escape from both cities.

Yet some lives were lost, and there was ample foundation for the tale in its most essential particulars.

It does not appear that in the year 79 any lava flowed from Vesuvius; the ejected substances, perhaps, consisted entirely of lapilli, sand, and fragments of older lava, as when Monte Nuovo was thrown up in 1538.

The first era at which we have authentic accounts of the flowing of a stream of lava, is the year 1036, which is the seventh eruption from the revival of the fires of the volcano. A few years afterwards, in 1049, another eruption is mentioned, and another in 1138 (or 1139), after which a great pause ensued of 168 years. During this long interval of repose, two minor vents opened at distant points. First, it is on tradition that an eruption took place from the Solfatara, in the year 1198, during the reign of Frederick II., Emperor of Germany; and although no circ.u.mstantial detail of the event has reached us from those dark ages, we may receive the fact without hesitation.[498] Nothing more, however, can be attributed to this eruption, as Mr. Scrope observes, than the discharge of a light and scoriform trachytic lava, of recent aspect, resting upon the strata of loose tuff which covers the princ.i.p.al ma.s.s of trachyte.[499]

_Volcanic eruption in Ischia_, 1302.--The other occurrence is well authenticated--the eruption, in the year 1302, of a lava-stream from a new vent on the southeast end of the Island of Ischia. During part of 1301, earthquakes had succeeded one another with fearful rapidity; and they terminated at last with the discharge of a lava-stream from a point named the Campo del Arso, not far from the town of Ischia. This lava ran quite down to the sea--a distance of about two miles; in color it varies from iron-gray to reddish black, and is remarkable for the gla.s.sy felspar which it contains. Its surface is almost as sterile, after a period of five centuries, as if it had cooled down yesterday. A few scantlings of wild thyme, and two or three other dwarfish plants, alone appear in the interstices of the scoriae, while the Vesuvian lava of 1767 is already covered with a luxuriant vegetation. Ponta.n.u.s, whose country-house was burnt and overwhelmed, describes the dreadful scene as having lasted two months.[500] Many houses were swallowed up, and a partial emigration of the inhabitants followed. This eruption produced no cone, but only a slight depression, hardly deserving the name of a crater, where heaps of black and red scoriae lie scattered around. Until this eruption, Ischia is generally believed to have enjoyed an interval of rest for about seventeen centuries; but Julius Obsequens,[501] who flourished A. D. 214, refers to some volcanic convulsions in the year 662 after the building of Rome (91 B. C.) As Pliny, who lived a century before Obsequens, does not enumerate this among other volcanic eruptions, the statement of the latter author is supposed to have been erroneous; but it would be more consistent, for reasons before stated, to disregard the silence of Pliny, and to conclude, that some kind of subterranean commotion, probably of no great violence, happened at the period alluded to.

_History of Vesuvius after_ 1138.--To return to Vesuvius:--the next eruption occurred in 1306; between which era and 1631 there was only one other (in 1500), and that a slight one. It has been remarked, that throughout this period Etna was in a state of such unusual activity, as to lend countenance to the idea that the great Sicilian volcano may sometimes serve as a channel of discharge to elastic fluids and lava that would otherwise rise to the vents in Campania.

_Formation of Monte Nuovo_, 1538.--The great pause was also marked by a memorable event in the Phlegraean Fields--the sudden formation of a new mountain in 1538, of which we have received authentic accounts from contemporary writers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 42.

Monte Nuovo, formed in the Bay of Baiae, Sept. 29th, 1538.

1. Cone of Monte Nuovo.

2. Brim of crater of ditto.

3. Thermal spring, called Baths of Nero, or Stufe di Tritoli.

The height of this mountain, called ever since Monte Nuovo, has been determined by the Italian mineralogist Pini, to be 440 English feet above the level of the bay; its base is about eight thousand feet, or more than a mile and a half in circ.u.mference. According to Pini, the depth of the crater is 421 English feet from the summit of the hill, so that its bottom is only nineteen feet above the level of the sea. The cone is declared, by the best authorities, to stand partly on the site of the Lucrine Lake (4, fig. 43),[502] which was nothing more than the crater of a pre-existent volcano, and was almost entirely filled during the explosion of 1538. Nothing now remains but a shallow pool, separated from the sea by an elevated beach, raised artificially.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 43.

The Phlegraean Fields.

1. Monte Nuovo.

2. Monte Barbaro.

3. Lake Avernus.

4. Lucrine Lake.

5. The Solfatara.