MR PARK'S THEORY ON THE LATE ERUPTION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2337, 3 July 1886, Page 2

MR PARK'S THEORY ON THE LATE ERUPTION.

(To thb Emtoj.) ';?' . .;: Sir, —I think the late eruption, might'' easily be explained it we accept the chemical theory advanced by Sir-H. Davy •, and subsequently maintained byanumber - of scientific mon that the .metallic.-buss of the earth and alkalis constitute.'ihiy interior parts of the earth, and, prod'uw . violent combustion, when they com* i« contact with water... My, pononal ;.ex«,"; porience of the volcanic, region in IhY North Island leads me- to accept thii. hyphothesis, and 1 explain the present eruption in the following way:—There Is a volcanic zone extending from : Whit* , Island to Tongariro, a distance of: about - 150 miles. A'-ljne drawn on thVmap from White Island to Tongariro- would- - intersect tluniihdt of the most voleanieally active part of, the colony. ''fijjjfuW" tinctly is this volcanic zone ' : . the raefoa-mcuntain. has •beeh-6ut%..-' two, and that part which was om the volcanic line has sunk down level,with the plains, while the sharply defined. afl|' peculiarly shaped flora; floro mouriSuj (which is really the continuation: oT?the Paeroaa), stands oS with its precipitous cliffs some six or seven, miles away. Hochsteeter thought this peculiar pha- ' nomenon worthy of remark. Indeed, immediately you depart from this line, say four nr five miles on either side, you ' leave the violently affected district■';.».' although the effeotSj in the shape- of iu« •'. . creased volcanic action extends in goiuo ■,.. parts for an indefinite distance. VThpni,, - : andsofsolfataras,fumeroles,geysers, etc.,..... existed'in the line of tbiazone.bufcowing to the. diminished supply of water":' 1 necessary to causo combustion, all of. them are continually throwing,up more or •' - less steam and.mud. ;<'Lessstea'm andmu j, .-.:•■■■ .:■ is omitted insumrher than in winter, eon- -. sequently the mud round the lips of the . ■:' nuniat.ure craters become dry and hard and the throat of the vent* monjigid ' more circumscribed ut the dry weafler continues. Thus the exceptionally lung spell of dry weather last season facilitated the present eruption by closing the or- '.' dinary safety, valves in thovolcanio region..... „ The immediate effect of the autumn raini would be to suddenly promote eombus--.; tiou, while the surface, water would act a^ 1 ■' a further impediment to the escape olthe%v elastic vapors, and the existing'' renti ;, proving insufficient, the present oruption - was the natural result. In support of this theory, too, I would remind you thii Tongairo in 1880 burst out into aotive eruption in June, immediately after & heavy rainfall, and I believe that it will be found on enquiry that the Hot Springs display greater activity in Autumn thaH.' at any other season of the year. ...-.Mount . Tarawera was an immense Gasometer, ' the top of which blew off when it became , surcharged with' elastic vapour, Mr '•■' Burt, a spectator from Fort-'Gilatea, '...' situate on the south-eastern side of of the -.. mountain, inpports my theory. He says •. • that it was after the Tarawera explosion and after the crater of that mountain had become choked with, .incpmbuilabl* . .' matter that Rotoraahana may add tl.it there is a-hope for Taraa&i yet, If Mount Egmont becomes affeoftd, as Tarawera has been, a harbor and breakwater would probably be formed without aid from the New Plymouthonians.- I mean, of course, those who would beloffe. I am, Ac, G. M.PiSK.' :;■-./