Principles of Geology Part 40

A small circular pond of similar character was formed not far from Polistena (see fig. 83); and in the vicinity of Seminara, a lake was suddenly caused by the opening of a great chasm, from the bottom of which water issued. This lake was called Lago del Tolfilo. It extended 1785 feet in length, by 937 in breadth, and 52 in depth. The inhabitants, dreading the miasma of this stagnant pool, endeavored, at great cost, to drain it by ca.n.a.ls, but without success, as it was fed by springs issuing from the bottom of the deep chasm.

Vivenzio states, that near Sitizzano a valley was nearly filled up to a level with the high grounds on each side, by the enormous ma.s.ses detached from the boundary hills, and cast down into the course of two streams. By this barrier a lake was formed of great depth, about two miles long and a mile broad. The same author mentions that, upon the whole, there were fifty lakes occasioned during the convulsions: and he a.s.signs localities to all of these. The government surveyors enumerated 215 lakes; but they included in this number many small ponds.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 83.

Circular pond near Polistena, in Calabria, caused by the earthquake in 1783.]

_Cones of sand thrown up._--Many of the appearances exhibited in the alluvial plains, such as springs spouting up their water like fountains at the moment of the shock, have been supposed to indicate the alternate rising and sinking of the ground. The first effect of the more violent shocks was usually to dry up the rivers, but they immediately afterwards overflowed their banks. In marshy places, an immense number of cones of sand were thrown up. These appearances Hamilton explains, by supposing that the first movement raised the fissured plain from below upwards, so that the rivers and stagnant waters in bogs sank down, or at least were not upraised with the soil. But when the ground returned with violence to its former position, the water was thrown up in jets through fissures.[671]

The phenomenon, according to Mr. Mallet, may be simply an accident contingent on the princ.i.p.al cause of disturbance, the rapid transit of the earth-wave. "The sources," he says, "of copious springs usually lie in flat plates or fissures filled with water, whether issuing from solid rock, or from loose materials; now, if a vein, or thin flat cavity filled with water, be in such a position that the plane of the plate of water or fissure be transverse to the line of transit of the earth-wave, the effect of the arrival of the earth-wave at the watery fissure will be, at the instant, to compress its walls more or less together, and so squeeze out the water, which will, for a moment, gush up at the spring-head like a fountain, and again remain in repose after the transit of the wave."

_Gradual closing in of fissures._--Sir W. Hamilton was shown several deep fissures in the vicinity of Mileto, which, although not one of them was above a foot in breadth, had opened so wide during the earthquake as to swallow an ox and nearly one hundred goats. The Academicians also found, on their return through districts which they had pa.s.sed at the commencement of their tour, that many rents had, in that short interval, gradually closed in, so that their width had diminished several feet, and the opposite walls had sometimes nearly met. It is natural that this should happen in argillaceous strata, while, in more solid rocks, we may expect that fissures will remain open for ages. Should this be ascertained to be a general fact in countries convulsed by earthquakes, it may afford a satisfactory explanation of a common phenomenon in mineral veins. Such veins often retain their full size so long as the rocks consist of limestone, granite, or other indurated materials; but they contract their dimensions, become mere threads, or are even entirely cut off, where ma.s.ses of an argillaceous nature are interposed. If we suppose the filling up of fissures with metallic and other ingredients to be a process requiring ages for its completion, it is obvious that the opposite walls of rents, where strata consist of yielding materials, must collapse or approach very near to each other before sufficient time is allowed for the accretion of a large quant.i.ty of veinstone.

_Thermal waters augmented._--It is stated by Grimaldi, that the thermal waters of St. Eufemia, in Terra di Amato, which first burst out during the earthquake of 1638, acquired, in February, 1783, an augmentation both in quant.i.ty and degree of heat. This fact appears to indicate a connection between the heat of the interior and the fissures caused by the Calabrian earthquakes, notwithstanding the absence of volcanic rocks, either ancient or modern, in that district.

_Bounding of detached ma.s.ses into the air._--The violence of the movement of the ground upwards was singularly ill.u.s.trated by what the Academicians call the "sbalzo," or bounding into the air, to the height of several yards, of ma.s.ses slightly adhering to the surface. In some towns a great part of the pavement stones were thrown up, and found lying with their lower sides uppermost. In these cases, we must suppose that they were propelled upwards by the momentum which they had acquired; and that the adhesion of one end of the ma.s.s being greater than that of the other, a rotatory motion had been communicated to them.

When the stone was projected to a sufficient height to perform somewhat more than a quarter of a revolution in the air, it pitched down on its edge, and fell with its lower side uppermost.

_Effects of earthquakes on the excavations of valleys._--The next cla.s.s of effects to be considered, are those more immediately connected with the formation of valleys, in which the action of water was often combined with that of the earthquake. The country agitated was composed, as before stated, chiefly of argillaceous strata, intersected by deep narrow valleys, sometimes from 500 to 600 feet deep. As the boundary cliffs were in great part vertical, it will readily be conceived that, amidst the various movements of the earth, the precipices overhanging rivers, being without support on one side, were often thrown down. We find, indeed, that inundations produced by obstructions in river-courses are among the most disastrous consequences of great earthquakes in all parts of the world, for the alluvial plains in the bottoms of valleys are usually the most fertile and well-peopled parts of the whole country; and whether the site of a town is above or below a temporary barrier in the channel of a river, it is exposed to injury by the waters either of a lake or flood.

_Landslips._--From each side of the deep valley or ravine of Terranuova enormous ma.s.ses of the adjoining flat country were detached, and cast down into the course of the river, so as to give rise to great lakes.

Oaks, olive-trees, vineyards, and corn, were often seen growing at the bottom of the ravine, as little injured as their former companions, which still continued to flourish in the plain above, at least 500 feet higher, and at the distance of about three-quarters of a mile. In one part of this ravine was an enormous ma.s.s, 200 feet high and about 400 feet at its base, which had been detached by some former earthquake. It is well attested, that this ma.s.s travelled down the ravine nearly four miles, having been put in motion by the earthquake of the 5th of February. Hamilton, after examining the spot, declared that this phenomenon might be accounted for by the declivity of the valley, the great abundance of rain which fell, and the great weight of the alluvial matter which pressed behind it. Dolomieu also alludes to the fresh impulse derived from other ma.s.ses falling, and pressing upon the rear of those first set in motion.

The first account sent to Naples of the two great slides or landslips above alluded to, which caused a great lake near Terranuova, was couched in these words:--"Two mountains on the opposite sides of a valley walked from their original position until they met in the middle of the plain, and there joining together, they intercepted the course of a river," &c.

The expressions here used resemble singularly those applied to phenomena, probably very a.n.a.logous, which are said to have occurred at Fez, during the great Lisbon earthquake, as also in Jamaica and Java at other periods.

Not far from Soriano, which was levelled to the ground by the great shock of February, a small valley, containing a beautiful olive-grove, called Fra Ramondo, underwent a most extraordinary revolution.

Innumerable fissures first traversed the river-plain in all directions, and absorbed the water until the argillaceous substratum became soaked, so that a great part of it was reduced to a state of fluid paste.

Strange alterations in the outline of the ground were the consequence, as the soil to a great depth was easily moulded into any form. In addition to this change, the ruins of the neighboring hills were precipitated into the hollow; and while many olives were uprooted, others remained growing on the fallen ma.s.ses, and inclined at various angles (see fig. 84). The small river Caridi was entirely concealed for many days; and when at length it reappeared, it had shaped for itself an entirely new channel.

_Buildings transported entire to great distances._--Near Seminara an extensive olive-ground and orchard were hurled to a distance of two hundred feet, into a valley sixty feet in depth. At the same time a deep chasm was riven in another part of the high platform from which the orchard had been detached, and the river immediately entered the fissure, leaving its former bed completely dry. A small inhabited house, standing on the ma.s.s of earth carried down into the valley, went along with it entire, and without injury to the inhabitants. The olive-trees, also, continued to grow on the land which had slid into the valley, and bore the same year an abundant crop of fruit.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 84.

Changes of the surface at Fra Ramondo, near Soriano, in Calabria.

1, Portion of a hill covered with olives thrown down.

2, New bed of the river Caridi. 3, Town of Soriano.

Two tracts of land on which a great part of the town of Polistena stood, consisting of some hundreds of houses, were detached into a contiguous ravine, and nearly across it, about half a mile from their original site; and what is most extraordinary, several of the inhabitants were dug out from the ruins alive and unhurt.

Two tenements, near Mileto, called the Macini and Vaticano, occupying an extent of ground about a mile long and half a mile broad, were carried for a mile down a valley. A thatched cottage, together with large olive and mulberry trees, most of which remained erect, were carried uninjured to this extraordinary distance. According to Hamilton, the surface removed had been long undermined by rivulets, which were afterwards in full view on the bare spot deserted by the tenements. The earthquake seems to have opened a pa.s.sage in the adjoining argillaceous hills, which admitted water charged with loose soil into the subterranean channels of the rivulets immediately under the tenements, so that the foundations of the ground set in motion by the earthquake were loosened.

Another example of subsidence, where the edifices were not destroyed, is mentioned by Grimaldi, as having taken place in the city of Catanzaro, the capital of the province of that name. The houses in the quarter called San Giuseppe subsided with the ground to various depths from two to four feet, but the buildings remained uninjured.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 85.

Landslips near Cinquefrondi, caused by the earthquake of 1783.]

It would be tedious, and our s.p.a.ce would not permit us, to follow the different authors through their local details of landslips produced in minor valleys; but they are highly interesting, as showing to how great an extent the power of rivers to widen valleys, and to carry away large portions of soil towards the sea, is increased where earthquakes are of periodical occurrence. Among other territories, that of Cinquefrondi, was greatly convulsed, various portions of soil being raised or sunk, and innumerable fissures traversing the country in all directions (see fig. 85). Along the flanks of a small valley in this district there appears to have been an almost uninterrupted line of landslips.

_Currents of mud._--Near S. Lucido, among other places, the soil is described as having been "dissolved," so that large torrents of mud inundated all the low grounds, like lava. Just emerging from this mud, the tops only of trees and of the ruins of farm-houses were seen. Two miles from Laureana, the swampy soil in two ravines became filled with calcareous matter, which oozed out from the ground immediately before the first great shock. This mud, rapidly acc.u.mulating, began, ere long, to roll onward, like a flood of lava, into the valley, where the two streams uniting, moved forward with increased impetus from east to west.

It now presented a breadth of 225 feet by 15 in depth, and, before it ceased to move, covered a surface equal in length to an Italian mile. In its progress it overwhelmed a flock of thirty goats, and tore up by the roots many olive and mulberry trees, which floated like ships upon its surface. When this calcareous lava had ceased to move, it gradually became dry and hard, during which process the ma.s.s was lowered seven feet and a half. It contained fragments of earth of a ferruginous color, and emitting a sulphureous smell.

_Fall of the sea-cliffs._--Along the sea-coast of the Straits of Messina, near the celebrated rock of Scilla, the fall of huge ma.s.ses detached from the bold and lofty cliffs overwhelmed many villas and gardens. At Gian Greco, a continuous line of cliff, for a mile in length, was thrown down. Great agitation was frequently observed in the bed of the sea during the shocks, and, on those parts of the coast where the movement was most violent, all kinds of fish were taken in abundance, and with unusual facility. Some rare species, as that called Cicirelli, which usually lie buried in the sand, were taken on the surface of the waters in great quant.i.ty. The sea is said to have boiled up near Messina, and to have been agitated as if by a copious discharge of vapors from its bottom.

_Sh.o.r.e near Scilla inundated._--The prince of Scilla had persuaded a great part of his va.s.sals to betake themselves to their fishing-boats for safety, and he himself had gone on board. On the night of the 5th of February, when some of the people were sleeping in the boats, and others on a level plain slightly elevated above the sea, the earth rocked, and suddenly a great ma.s.s was torn from the contiguous Mount Jaci, and thrown down with a dreadful crash upon the plain. Immediately afterwards, the sea, rising more than twenty feet above the level of this low tract, rolled foaming over it, and swept away the mult.i.tude. It then retreated, but soon rushed back again with greater violence, bringing with it some of the people and animals it had carried away. At the same time every boat was sunk or dashed against the beach, and some of them were swept far inland. The aged prince, with 1430 of his people, was destroyed.

_State of Stromboli and Etna during the shocks._--The inhabitants of Pizzo remarked that on the 5th of February, 1783, when the first great shock afflicted Calabria, the volcano of Stromboli, which is in full view of that town, and at the distance of about fifty miles, smoked less, and threw up a less quant.i.ty of inflamed matter than it had done for some years previously. On the other hand, the great crater of Etna is said to have given out a considerable quant.i.ty of vapor towards the beginning, and Stromboli towards the close, of the commotions. But as no eruption happened from either of these great vents during the whole earthquake, the sources of the Calabrian convulsions, and of the volcanic fires of Etna and Stromboli, appear to be very independent of each other; unless, indeed, they have the same mutual relation as Vesuvius and the volcanoes of the Phlegraean Fields and Ischia, a violent disturbance in one district serving as a safety-valve to the other, and both never being in full activity at once.

_Excavation of valleys._--It is impossible for the geologist to consider attentively the effect of this single earthquake of 1783, and to look forward to the alterations in the physical condition of the country to which a continued series of such movements will hereafter give rise, without perceiving that the formation of valleys by running water can never be understood, if we consider the question independently of the agency of earthquakes. It must not be imagined that rivers only begin to act when a country is already elevated far above the level of the sea, for their action must of necessity be most powerful while land is _rising_ and _sinking_ by successive movements. Whether Calabria is now undergoing any considerable change of relative level, in regard to the sea, or is, upon the whole, nearly stationary, is a question which our observations, confined almost entirely to the last half century, cannot possibly enable us to determine. But we know that strata, containing species of sh.e.l.ls identical with those now living in the contiguous parts of the Mediterranean, have been raised in that country, as they have in Sicily, to the height of several thousand feet.

Now, those geologists who grant that the present course of Nature in the inanimate world has continued the same since the existing species of animals were in being, will not feel surprised that the Calabrian streams and rivers have cut out of such comparatively modern strata a great system of valleys, varying in depth from fifty to six hundred feet, and often several miles wide, if they consider how numerous may have been the shocks which accompanied the uplifting of those recent marine strata to so prodigious a height. Some speculators, indeed, who disregard the a.n.a.logy of existing nature, and who are always ready to a.s.sume that her forces were more energetic in by-gone ages, may dispense with a long series of movements, and suppose that Calabria "rose like an exhalation" from the deep, after the manner of Milton's Pandemonium. But such an hypothesis would deprive them of that peculiar removing force required to form a regular system of deep and wide valleys; for _time_, which they are so unwilling to a.s.sume, is essential to the operation.

Time must be allowed in the intervals between distinct convulsions, for running water to clear away the ruins caused by landslips, otherwise the fallen ma.s.ses will serve as b.u.t.tresses, and prevent the succeeding earthquake from exerting its full power. The sides of the valley must be again cut away by the stream, and made to form precipices and over-hanging cliffs, before the next shock can take effect in the same manner.

Possibly the direction of the succeeding shock may not coincide with that of the valley, a great extent of adjacent country being equally shaken. Still it will usually happen that no permanent geographical change will be produced except in valleys. In them alone will occur landslips from the boundary cliffs, and these will frequently divert the stream from its accustomed course, causing the original ravine to become both wider and more tortuous in its direction.

If a single convulsion of extreme violence should agitate at once an entire hydrographical basin, or if the shocks should follow each other too rapidly, the previously existing valleys would be annihilated, instead of being modified and enlarged. Every stream might in that case be compelled to begin its operations anew, and to shape out new channels, instead of continuing to deepen and widen those already excavated. But if the subterranean movements have been intermittent, and if sufficient periods have always intervened between the severer shocks to allow the drainage of the country to be nearly restored to its original state, then are both the kind and degree of force supplied by which running water may hollow out valleys of any depth or size consistent with the elevation above the sea which the districts drained by them may have attained.

When we read of the drying up and desertion of the channels of rivers, the accounts most frequently refer to their deflection into some other part of the same alluvial plain, perhaps several miles distant. Under certain circ.u.mstances a change of level may undoubtedly force the water to flow over into some distinct hydrographical basin; but even then it will fall immediately into some other system of valleys already formed.

We learn from history that, ever since the first Greek colonists settled in Calabria, that region has been subject to devastation by earthquakes; and, for the last century and a half, ten years have seldom elapsed without a shock; but the severer convulsions have not only been separated by intervals of twenty, fifty, or one hundred years, but have not affected precisely the same points when they recurred. Thus the earthquake of 1783, although confined within the same geographical limits as that of 1638, and not very inferior in violence, visited, according to Grimaldi, very different districts. The points where the local intensity of the force is developed being thus perpetually varied, more time is allowed for the removal of separate mountain ma.s.ses thrown into river-channels by each shock.

_Number of persons who perished during the earthquake._--The number of persons who perished during the earthquake in the two Calabrias and Sicily, is estimated by Hamilton at about forty thousand; and about twenty thousand more died by epidemics, which were caused by insufficient nourishment, exposure to the atmosphere, and malaria, arising from the new stagnant lakes and pools.

By far the greater number were buried under the ruins of their houses; but many were burnt to death in the conflagrations which almost invariably followed the shocks. These fires raged the more violently in some cities, such as Oppido, from the immense magazines of oil which were consumed.

Many persons were engulfed in deep fissures, especially the peasants when flying across the open country, and their skeletons may perhaps be buried in the earth to this day, at the depth of several hundred feet.

When Dolomieu visited Messina after the shock of Feb. 5th, he describes the city as still presenting, at least at a distance, an imperfect image of its ancient splendor. Every house was injured, but the walls were standing; the whole population had taken refuge in wooden huts in the neighborhood, and all was solitude and silence in the streets: it seemed as if the city had been desolated by the plague, and the impression made upon his feelings was that of melancholy and sadness. "But when I pa.s.sed over to Calabria, and first beheld Polistena, the scene of horror almost deprived me of my faculties; my mind was filled with mingled compa.s.sion and terror; nothing had escaped; all was levelled with the dust; not a single house or piece of wall remained; on all sides were heaps of stone so dest.i.tute of form, that they gave no conception of there ever having been a town on the spot. The stench of the dead bodies still rose from the ruins. I conversed with many persons who had been buried for three, four, and even for five days; I questioned them respecting their sensations in so dreadful a situation, and they agreed that of all the physical evils they endured, thirst was the most intolerable; and that their mental agony was increased by the idea that they were abandoned by their friends, who might have rendered them a.s.sistance."[672]

It is supposed that about a fourth part of the inhabitants of Polistena, and of some other towns, were buried alive, and might have been saved had there been no want of hands; but in so general a calamity, where each was occupied with his own misfortunes or those of his family, aid could rarely be obtained. Neither tears, nor supplications, nor promises of high rewards were listened to. Many acts of self-devotion, prompted by parental and conjugal tenderness, or by friendship, or the grat.i.tude of faithful servants, are recorded; but individual exertions were, for the most part, ineffectual. It frequently happened, that persons in search of those most dear to them could hear their moans,--could recognize their voices--were certain of the exact spot where they lay buried beneath their feet, yet could afford them no succor. The piled ma.s.s resisted all their strength, and rendered their efforts of no avail.

At Terranuova, four Augustin monks, who had taken refuge in a vaulted sacristy, the arch of which continued to support an immense pile of ruins, made their cries heard for the s.p.a.ce of four days. One only of the brethren of the whole convent was saved, and "of what avail was his strength to remove the enormous weight of rubbish which had overwhelmed his companions?" He heard their voices die away gradually; and when afterwards their four corpses were disinterred, they were found clasped in each other's arms. Affecting narratives are preserved of mothers saved after the fifth, sixth, and even seventh day of their interment, when their infants or children had perished with hunger.

It might have been imagined that the sight of sufferings such as these would have been sufficient to awaken sentiments of humanity and pity in the most savage b.r.e.a.s.t.s; but while some acts of heroism are related, nothing could exceed the general atrocity of conduct displayed by the Calabrian peasants: they abandoned the farms, and flocked in great numbers into the towns--not to rescue their countrymen from a lingering death, but to plunder. They dashed through the streets, fearless of danger, amid tottering walls and clouds of dust, trampling beneath their feet the bodies of the wounded and half-buried, and often stripping them, while yet living, of their clothes.[673]

_Concluding remarks._--But to enter more fully into these details would be foreign to the purpose of the present work, and several volumes would be required to give the reader a just idea of the sufferings which the inhabitants of many populous districts have undergone during the earthquakes of the last 150 years. A bare mention of the loss of life--as that fifty or a hundred thousand souls perished in one catastrophe--conveys to the reader no idea of the extent of misery inflicted: we must learn, from the narratives of eye-witnesses, the various forms in which death was encountered, the numbers who escaped with loss of limbs or serious bodily injuries, and the mult.i.tude who were suddenly reduced to penury and want. It has been often remarked, that the dread of earthquakes is strongest in the minds of those who have experienced them most frequently; whereas, in the case of almost every other danger, familiarity with peril renders men intrepid. The reason is obvious--scarcely any part of the mischief apprehended in this instance is imaginary; the first shock is often the most destructive; and, as it may occur in the dead of the night, or if by day, without giving the least warning of its approach, no forethought can guard against it; and when the convulsion has begun, no skill, or courage, or presence of mind, can point out the path of safety. During the intervals, of uncertain duration, between the more fatal shocks, slight tremors of the soil are not unfrequent; and as these sometimes precede more violent convulsions, they become a source of anxiety and alarm. The terror arising from this cause alone is of itself no inconsiderable evil.

Although sentiments of pure religion are frequently awakened by these awful visitations, yet we more commonly find that an habitual state of fear, a sense of helplessness, and a belief in the futility of all human exertions, prepare the minds of the vulgar for the influence of a demoralizing superst.i.tion.

Where earthquakes are frequent, there can never be perfect security of property under the best government; industry cannot be a.s.sured of reaping the fruits of its labor; and the most daring acts of outrage may occasionally be perpetrated with impunity, when the arm of the law is paralyzed by the general consternation. It is hardly necessary to add, that the progress of civilization and national wealth must be r.e.t.a.r.ded by convulsions which level cities to the ground, destroy harbors, render roads impa.s.sable, and cause the most cultivated valley-plains to be covered with lakes, or the ruins of adjoining hills.

Those geologists who imagine that, at remote periods ere man became a sojourner on earth, the volcanic agency was more energetic than now, should be careful to found their opinion on strict geological evidence, and not permit themselves to be biased, as they have often been, by a notion, that the disturbing force would probably be mitigated for the sake of man.

I shall endeavor to point out in the sequel, that the general tendency of subterranean movements, when their effects are considered for a sufficient lapse of ages, is eminently beneficial, and that they const.i.tute an essential part of that mechanism by which the integrity of the habitable surface is preserved, and the very existence and perpetuation of dry land secured. Why the working of this same machinery should be attended with so much evil, is a mystery far beyond the reach of our philosophy, and must probably remain so until we are permitted to investigate, not our planet alone and its inhabitants, but other parts of the moral and material universe with which they may be connected. Could our survey embrace other worlds, and the events, not of a few centuries only, but of periods as indefinite as those with which geology renders us familiar, some apparent contradictions might be reconciled, and some difficulties would doubtless be cleared up. But even then, as our capacities are finite, while the scheme of the universe may be infinite, both in time and s.p.a.ce, it is presumptuous to suppose that all sources of doubt and perplexity would ever be removed.