Volcanoes: Past and Present

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Volcanoes: Past and Present, by Edward Hull

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: Volcanoes: Past and Present

Author: Edward Hull

Release Date: March 13, 2010 [eBook #31627]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VOLCANOES: PAST AND PRESENT***

E-text prepared by Steven Gibbs, Stephen H. Sentoff,

and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

(http://www.pgdp.net)

THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE SERIES.

Edited by

HAVELOCK ELLIS.

VOLCANOES:

PAST AND PRESENT.

VOLCANOES:

PAST AND PRESENT.

BY

EDWARD HULL, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S.

Examiner in Geology to the University of London.

WITH 41 ILLUSTRATIONS AND 4 PLATES OF ROCK-SECTIONS.

LONDON:

WALTER SCOTT, Limited,

24, WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW.

1892.

By THE SAME AUTHOR.

The Coal-fields of Great Britain: their History, Structure, and Resources. 4th edit. (1881.) E. Stanford.

The Physical History of the British Isles. With a Dissertation on the Origin of Western Europe and of the Atlantic Ocean. (1882.) E. Stanford.

The Physical Geology and Geography of Ireland. 2nd edit. (1891.) E. Stanford.

Treatise on the Building and Ornamental Stones of Great Britain and Foreign Countries. (1872.) Macmillan and Co.

Memoir on the Physical Geology and Geography of Arabia-Petræa, Palestine, and adjoining Districts. (1886.) Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Mount Seir, Sinai, and Western Palestine. Being a Narrative of a Scientific Expedition, 1883-84. (1885.) Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.

Text-book of Physiography. (1888.) C. W. Deacon and Co.

Sketch of Geological History. (1887.) C. W. Deacon and Co.

PREFACE.

It has not been my object to present in the following pages even an approximately complete description of the volcanic and seismic phenomena of the globe; such an undertaking would involve an amount of labour which few would be bold enough to attempt; nor would it be compatible with the aims of the Contemporary Science Series.

I have rather chosen to illustrate the most recent conclusions regarding the phenomena and origin of volcanic action, by the selection of examples drawn from the districts where these phenomena have been most carefully observed and recorded under the light of modern geological science. I have also endeavoured to show, by illustrations carried back into later geological epochs, how the volcanic phenomena of the present day do not differ in kind, though they may in degree, from those of the past history of our globe. For not only do the modes of eruption of volcanic materials in past geological times resemble those of the present or human epoch, but the materials themselves are so similar in character that it is only in consequence of alterations in structure or composition which the original materials have undergone, since their extrusion, that any important distinctions can be recognised between the volcanic products of recent times and those of earlier periods.

I have, finally, endeavoured to find an answer to two interesting and important questions: (1) Are we now living in an epoch of extraordinary volcanic energy?—a question which such terrible outbursts as we have recently witnessed in Japan, the Malay Archipelago, and even in Italy, naturally suggest; and (2) What is the ultimate cause of volcanic action? On this latter point I am gratified to find that my conclusions are in accordance with those expounded by one who has been appropriately designated the Nestor of Modern Geology, Professor Prestwich.

Within the last few years the study of the structure and composition of volcanic rocks, by means of the microscope brought to bear on their translucent sections, has added wonderfully to our knowledge of such rocks, and has become a special branch of petrological investigation. Commenced by Sorby, and carried on by Allport, Zirkel, Rosenbusch, Von Lasaulx, Teall, and many more enthusiastic students, it has thrown a flood of light upon our knowledge of the mutual relations of the component minerals of igneous masses, the alteration these minerals have undergone in some cases, and the conditions under which they have been erupted and consolidated. But nothing that has been observed has tended materially to alter conclusions arrived at by other processes of reasoning regarding volcanic phenomena, and for these we have to fall back upon observations conducted in the field on a more or less large scale, and carried on before, during, and after eruptions. Macroscopic and microscopic observations have to go hand in hand in the study of volcanic phenomena.

E. H.

CONTENTS.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Volcanoes: Past and Present.

PART I.

INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER I.

HISTORIC NOTICES OF VOLCANIC ACTION.

There are no manifestations of the forces of Nature more calculated to inspire us with feelings of awe and admiration than volcanic eruptions preceded or accompanied, as they generally are, by earthquake shocks. Few agents have been so destructive in their effects; and to the real dangers which follow such terrestrial convulsions are to be added the feelings of uncertainty and revulsion which arise from the fact that the earth upon which we tread, and which we have been accustomed to regard as the emblem of stability, may become at any moment the agent of our destruction. It is, therefore, not surprising that the ancient Greeks, who, as well as the Romans, were close observers of the phenomena of Nature, should have investigated the causes of terrestrial disturbances, and should have come to some conclusions upon them in accordance with the light they possessed. These terrible forces presented to the Greeks, who clothed all the operations of Nature in poetic imagery and deified her forces, their poetical and mystical side; and as there was a deity for every natural force, so there was one for earthquakes and volcanoes. Vulcan, the deformed son of Juno (whose name bears so strange a resemblance to that of the first artificer in iron of the Bible, Tubal Cain), is condemned to pass his days under Mount Etna, fabricating the thunderbolts of Jove, and arms for the gods and great heroes of antiquity.

The Pythagoreans appear to have held the doctrine of a central fire (μέσον πῦρ

) as the source of volcanic phenomena; and in the Dialogues of Plato allusion is made to a subterranean reservoir of lava, which, according to Simplicius, was in accordance with the doctrine of the Pythagoreans which Plato was recounting.[1] Thucydides clearly describes the effect of earthquakes upon coast-lines of the Grecian Archipelago, similar to that which took place in the case of the earthquake of Lisbon, the sea first retiring and afterwards inundating the shore. Pliny supposed that it was by earthquake avulsion that islands were naturally formed. Thus Sicily was torn from Italy, Cyprus from Syria, Eubœa from Bœotia, and the rest; but this view was previously enunciated by Aristotle in his "Περι κοσμου

," where he states that earthquakes have torn to pieces many parts of the earth, while lands have been converted into sea, and that tracts once covered by the sea have been converted into dry land.

But the most philosophical views regarding terrestrial phenomena are those given by Ovid as having been held by Pythagoras (about B.C. 580). In the Metamorphoses his views regarding the interchange of land and sea, the effects of running water in eroding valleys, the growth of deltas, the effect of earthquakes in burying cities and diverting streams from their sources, are remarkable anticipations of doctrines now generally held.[2] But what most concerns us at present are his views regarding the changes which have come over volcanic mountains. In his day Vesuvius was dormant, but Etna was active; so his illustrations are drawn from the latter mountain; and in this connection he observes that volcanic vents shift their position. There was a time, he says, when Etna was not a burning mountain, and the time will come when it will cease to burn; whether it be that some caverns become closed up by the movements of the earth, or others opened, or whether the fuel is finally exhausted.[3] Strabo may be regarded as having originated the view, now generally held, that active volcanoes are safety-valves to the regions in which they are situated. Referring to the tradition recorded by Pliny, that Sicily was torn from Italy by an earthquake, he observes that the land near the sea in those parts was rarely shaken by earthquakes, since there are now orifices whereby fire and ignited matters and waters escape; but formerly, when the volcanoes of Etna, the Lipari Islands, Ischia, and others were closed up, the imprisoned fire and wind might have produced far more violent movements.[4]

The account of the first recorded eruption of Vesuvius has been graphically related by the younger Pliny in his two letters to Tacitus, to which I shall have occasion to refer further on.[5] These bring down the references to volcanic phenomena amongst ancient authors to the commencement of the Christian era; from all of which we may infer that the more enlightened philosophers of antiquity had a general idea that eruptions had their origin in a central fire within the interior of the earth, that volcanic mountains were liable to become dormant for long periods, and afterwards to break out into renewed activity, that there existed a connection between volcanic action and earthquakes, and that volcanoes are safety-valves for the regions around.

It is unnecessary that I should pursue the historical sketch further. Those who wish to know the views of writers of the Middle Ages will find them recorded by Sir Charles Lyell.[6] The long controversy carried on during the latter part of the eighteenth century between Neptunists, led by Werner on the one side, and Vulcanists, led by Hutton and Playfair on the other, regarding the origin of such rocks as granite and basalt, was finally brought to a close by the triumph of the Vulcanists, who demonstrated that such rocks are the result of igneous fusion; and that in the cases of basalt and its congeners, they are being extruded from volcanic vents at the present day. The general principles for the classification of rocks as recognised in modern science may be regarded as having been finally established by James Hutton, of Edinburgh, in his Theory of the Earth,[7] while they were illustrated and defended by Professor Playfair in his work entitled, Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth,[8] although other observers, such as Desmarest, Collini, and Guettard, had in other countries come to very clear views on this subject.

The following are some of the more important works on the phenomena of volcanoes and earthquakes published during the present century:—[9]

1. Poulett Scrope, F.R.S., Considerations on Volcanoes (1825). This work is dedicated to Lyell, his fellow-worker in the same department of science, and was undertaken, as he says, in order to help to dispel that signal delusion as to the mode of action of the subtelluric forces with which the Elevation-Crater theory had mystified the geological world. The second edition was published in 1872.

2. This was followed by the admirable work, On the Extinct Volcanoes of Central France, published in 1826 (2nd edition, 1858), and is one of the most complete monographs on a special volcanic district ever written.

3. Dr. Samuel Hibbert, History of the Extinct Volcanoes of the Basin of Neuwied on the Lower Rhine (1832). Dr. Hibbert's work is one of remarkable merit, if we consider the time at which it was written. For not only does it give a clear and detailed account of the volcanic phenomena of the Eifel and the Lower Rhine, but it anticipates the principles upon which modern writers account for the formation of river valleys and other physical features; and in working out the physical history of the Rhine valley below Mainz, and its connection with the extinct volcanoes which are found on both banks of that river, he has taken very much the same line of reasoning which was some years afterwards adopted by Sir A. Ramsay when dealing with the same subject. It does not appear that the latter writer was aware of Dr. Hibbert's treatise.

4. Leopold von Buch, Description Physique des Iles Canaries (1825), translated from the original by C. Boulanger (1836); Geognostische Reise (Berlin, 1809), 2 vols.; and Reise durch Italien (1809). From a large number of writings on volcanoes by this distinguished traveller, whom Alexander von Humboldt calls dem geistreichen Forscher der Natur, the above are selected as being the most important. That on the Canaries is accompanied by a large atlas, in which the volcanoes of Teneriffe, Palma, and Lancerote, with some others, are elaborately represented, and are considered to bear out the author's views regarding the formation of volcanic cones by elevation or upheaval. The works dealing with the volcanic phenomena of Central and Southern Italy are also written with the object, in part at least, of illustrating and supporting the same theoretical views; with these we have to deal in the next chapter.

5. Dr. Charles Daubeny, F.R.S., Description of Active and Extinct Volcanoes, of Earthquakes, and of Thermal Springs, with remarks on the causes of these phenomena, the character of their respective products, and their influence on the past and present condition of the globe (2nd edition, 1848). In this work the author gives detailed descriptions of almost all the known volcanic districts of the globe, and defends what is called the chemical theory of volcanic action—a theory at one time held by Sir Humphrey Davy.

6. Wolfgang Sartorius von Waltershausen, Der Ætna. This work possesses a melancholy interest from the fact that its distinguished author did not live to see its publication. Von Waltershausen, having spent several years in making an elaborate survey of Etna, produced an atlas containing numerous detailed maps, views, and drawings of this mountain and its surroundings, which were published at Weimar by Engelmann in 1858. A description in MS. to accompany the atlas was also prepared, but before it was printed, the author died, on the 16th October 1876. The MS. having been put into the hands of the late Professor Arnold von Lasaulx by the publisher of the atlas, it was subsequently brought out under the care of this distinguished petrologist, who was so fully fitted for an undertaking of this kind.

7. Sir Charles Lyell in his Principles of Geology[10] devotes several chapters to the consideration of volcanic phenomena, in which, being in harmony with the views of his friend, Poulett Scrope, he combats the elevation theory of Von Buch, as applied to the formation of volcanic mountains, holding that they are built up of ashes, stones, and scoriæ blown out of the throat of the volcano and piled around the orifice in a conical form. Together with these materials are sheets of lava extruded in a molten condition from the sides or throat of the crater itself.

8. Professor J. W. Judd, F.R.S., in his able work entitled, Volcanoes: What they are, and what they teach,[11] has furnished the student of vulcanicity with a very complete manual of a general character on the subject. The author, having extensive personal acquaintance with the volcanoes of the south of Europe and the volcanic rocks of the British Isles, was well equipped for undertaking a work of the kind; and in it he supports the views of Lyell and Scrope regarding the mode of formation of volcanic mountains.

9. Sir Archibald Geikie, F.R.S., in his elaborate monograph[12] on the Tertiary Volcanic Rocks of the British Isles, has recorded his views regarding the origin and succession of the plateau basalts and associated rocks over the region extending from the north of Ireland to the Inner Hebrides; and in dealing with these districts in the following pages I have made extensive use of his observations and conclusions.

10. Report published by the Royal Society on the Eruption of Krakatoa—drawn up by several authors (1885)—and the work on the same subject by Chev. Verbeek, and published by the Government of the Netherlands (1886). In these works all the phenomena connected with the extraordinary eruptions of Krakatoa in 1883 are carefully noted and scientifically discussed, and illustrated by maps and drawings.

11. The Charleston Earthquake of August 31, 1886, by Captain Clarence Edward Dutton, U.S. Ordnance Corps. Ninth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey, 1887-88, with maps and illustrations.

12. Amongst other works which may be consulted with advantage is that of Mr. T. Mellard Reade on The Origin of Mountain Ranges; the Rev. Osmond Fisher's Physics of the Earth; Professor G. H. Darwin and Mr. C. Davison on The Internal Tension of the Earth's Crust, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. 178; Mr. R. Mallet, On the Dynamics of Earthquakes, Trans. Roy. Irish Academy, vol. xxi.; Professor O'Reilly's Catalogues of Earthquakes, Trans. Roy. Irish Academy, vol. xxviii. (1884 and 1888); and Mr. A. Ent. Gooch On the Causes of Volcanic Action (London, 1890). These and other authorities will be referred to in the text.

[1] See Julius Schwarez On the Failure of Geological Attempts made by the Greeks. (Edition 1888.)

[2]

"Vidi ego, quod fuerat quondam solidissima tellus,

Esse fretum. Vidi factas ex æquore terras:

Et procul à pelago conchæ jacuere marinæ;

Et vetus inventa est in montibus anchora sumnis.

Quodque fuit campus, vallem de cursus aquarum

Fecit; et eluvie mons est deductus in æquor:

Eque paludosa siccis humus aret arenis;

Quæque sitim tulerant, stagnata paludibus hument.

Hic fontes Natura novos emissit, at illuc

Clausit: et antiquis