EARTHQUAKES AND ERUPTIONS.

Kumara Times, Issue 801, 25 April 1879, Page 4

EARTHQUAKES AND ERUPTIONS.

(prom the times.) The year 1878 has already seen more than its fair share of disastrous earthquakes and similar phenomena. There are slight tremblements de terra in one part or another of the earth's surface, about once in three days, but it is only occasionally that serious outbursts occur which overwhelm cities, swallow up whole islands, or raise up the bed of the sea from a fathomless depth to a dangerous shoal. During the first half of the present year, however, the intensity of the shocks of earthquake and of volcanic eruptions has undoubtedly been on the increase, and if this continues the thousandth anniversary of the destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii, which will occur next year, will be celebrated in an appropriate, if an undesirable, manner, by the forces of nature itself. This activity has developed itself since June, 1877. In the whole of 1877 there occurred, according to the compilations of Professor Fuchs, 109 ; recorded earthquakes, though, from our own observations, we believe the number to have been somewhat larger. In theithree months of June, July, and August there were only ll earthquakes ; while 34 occurred in September, October, arid November, and the rest in the previous Bix months, back to December 1, 1876. As usual, the most violent of theEe phenomena were those occurring in South America. -The damage done to Iquique, Yalparaisoj Lima, and other cities by the outbreak of May 9, 1877, was enormous,, the vibrations occurring with s'artling rapidity,' and lasting over several days. A few days later a submarine volcanic eruption-occurred off the Coast of Peru, which also did great damage to shipping. The effects of these disturbances were felt in aft parts of the Pacific. During the year several minor earthquakes, though of unusual intensity for the part of the world in which they were felt, occurred in Europe. Those of April 4, May 2, and October 8 in Switzerland ; and of Novem--1 and 4 and December 22 at Lisbon, were the most alarming. Fortunately, little or no ssrious damage was done. The volcanoes of Europe were unusually inactive during the year, but in South America, in Japan, and in the Pacific generally, the year was marked by several very violent volcanic explosions. The frequency with which outbreaks of this nature were observed in the open sea was a peculiarity of the year. Thus in February a very remarkable eruption occurred in the seas surrounding the Sandwich Islands, 10 days afier a violent outburst of the crater of Mauna Loa, on the mainland of the group, and a few weeks before another most remarkable outflow of lava from the celebrated lava lake of Kilauea. Here vast jets of liquid lava were ejected Jo a great height through the hard crust of the solidifying lava of the lake, which had laid undisturbed for many years. Much more serious was the eruption of Mount Cotopaxi in June, accompanied by terrible showers of ashes, dust, and mud, which were carried by the wind far |and wide over the country, devestating the fair lands, and destroying hundreds of Uvea. The insular volcano of Ooshima, in Japan, broke out in flames and burning lava on January 4, and continued in violent action till the first week in February, causing, in combination with the earthquakes which accompanied it, a disastrous loss of life. Among the more noteworthy events of the year was the eruption of a new volcano in a district hitherto supposed to be free from volcanic disturbance—namely, on June 11, in a new crater near the Colorado River, California. About the same time an earthquake was felt in Canada. The submergence of several islands in the great archipelago lying between the Malay Peninsula and Australia, the upheaval of new lands in the same district, and the observance of the effects of volcanic phenomena in the deep waters of the South Atlantic, and where the sea is some 20,000 ft deep, would have been sufficient of themselves to mark the past year as an uncommon period of strange volcanic phenomena. As already hinted, however, we believe that the current twelve months will, unless a sudden cessation of activity occurrs, prove to be even more prolific of such events than any of its re r cent predecessors.