SURFACE MOVEMENTS OF THE EARTH.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 918, 25 January 1872, Page 3

SURFACE MOVEMENTS OF THE EARTH.

1 B The old geological theory that from ' Kine to time the surfaco of the earth Has been changed by grand catastro- ' Bhes, which, destroying plants and jpiinals, wore on an immense scale giruilar to the local catastrophes prouced by volcanic eruptions and earthuakes, has been abandoned by reason fourmore correct knowledge, founded n tareful observations which investiators have been making for many ears. These observations have proved hat sudden catastrophes are always ' lierely local, but that all the great ihanges in the surfaco of our earth, as • llie upheaval of mountain ranges and ' $e depression of valleys, and their ! ''ultimate change into lakes aud oceans, ' faro gradual and go always on, even at fshe present day. The mountains bor- ■ lidering the Pacific Ocean—in fact the hvbole coast of California —are perpetually Tising, and have probably Keen doing so for half a million of ftears; while all the land containing in tits bosom out great American lakes is Slowly sinking with a probable corres|»onding upheaval of tbo State of ■Kentucky, of Southern Indiana, and surrounding countries. Geological prove that once our ;|akes had their outlet south, till by Repression, at the north a new outlet fnas formed about 40,000 years ago, Ethrough Niagara to the St. Lawrence -Eiver. The division lino of the lakes and the Mississippi Valley has been f slowly travelling southward since [•that time: and when tho city of \ Chicago recently turned the waters of ' Lake Michigan up tho Chicago Eiver \ into the Mississippi Valley, she simply re-established tho whole state of affairs, ■which, if the motion in question continues, will be more difficult to niain- [ tain in the future than it is now. ( Fortunately, this motion is very slow, \ and only a very remote posterity, some \ thousand years hence, will meet with I the difficulties we now foresee, and the I bed of tho Chicago Eiver become I lower and lower in its junction with | Lake Michigan. I It appears, further, that the State I of New Jersey is sinking, and this is I -even participated in by the city of I New York, Brooklyn, Long Island, &c, I at the rate of some sixteen or sevenI teen inches per century. This is inI significant, to be sure ; but let it only Igo on for a thousand years, and it is I some fifteen feet, so that the new stone I <lock3 now commenced in New Tork I city at that time will be totally sub- • merged *. but then they will probably " not last so long, and the soil of the : lower part of the city may be very : easily raised half a foot every thirty years. It is evident that the most correct data may be obtained at the sea shore, as the main height of the ocean possesses a perfect stability. This main height, is of course, obtained by continual observation of the tides under different circumstances, and if anywhere the highest tides reach a higher level than they did one huudred or two hundred years ago, it is a proof of depression or sinking of the land. This depression is going on along the doast of Northern France, Belgium, Holland, and North-west Germany; while the coast of Swden, along the Baltic, is slowly rising, including the capital of Sweden —tho city of Stockholm. The latest scientific journals report two xery striking contemporary upheavals in Spain, entirely authentic. M. de Botello describes them in detail, and the most curious fact is that the short time of scarcely a quarter of a century was sufficient to produce an effect which has surprised every inhabitant who observed the circumstances formerly, and compared them with the present condition. In the province of Jarnora, it is observed that from tho village of Villar Don Diego it is now possible to see the upper ball of the church steeple Eenifarzes, in thejprovince of Valladolid ; whereas, twenty-three years ago, the summit of this steeplo could only just be perceived. The same thing occurs in the Bame degree, and under the same circustances, in the province of Alava, where from the village of Salvatierra the whole of the village of Saluende can now be seen j while in 1847, the vane of tho church steeple conld hardly be perceived. These four points are on a line parallel to the system of the Sanserrois Mountains, while the extreme points aro one hundred and forty miles apart. All the movements we speak of here have nothing to do with volcanic eruptions ; they are, of course, caused by changed conditions of the interior of the earth's mass, which by these facts is proved not to be solid, the opinion of some modern geologist notwithstanding ; the earth, if not liquid inside, must at least be soft and plastic, in order to make depressions in one place with simultaneous elevations in another. One other interesting fact we must mention in this connection ; it is that the highest mountains are not the oldest, as one would naturally suppose; hut belonging to the system la=>t elevated ; so tho high Swiss Alps are much younger than the lower Shawangunk Mountains.—American J?aper.