The San Francisco calamity by earthquake and fire Part 21

As the molten material rises it invades the water-charged rocks near the surface and acquires steam, or the gases resulting from the decomposition of water, and a new force is added which produces the most conspicuous and at times the most terrible phenomena accompanying eruptions."

The active agency of water is strongly maintained by many geologists, and certainly gains support from the vast clouds of steam given off by volcanoes in eruption and the steady and quiet emission of steam from many in a state of rest. The quant.i.ties of water in the liquid state, to which is due the frequent enormous outflows of mud, leads to the same conclusion. Many scientists, indeed, while admitting the agency of water, look upon this as the aqueous material originally pent up within the rocks. For instance Professor Shaler, dean of the Lawrence Scientific School, says:

"Volcanic outbreaks are merely the explosion of steam under high pressure, steam which is bound in rocks buried underneath the surface of the earth and there subjected to such tremendous heat that when the conditions are right its pent-up energy breaks forth and it shatters its stone prison walls into dust. The process by which the water becomes buried in this manner is a long one. Some contend that it leaks down from the surface of the earth through fissures in the outer crust, but this theory is not generally accepted. The common belief is that water enters the rocks during the crystalization period, and that these rocks through the natural action of rivers and streams become deposited in the bottom of the ocean. Here they lie for many ages, becoming buried deeper and deeper under ma.s.ses of like sediment, which are constantly being washed down upon them from above. This process is called the blanketing process.

"Each additional layer of sediment, while not raising the level of the sea bottom, buries the first layers just so much the deeper and adds to their temperature just as does the laying of extra blankets on a bed.

When the first layer has reached a depth of a few thousand feet the rocks which contain the water of crystalization are subjected to a terrific heat. This heat generates steam, which is held in a state of frightful tension in its rocky prison. Wrinklings in the outer crust of the earth's surface occur, caused by the constant shrinking of the earth itself and by the contraction of the outer surface as it settles on the plastic centers underneath. Fissures are caused by these foldings, and as these fissures reach down into the earth the pressure is removed from the rocks and the compressed steam in them, being released, explodes with tremendous force."

This view is, very probably, applicable to many cases, and the exceedingly fine dust which so often rises from volcanoes has, doubtless, for one of its causes the sudden and explosive conversion of water into steam in the interior of ejected lava, thus rending it into innumerable fragments. But that this is the sole mode of action of water in volcanic eruptions is very questionable. It certainly does not agree with the immense volumes at times thrown out, while explosions of such extreme intensity as that of Krakatoa very strongly lead to the conclusion that a great ma.s.s of water has made its way through newly opened fissures to the level of molten rock, and exploded into steam with a suddenness which gave it the rending force of dynamite or the other powerful chemical explosives.

As the earthquake is so intimately a.s.sociated with the volcano the causes of the latter are in great measure the causes of the former, and the forces at work frequently produce a more or less violent quaking of the earth's surface before they succeed in opening a channel of escape through the mountain's heart. One agency of great potency, and one whose work never ceases, has doubtless much to do with earthquake action.

In the description of this we cannot do better than to quote from "The Earth's Beginning" of Sir Robert S. Ball.

CAUSE OF EARTHQUAKES

"As to the immediate cause of earthquakes there is no doubt considerable difference of opinion. But I think it will not be doubted that an earthquake is one of the consequences, though perhaps a remote one, of the gradual loss of internal heat from the earth. As this terrestrial heat is gradually declining, it follows from the law that we have already so often had occasion to use that the bulk of the earth must be shrinking. No doubt the diminution in the earth's diameter due to the loss of heat must be exceedingly small, even in a long period of time.

The cause, however, is continually in operation, and, accordingly, the crust of the earth has from time to time to be accommodated to the fact that the whole globe is lessening. The circ.u.mference of our earth at the equator must be gradually declining; a certain length in that circ.u.mference is lost each year. We may admit that loss to be a quant.i.ty far too small to be measured by any observations as yet obtainable, but, nevertheless, it is productive of phenomena so important that it cannot be overlooked.

"It follows from these considerations that the rocks which form the earth's crust over the surface of the continents and the islands, or beneath the bed of the ocean, must have a lessening acreage year by year. These rocks must therefore submit to compression, either continuously or from time to time, and the necessary yielding of the rocks will in general take place in those regions where the materials of the earth's crust happen to have comparatively small powers of resistance. The acts of compression will often, and perhaps generally, not proceed with uniformity, but rather with small successive shifts, and even though the displacements of the rocks in these shifts be actually very small, yet the pressures to which the rocks are subjected are so vast that a very small shift may correspond to a very great terrestrial disturbance.

"Suppose, for instance, that there is a slight shift in the rocks on each side of a crack, or fault, at a depth of ten miles. It must be remembered that the pressure ten miles down would be about thirty-five tons to the square inch. Even a slight displacement of one extensive surface over another, the sides being pressed together with a force of thirty-five tons on the square inch, would be an operation necessarily accompanied by violence greatly exceeding that which we might expect from so small a displacement if the forces concerned had been of more ordinary magnitude. On account of this great multiplication of the intensity of the phenomenon, merely a small rearrangement of the rocks in the crust of the earth, in pursuance of the necessary work of accommodating its volume to the perpetual shrinkage, might produce an excessively violent shock, extending far and wide. The effect of such a shock would be propagated in the form of waves through the globe, just as a violent blow given at one end of a bar of iron by a hammer is propagated through the bar in the form of waves. When the effect of this internal adjustment reaches the earth's surface it will sometimes be great enough to be perceptible in the shaking it gives that surface. The shaking may be so violent that buildings may not be able to withstand it. Such is the phenomenon of an earthquake.

"When the earth is shaken by one of those occasional adjustments of the crust which I have described, the wave that spreads like a pulsation from the centre of agitation extends all over our globe and is transmitted right through it. At the surface lying immediately over the centre of disturbance there will be a violent shock. In the surrounding country, and often over great distances, the earthquake may also be powerful enough to produce destructive effects. The convulsion may also be manifested over a far larger area of country in a way which makes the shock to be felt, though the damage wrought may not be appreciable.

But beyond a limited distance from the centre of the agitation the earthquake will produce no destructive effects upon buildings, and will not even cause vibrations that would be appreciable to ordinary observation."

THE RADIUS OF DISTURBANCE.

"In each locality in which earthquakes are chronic it would seem as if there must be a particularly weak spot in the earth some miles below the surface. A shrinkage of the earth, in the course of the incessant adjustment between the interior and the exterior, will take place by occasional little jumps at this particular centre. The fact that there is this weak spot at which small adjustments are possible may provide, as it were, a safety-valve for other places in the same part of the world. Instead of a general shrinking, the materials would be sufficiently elastic and flexible to allow the shrinking for a very large area to be done at this particular locality. In this way we may explain the fact that immense tracts on the earth are practically free from earthquakes of a serious character, while in the less fortunate regions the earthquakes are more or less perennial.

"Now, suppose an earthquake takes place in j.a.pan, it originates a series of vibrations through our globe. We must here distinguish between the rocks--I might almost say the comparatively pliant rocks--which form the earth's crust, and those which form the intensely rigid core of the interior of our globe. The vibrations which carry the tidings of the earthquake spread through the rocks on the surface, from the centre of the disturbance, in gradually enlarging circles. We may liken the spread of these vibrations to the ripples in a pool of water which diverge from the spot where a raindrop has fallen. The vibrations transmitted by the rocks on the surface, or on the floor of the ocean, will carry the message all over the earth. As these rocks are flexible, at all events by comparison with the earth's interior, the vibrations will be correspondingly large, and will travel with vigor over land and under sea. In due time they reach, say the Isle of Wight, where they set the pencil of the seismometer at work. But there are different ways round the earth from j.a.pan to the Isle of Wight, the most direct route being across Asia and Europe; the other route across the Pacific, America, and the Atlantic. The vibrations will travel by both routes, and the former is the shorter of the two."

TRANSMISSIONS OF VIBRATIONS

Some brief repet.i.tion may not here be amiss as to the products of volcanic action, of which so much has been said in the preceding pages, especially as many of the terms are to some extent technical in character. The most abundant of these substances is steam or water-gas, which, as we have seen, issues in prodigious quant.i.ties during every eruption. But with the steam a great number of other volatile materials frequently make their appearance. Though we have named a number of these at the beginning of this chapter, it will not be out of order to repeat them here. The chief among these are the acid gases known as hydrochloric acid, sulphurous acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, carbonic acid, and boracic acid; and with these acid gases there issue hydrogen, nitrogen ammonia, the volatile metals a.r.s.enic, antimony, and mercury, and some other substances. These volatile substances react upon one another, and many new compounds are thus formed. By the action of sulphurous acid and sulphuretted hydrogen on each other, the sulphur so common in volcanic districts is separated and deposited. The hydrochloric acid acts very energetically on the rocks around the vents, uniting with the iron in them to form the yellow ferric-chloride, which often coats the rocks round the vent and is usually mistaken by casual observers for sulphur.

Some of the substances emitted by volcanic vents, such as hydrogen and sulphuretted hydrogen, are inflammable, and when they issue at a high temperature these gases burst into flame the moment that they come into contact with the air. Hence, when volcanic fissures are watched at night, faint lambent flames are frequently seen playing over them, and sometimes these flames are brilliantly colored, through the presence of small quant.i.ties of certain metallic oxides. Such volcanic flames, however, are scarcely ever strongly luminous, and the red, glowing light which is observed over volcanic mountains in eruption is due to quite another cause. What is usually taken for flame during a volcanic eruption is simply, as we have before stated, the glowing light of the surface of a ma.s.s of red-hot lava reflected from the cloud of vapor and dust in the air, much as the lights of a city are reflected from the water vapor of the atmosphere during a night of fog.

Besides the volatile substances which issue from volcanic vents, mingling with the atmosphere or condensing upon their sides, there are many solid materials ejected, and these may acc.u.mulate around the orifice's till they build up mountains of vast dimensions, like Etna, Teneriffe, and Chimborazo. Some of these solid materials are evidently fragments of the rock-ma.s.ses, through which the volcanic fissure has been rent; these fragments have been carried upwards by the force of the steam-blast and scattered over the sides of the volcano. But the princ.i.p.al portion of the solid materials ejected from volcanic orifices consists of matter which has been extruded from sources far beneath the surface, in highly-heated and fluid or semi-fluid condition.

It is to these materials that the name of "lavas" is properly applied.

Lavas present a general resemblance to the slags and clinkers which are formed in our furnaces and brick-kilns, and consist, like them, of various stony substances which have been more or less perfectly fused.

When we come to study the chemical composition and the microscopical structure of lavas, however, we shall find that there are many respects in which they differ entirely from these artificial products, they consisting chiefly of felspar, or of this substance in a.s.sociation with augite or hornblende. In texture they may be stony, gla.s.sy, resin-like, vesicular or cellular and light in weight, as in the case of pumice or scoria.

FLOATING PUMICE

The steam and other gases rising through liquid lava are apt to produce bubbles, yielding a surface froth or foam. This froth varies greatly in character according to the nature of the material from which it is formed. In the majority of cases the lavas consist of a ma.s.s of crystals floating in a liquid magma, and the distension of such a ma.s.s by the escape of steam from its midst gives rise to the formation of the rough cindery-looking material to which the name of "scoria" is applied. But when the lava contains no ready-formed crystals, but consists entirely of a gla.s.sy substance in a more or less perfect state of fusion, the liberation of steam gives rise to the formation of the beautiful material known as "pumice." Pumice consists of a ma.s.s of minute gla.s.s bubbles; these bubbles do not usually, however, retain their globular form, but are elongated in one direction through the movement of the ma.s.s while it is still in a plastic state. The quant.i.ty of this substance ejected is often enormous. We have seen to what a vast extent it was thrown out from the crater of Krakatoa. During the year 1878, ma.s.ses of floating pumice were reported as existing in the vicinity of the Solomon Isles, and covering the surface of the sea to such extent that it took ships three days to force their way through them. Sometimes this substance acc.u.mulates in such quant.i.ties along coasts that it is difficult to determine the position of the sh.o.r.e within a mile or two, as we may land and walk about on the great floating raft of pumice.

Recent deep-sea soundings, carried on in the Challenger and other vessels, have shown that the bottom of the deepest portion of the ocean, far away from the land, is covered with volcanic materials which have been carried through the air or have floated on the surface of the ocean.

Fragments of scoria or pumice may be thrown hundreds or thousands of feet into the atmosphere, those that fall into the crater and are flung up again being gradually reduced in size by friction. Thus it is related by Mr. Poulett Scrope, who watched the Vesuvian eruption of 1822, which lasted for nearly a month, that during the earlier stages of the outburst fragments of enormous size were thrown out of the crater, but by constant re-ejection these were gradually reduced in size, till at last only the most impalpable dust issued from the vent. This dust filled the atmosphere, producing in the city of Naples "a darkness that might be felt." So excessively finely divided was it, that it penetrated into all drawers, boxes, and the most closely fastened receptacles, filling them completely. The fragmentary materials ejected from volcanoes are often given the name of cinders or ashes. These, however, are terms of convenience only, and do not properly describe the volcanic material.

Sometimes the pa.s.sages of steam through a ma.s.s of molten gla.s.s produces large quant.i.ties of a material resembling spun gla.s.s. Small particles of this gla.s.s are carried into the air and leave behind them thin, gla.s.sy filaments like a tail. At the volcano of Kilauea in Hawaii, this substance, as previously stated, is abundantly produced, and is known as 'Pele's Hair'--Pele being the name of the G.o.ddess of the mountain.

Birds' nests are sometimes found composed of this beautiful material.

In recent years an artificial substance similar to this Pele's hair has been extensively manufactured by pa.s.sing jets of steam through the molten slag of iron-furnaces; it resembles cotton-wool, but is made up of fine threads of gla.s.s, and is employed for the packing of boilers and other purposes.

The lava itself, as left in huge deposits upon the surface, a.s.sumes various forms, some crystalline, others gla.s.sy. The latter is usually found in the condition known as obsidian, ordinarily black in color, and containing few or no crystals. It is brittle, and splits into sharp-edged or pointed fragments, which were used by primitive peoples for arrow-heads, knives and other cutting implements. The ancient Mexicans used bits of it for shaving purposes, it having an edge of razor-like sharpness. They also used it as the cutting part of their weapons of war.

CHAPTER XX.

The Active Volcanoes of the Earth.

It is not by any means an easy task to frame an estimate of the number of volcanoes in the world. Volcanoes vary greatly in their dimensions, from vast mountain ma.s.ses, rising to a height of nearly 25,000 feet above sea-level, to mere molehills. They likewise exhibit every possible stage of development and decay: while some are in a state of chronic active eruption, others are reduced to the condition of solfataras, or vents emitting acid vapors, and others again have fallen into a more or less complete state of ruin through the action of denuding forces.

NUMBER OF ACTIVE VOLCANOES

Even if we confine our attention to the larger volcanoes, which merit the name of mountains, and such of these as we have reason to believe to be in a still active condition, our difficulties will be diminished, but not by any means removed. Volcanoes may sink into a dormant condition that at times endures for hundreds or even thousands of years, and then burst forth into a state of renewed activity; and it is quite impossible, in many cases, to distinguish between the conditions of dormancy and extinction.

We shall, however, probably be within the limits of truth in stating that the number of great habitual volcanic vents upon the globe which we have reason to believe are still in active condition, is somewhere between 300 and 350. Most of these are marked by more or less considerable mountains, composed of the materials ejected from them.

But if we include mountains which exhibit the external conical form, crater-like hollows, and other features of volcanoes, yet concerning the activity of which we have no record or tradition, the number will fall little, if anything, short of 1,000.

The mountains composed of volcanic materials, but which have lost through denudation the external form of volcanoes, are still more numerous, and the smaller temporary openings which are usually subordinate to the habitual vents that have been active during the periods covered by history and tradition, must be numbered by thousands.

There are still feebler manifestations of the volcanic forces--such as steam-jets, geysers, thermal and mineral waters, spouting saline and muddy springs, and mud volcanoes--that may be reckoned by millions.

It is not improbable that these less powerful manifestations of the volcanic forces to a great extent make up in number what they want in individual energy; and the relief which they afford to the imprisoned activities within the earth's crust may be almost equal to that which results from the occasional outbursts at the great habitual volcanic vents.

In taking a general survey of the volcanic phenomena of the globe, no facts come out more strikingly than that of the very unequal distribution, both of the great volcanoes, and of the minor exhibitions of subterranean energy.

Thus, on the whole of the continent of Europe, there is but one habitual volcanic vent--that of Vesuvius--and this is situated upon the sh.o.r.es of the Mediterranean. In the islands of that sea, however there are no less than six volcanoes: namely, Stromboli, and Vulcano, in the Lipari Islands; Etna, in Sicily; Graham's Isle, a submarine volcano, off the Sicilian coast; and Santorin and Nisyros, in the Aegean Sea.

The African continent is at present known to contain about ten active volcanoes--four on the west coast, and six on the east coast, while about ten other active volcanoes occur on islands close to the African coasts. On the continent of Asia, more than twenty active volcanoes are known or believed to exist, but no less than twelve of these are situated in the peninsula of Kamchatka. No volcanoes are known to exist in the Australian continent.

The American continent contains a greater number of volcanoes than the continents of the Old World. There are twenty in North America, twenty-five in Central America, and thirty-seven in South America. Thus, taken altogether, there are about one hundred and seventeen volcanoes situated on the great continental lands of the globe, while nearly twice as many occur upon the islands scattered over the various oceans.

ASIATIC INLAND VOLCANOES

Upon examining further into the distribution of the continental volcanoes, another very interesting fact presents itself. The volcanoes are in almost every instance situated either close to the coasts of the continent, or at no great distance from them. There are, indeed, only two exceptions to this rule. In the great and almost wholly unexplored table-land lying between Siberia and Tibet four volcanoes are said to exist, and in the Chinese province of Manchuria several others. More reliable information is, however, needed concerning these volcanoes.