VOLCANIC DUST

Hokitika Guardian, 5 July 1932, Page 8

VOLCANIC DUST

STRANGE MANTLE FALLS. ON ARGENTINIAN TRACTS. Further information has 'been re-„-jivea *n. Now (oea-iand of tne volcanic,wiStu/banceA'in the’Southern Alices; in >_jChicii 'America. • the dust from ' which, apparently- DloWn by high winds..three-Vimi-ters of the way found the world tne southern Atlantic .and i* a " 4.1U0 Oceans, hangs over the Dominion, prooahly lapsing bright sunsets and uw temperatures which have' been experienced during May and June." , A letter from a resident in tho' Ar o e..niio, an .niLeicoting account of the uncomfortable phenomenon. The 'letter reads : ‘ v-. VVh are covered three and a-half cent’ ine' 1 covered three a*nd a half . a cent ilnetei’s (over an inch) in white ash i.om six volcanoes, which are in action in the. Andes. On Sunday April 10, we drove /to lunch at San Alberto, •'.it'* Was a glorious day of autumn sunshine. We left for home at 1 about midnight, but presently one of oui party remarked that the air seemed ful of midgets. Soon we found that we had' hardly any light from the car, and on getting down to look discovered that- what we first thought to be midgets was a fine white powder faL ung rapidly, covering ,us like -unbw, and-' sticking to the lamp glasses, obliterating the light. We came a league -through our camp to avoid a of road and nearly lost the ty.:,y, as the air .was so thick and all the ’ tracks were becoming covered, hi eiy iit)..; and then we had to wipe the glasses- Onpe home, we. realises that tiie dust was powdered ash from a vqlcano, coming on a very sligh wind' from the northvVest. In the morning (Monday April 11) it was still 1 falling. : . ' . ’ .' - SILENCE AND DARKNESS. “There ,was utter silence and pitch, .fnky darkness. It wont' on like thatun'il midday. NeSivs from the station', master -indicated that a little ash had fallen ,-at .Buencs Aires. -At midday, the light slowly began to appear, and in about 15 minutes we could, just see each other. In another 15 minutes : we had' daylight, and-the falling-of the as]i stopped.... We had lunch -and •Wept' f off to- the station -in the. hoar to get seme *;n°wo, if possible, but we soon found that the ash got into the works of the car and' kept it from' moving... .• .With 'tho -help of a- sulky' Hve just managed to get back,- and tince then no car lias lieen opt. i “We found'that the animal managed to eat, .-is they uncovered the , a]fa]fa, through walking abou^ijii.. it. ” 1 SCIENTIST’S ACCOUNT.. ' An 1 elaborated account of the eruptions was given: by a, .scierili'stj -• Dr • Charles Davidson, in the April’ iksut of a scientific magazine pd&liehed in- England. The writer re r ierred to-the possibility of the disturbance being followed by brilliant dimsots ■ such as were obiserypd all over the world after the. eruption of Mount Krahatoa (in the Dutch Easy Indicts)',, ill 1883, and similar in New Zealand recently. Early in the morning of April 10, eruptions, began, in several volcanoes in.'the Southern Andes, nibst, of which were supposed to be dormant, or but rarely in action, j The volcanoes a$ fected, from no'rth' to couth, were Tupungato, Overb 1-fnguiririca, Peteroa, Descabezado,' 1 Las Yeguas, and Quizapu. All' of them were in action simultaneously, though the distance that separates the extreme mountain is > about-' 200- miles. Their heights diminish southwards, from 21,810 ft, (Tupungato) to 1 -11,342 ft, (Las Yeguas. ~ The principal i feature of gtho eruption, Dr Davidson stated, .was the great amount' of solid mateijia-1 ejected!....Loud 'explosions heard one hundred miles or more from the;, nearest volcano' were -not to be compared with tho e during the 'eruption of Krakato, in 1883 the sounds of which were heard’,at one place, 2968 lies distant. Some observers ’ ' who crossed Lai; Yeguas in an aeroplane (appnently on April 12) heard loud ’■ explosions occur ing within the crater every half minute, and blocks weighing many toriy were thrown upwards for n\or? than 200 ft. These, it was haul, gnye the impression of being pulverised ip mid-air. : THREE FEET OF DUST. - Giving details of the sta-te of, the towns near the volcanic zone, Dr Davidson wrote that on the west side of the Ando,3 the country from San-•--in-o- to Talc a was covered with a layer of whitish dust, in places more ’ than ' two inches deep. On. the east I | 3 ide the fall was much heavier. < In the DepM true lit t-f S- n Rafneß the i layer of dust was a foot in depth, and in one. place nearly three feet, so ! that trains were stopped from rim I niug. Over Buenos Aires it- was esI tiniated that more than 3000 tons c.f j , debris Imd fallen.' The whole country there was coated with grey dust, and cattle had to be fed by. hand with hay and artificial' food;. "