Volcanoes: Past and Present Part 7

But before entering into details, it may be desirable to present the reader with a short outline of the physical history of the region (which has been ably done by Dr. Hibbert in his treatise, to which I have already referred), so as to enable him better to understand the succession of physical events in its volcanic history.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 20.--Sketch Map to show the physical condition of the Rhenish area in the Miocene epoch.--(After Hibbert.)]

(_b._) _Physical History._--From the wide distribution of stratified deposits of sand and clay at high levels on both banks of the Rhine north of the Moselle, it would appear that an extensive fresh-water basin, which Dr. Hibbert calls "The Basin of Neuwied," occupied a considerable tract on both banks, in the centre of which the present city of Neuwied stands. This basin was bounded towards the south by the slopes of the Hundsruck and Taunus, which at the time here referred to formed a continuous chain of mountains. (Fig. 20.) To the south of this chain lay the Tertiary basin of Mayence, which was connected at an early period--that of the Miocene--with the waters of the ocean, as shown by the fact that the lower strata contain marine sh.e.l.ls; these afterwards gave place to fresh-water conditions. The basin of Neuwied was bounded towards the north by a ridge of Devonian strata which extended across the present gorge of the Rhine between Andernach and Linz, and to the north of this barrier lay another more extensive fresh-water basin, that of Cologne. From this it will be seen that the Rhine, as we now find it, had then only an infantile existence; in fact, its waters to the south of the Hundsruck ridge drained away towards the south. But towards the commencement of the Pliocene period the barriers of the Hundsruck and Taunus, as also that of the Linz, were broken through, and the course of the waters was changed; and thus gradually, as the river deepened its bed, the waters were drained off from the great lakes.[2] This rupture of the barriers may have been due, in the first instance, to the terrestrial disturbances accompanying the volcanic eruptions of the Eifel and Siebengebirge, though the erosion of the gorges at Bingen and at Linz to their present depth and dimensions is of course due to prolonged river action. It was about the epoch we have now arrived at--viz., the close of the Miocene--that volcanic action burst forth in the region of the Lower Rhine. It is probable that this action commenced in the district of the Siebengebirge, and afterwards extended into that of the Moselle and the Eifel, the volcanoes of which bear evidence of recent date. Layers of trachytic tuff are interstratified with the deposits of sand, clay, and lignite of the formation known as that of the Brown Coal--of Miocene age--which underlies nearly the whole of the volcanic district on both sides of the Rhine near Bonn,[3] thus showing that volcanic action had already commenced in that part to some extent; but it does not appear from Dr. Hibbert's statement that any such fragments of eruptive rock are to be found in the strata which were deposited over the floor of the Neuwied basin.[4] It will be recollected that the epoch a.s.signed for the earliest volcanic eruptions of Auvergne was that here inferred for those of the Lower Rhine--viz., the close of the Miocene stage--and from evidence subsequently to be adduced from other European districts, it will be found that there was a very widely spread outburst of volcanic action at this epoch.

(_c._) _The Range of the Siebengebirge._--This range of hills--formed of the older volcanic rocks of the Lower Rhine--rises along the right bank of this n.o.ble river opposite Bonn, where it leaves the narrow gorge which it traverses all the way from Bingen, and opens out on the broad plain of Northern Germany. The range consists of a succession of conical hills sometimes flat-topped--as in the case of Petersberg; and at the Drachenfels, near the centre of the range it presents to the river a bold front of precipitous cliffs of trachyte porphyry. The sketch (Fig.

21) here presented was taken by the author in 1857 from the old extinct volcano of Roderberg, and will convey, perhaps, a better idea of the character of this picturesque range than a description. The Siebengebirge, although appearing as an isolated group of hills, is in reality an offshoot from the range of the Westerwald, which is connected with another volcanic district of Central Germany known as the Vogelsgebirge. The highest point in the range is attained in the Lohrberg, which rises 1355 feet above the sea; the next, the Great Trankeberg, 1330 feet; and the next, Great Oelberg, 1296 feet.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 21.--The Volcanic Range of the Siebengebirge, seen from the left bank of the Rhine, above Bonn.--(Original.)]

The range consists mainly of trachytic rocks--namely, trachyte-conglomerate, and solid trachyte, of which H. von Dechen makes two varieties--that of the Drachenfels, and that of the Wolkenburg. But a.s.sociated with these highly-silicated varieties of lava--and generally, if not always, of later date--are basaltic rocks which cap the hills of Petersberg, Nonnenstrom, Gr. and Ll. Oelberg, Gr. Weilberg, and Ober Dollendorfer Hardt. The question whether there is a transition from the one variety of volcanic rock into the other, or whether each belongs to a distinct and separate epoch of eruption, does not seem to be very clearly determined. Mr. Leonard Horner states that it would be easy to form a suite of specimens showing a gradation from a white trachyte to a black basalt;[5] but we must recollect that when Mr. Horner wrote, the microscopic examination of rocks by means of thin sections was not known or practised, and an examination by this process might have proved that this apparent transition is unreal. According to H. von Dechen, there are sheets of basalt older than the greater ma.s.s of the brown coal formation, and others newer than the trachyte;[6] while d.y.k.es of basalt traversing the trachytic lavas are not uncommon.[7]

The trachyte-conglomerate--which seems to be a.s.sociated with the upper beds of the brown coal strata--is traversed by d.y.k.es of trachyte of later date; and though it is difficult to trace the line between the two varieties of this rock on the ground, Dr. von Rath has recognised the general distinction between them, which consists in the greater abundance of hornblende and mica in the trachyte of the Wolkenburg than in that of the Drachenfels.

The trachyte of the Drachenfels was probably the neck of a volcano which burst through the fundamental schists of the Devonian period. It is remarkable for the large crystals of sanidine (gla.s.sy felspar) which it contains, and has a rude columnar structure.

The absence of any clearly-defined craters of eruption, such as are to be found in the Eifel district and on the left bank of the Rhine--as, for example, in the case of the Roderberg--may be regarded as sufficient evidence that this range is of comparatively high antiquity. It seems to bear the same relation to the more modern craters of the Eifel and Moselle that the Mont Dore and Cantal volcanoes do to those of the Puy de Dome. In both cases, denudation carried on throughout perhaps the Pliocene and Post-Pliocene periods down to the present day has had the effect of demolishing the original craters; so that what we now observe as forming these ranges are the consolidated columns of original molten matter which filled the throats of the old volcanoes, or the sheets of lava which were extruded from them, but are now probably much reduced in size and extent.

Having thus given a description of the older volcanic range on the right bank of the Rhine, we shall cross the river in search of some details regarding the more recent group of Rhenish volcanoes, commencing with that of the Roderberg, a remarkable hill a few miles south of Bonn, from which the view of the Seven Mountains was taken.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 22.--Section of the extinct crater of the Roderberg on the bank of the Rhine, above Bonn.--(Original.)]

(_d._) _The Roderberg._--This crater, which was visited by the author in 1857, is about one-fourth of a mile in diameter, and is in the form of a cup with gentle slopes on all sides. In its centre is a farmhouse surrounded by corn-fields. The general section through the hill is represented above (Fig. 22).

The flanks on the north side are composed of loose quartzose gravel (gerolle), a remnant of the deposits formed around the margin of the "Basin of Neuwied" described above (p. 114). This gravel is found covering the terraces of the brown coal formation several hundred feet above the Rhine. Besides quartz-pebbles, the deposit contains others of slate, grit, and volcanic rock. On reaching the edge of the crater we find the gravel covered over by black and purple scoria or slag the superposition of the scoria on the gravel being visible in several places, showing that the former is of more recent origin. On the opposite side of the crater, overlooking the Rhine, we find the cliff of Rolandsec composed of hard vesicular lava, rudely prismatic, and extending from the summit of the hill to its base, about 250 feet below.

This is the most northerly of the group of the Eifel volcanoes.

(_e._) _District of the Rivers Bruhl and Nette._--The volcanic region of the Lower Eifel, drained by these two princ.i.p.al streams which flow into the Rhine, will amply repay exploration by the student of volcanic phenomena, owing to the variety of forms and conditions under which these present themselves within a small s.p.a.ce. The fundamental rock is slate or grit of Devonian age, furrowed by numerous valleys, often richly wooded, and diversified by conical hills of trachyte; or by crater-cones, formed of basalt or ashes, sometimes ruptured on one side, and occasionally sending forth streams of lava, as in the cases of the Perlinkopf, the Bausenberg, and the Engelerkopf. The district attains its greatest alt.i.tude in the High Acht (Der Hohe Acht), an isolated cone of slate capped by basalt with olivine, and reaching a level of 2434 Rhenish feet.[8]

(_f._) _The Laacher See._--It would be impossible in a work of this kind to attempt a detailed description of the Eifel volcanoes, often of a very complex character and obscure physical history, as in the case of the basin of Rieden, where tufaceous deposits, trachytic and basaltic lavas and crater-cones, are confusedly intermingled, so that I shall confine my remarks to the deservedly famous district of the Laacher See, which I had an opportunity of personally visiting some years since.[9]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 23.--Plan and Section of the Laacher See, a lake on the borders of the Eifel, occupying the crater of an old volcano.--G.

Gravel and volcanic sand forming banks of the lake and rim of old crater; L. Sheet of trachytic lava with columnar structure; B. Basaltic d.y.k.e; S. Devonian slate, etc.]

The Laacher See is a lake of an oval form, over an English mile in the shorter diameter, and surrounded by high banks of volcanic sand, gravel, and scoriae, except on the east side, where cliffs of clay-slate, in a nearly vertical position, and striking nearly E.W., may be observed. Its depth from the surface of the water is 214 feet.[10] The ashes of the encircling banks contain blocks of slate and lava which have been torn from the sides of the orifice or neck of the volcano and blown into the air; and there can be no doubt that the ashes and volcanic gravel is the result of very recent eruptions.

At the east side of the lake we find a stream of scoriaceous lava of a purple or reddish colour, highly vesicular, and containing crystals of mica; but the most important lava-stream is that which has taken a southerly direction from the crater of the Laacher See towards Nieder Mendig and Mayen, for a distance of about six miles. This great stream is covered throughout half its distance by beds of volcanic ash and lapilli, but emerges into the air at a distance of about two miles from the edge of the crater (see Fig. 23), and was formerly extensively quarried in underground caverns for millstones. Here the rock is a vesicular trachyte, of a greyish colour, solidified in vertical columns of hexagonal form, about four feet in diameter, and traversed by transverse joint planes. These quarries have been worked from the time of the Roman occupation of the country; and, before the introduction of iron or steel rollers for grinding corn, millstones were exported to all parts of Europe and the British Isles from this quarry.[11]

The district around the Laacher See is covered by laminated _ejecta_ of the old volcano, probably of subaerial origin, through which bosses of the fundamental slate peer up at intervals, while the surface is diversified by several truncated cones.

(_g._) _Tra.s.s of the Bruhl Valley._--The Bruhl Valley, which unites with that of the Rhine at the town of that name, and drains the northern side of the volcanic region, has always been regarded with much interest by travellers for the presence of a deposit of "tra.s.s" with which it is partially filled. The origin of this valley was pre-volcanic, as it is hewn out of the slaty rocks of the district. But at a later period it became filled with volcanic mud (tuffstein), out of which the stream has made for itself a fresh channel. The source of this mud is considered by Hibbert[12] to have been the old volcano of the Lummerfeld, which, after becoming dormant, was filled with water, and thus became a lake. At a subsequent period, however, a fresh eruption took place near the edge of the lake, resulting in the remarkable ruptured crater known as the Kunkskopfe, which rises about four miles to the north of the Laacher See. The eruptions of this volcano appear to have displaced the mud of the Lummerfeld, causing it to flow down into the deep gorge of the Bruhl, which it completely filled, as stated above.

On walking down the valley one may sometimes see the junction of the tuff with the slate-rock which enfolds it. The tuff consists of white felspathic mud, with fragments of slate and lava, reaching a depth in some places of 150 feet. After it has been quarried it is ground in mills, and used for cement stone under the name of _tra.s.s_. It is said to resemble the volcanic mud by which Herculaneum was overwhelmed during the first eruption of Vesuvius, and which was produced by the torrents of rain mixing with the ashes as they were blown out of the volcano.

Sufficient has probably now been written regarding the dormant, or recently extinct, volcanic districts of Europe to give the reader a clear idea regarding their nature and physical structure. Other districts might be added, such as those of Central Germany, Hungary, Transylvania, and Styria; but to do so would be to exceed the proposed limits of this work; and we may therefore pa.s.s on to the consideration of the volcanic region of Syria and Palestine, which adjoins the Mediterranean district we have considered in a former page.

[1] Daubeny, _loc. cit._, p. 71. The geology of this region has had many investigators, of whom the chief are Steininger, _Erloschenen Vulkane in der Eifel_ (1820); Hibbert, _Extinct Volcanoes of the Basin of Neuwied_, 1832; Noggerath, _Das Gebirge im Rheinland_, etc., 4 vols.; Horner, "On the Geology of Bonn," _Transactions of the Geological Society, London_, vol. iv.

[2] The views of Dr. Hibbert are not inconsistent with those of the late Sir A. Ramsay, on "The Physical History of the Valley of the Rhine,"

_Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc._, vol. x.x.x. (1874).

[3] Von Dechen, _Geog. Beschreib. des Siebengebirges am Rhein_ (Bonn, 1852).

[4] Hibbert, _loc. cit._, p. 18.

[5] Horner, "Geology of Environs of Bonn," _Transactions of the Geological Society_, vol. iv., new series.

[6] H. von Dechen, _Geog. Fuhrer in das Siebengebirge am Rhein_ (Bonn, 1861).

[7] _Ibid._, p. 191.

[8] Dr. Hibbert's work is ill.u.s.trated by very carefully drawn and accurate views of some of the old cones and craters of this district, accompanied by detailed descriptions.

[9] The lava of Sch.o.r.enberg, near Rieden, is interesting from the fact, stated by Zirkel, that it contains leucite, nosean, and nephelin.--_Die Mikros. Beschaf. d. Miner. u. Gesteine_, p. 154 (1873).

[10] Hibbert, _loc. cit._, p. 23.

[11] At the time of the author's visit the underground caverns, which are deliciously cool in summer, were used for the storage of the celebrated beer brewed by the Moravians of Neuwied.

[12] Hibbert, _loc. cit._, p. 129.

PART III.

DORMANT OR MORIBUND VOLCANOES OF OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD.

CHAPTER I.

DORMANT VOLCANOES OF PALESTINE AND ARABIA.

(_a._) _Region east of the Jordan and Dead Sea._--The remarkable line of country lying along the valley of the Jordan, and extending into the great Arabian Desert, has been the seat of extensive volcanic action in prehistoric times. The specially volcanic region seems to be bounded by the depression of the Jordan, the Dead Sea, and the Arabah as far south as the Gulf of Akabah; for, although Safed, lying at the head of the Sea of Galilee on the west of the Jordan valley, is built on a basaltic sheet, and is in proximity to an extinct crater, its position is exceptional to the general arrangement of the volcanic products which may be traced at intervals from the base of Hermon into Central Arabia, a distance of about 1000 miles.[1]

The tract referred to has been described at intervals by several authors, of whom G. Schumacher,[2] L. Lartet,[3] Canon Tristram,[4] M.

Niebuhr,[5] and C. M. Doughty[6] may be specially mentioned in this connection.

The most extensive manifestations of volcanic energy throughout this long tract of country appear to be concentrated at its extreme limits.

At the northern extremity the generally wild and rugged tract of the Jaulan and Hauran, called in the Bible _Trachonitis_, and still farther to the eastward the plateau of the Lejah, with its row of volcanic peaks sloping down to the vast level of Bashan, is covered throughout nearly its whole extent by great sheets of basaltic lava, above which rise at intervals, and in very perfect form, the old crater-cones of eruption. A similar group of extinct craters with lava-flows has been described and figured by a recent traveller, Mr. C. M. Doughty, in parts of Central Arabia. The general resemblance of these Arabian volcanoes to those of the Jaulan is unquestionable; and as they are connected with each other by sheets of basaltic lava at intervals throughout the land of Moab, it is tolerably certain that the volcanoes lying at either end of the chain belong to one system, and were contemporaneously in a state of activity.

(_b._) _Geological Conditions._--Before entering any further into particulars regarding the volcanic phenomena of this region, it may be desirable to give a short account of its geological structure, and the physical conditions amongst which the igneous eruptions were developed.

Down to the close of the Eocene period the whole region now under consideration was occupied by the waters of the ocean. The mountains of Sinai were islands in this ocean, which had a very wide range over parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe. But at the commencement of the succeeding Miocene stage the crust was subjected to lateral contraction, owing to which the ocean bed was upraised. The strata were flexured, folded, and often faulted and fissured along lines ranging north and south, the great fault of the Jordan-Arabah valley being the most important. At this period the mountains of the Lebanon, the table-lands of Judaea and of Arabia, formed of limestone, previously const.i.tuting the bed of the ocean during the Eocene and Cretaceous periods, were converted into land surfaces. Along with this upheaval of the sea-bed there was extensive denudation and erosion of the strata, so that valleys were eroded over the subaerial tracts, and the Jordan-Arabah valley received its primary form and outline.