Abstract
FIFTY years ago it appeared as though the volcanic problem had been completely and satisfactorily solved. Granted a cooling globe in which a solid crust covered heated matter, actually or potentially liquid, then the influx of sea-water through fissures in the crust seemed to account for all the phenomena observed during a volcanic outburst. Observations had then been almost wholly confined to the small group of Mediterranean volcanoes; but as our knowledge of volcanic action and terrestrial physics has grown with more continuous study over wider areas, these conclusions, as well as the premises on which they were based, have long since failed to satisfy students of geophysics. One of the chief factors in bringing about this revolution in opinion has undoubtedly been the systematic study of the remarkable volcanoes of the Hawaiian islands, for which we are especially indebted to the geologists of the United States. In the great “pit-crater,” or “sink,” of Kilauea, always open to inspection, we find the explosive action and escape of gases reduced to a minimum, such “sinks” presenting the most marked contrast to the explosion-formed craters of Vesuvius and Stromboli (see Figs,? and 2). Equally striking is the difference between the great flat Hawaiian domes, rising above the ocean-floor to the height of the Himalayas, with slopes of from i° to 40, and the steep conical piles of Chimbor-azo and Cotbpaxi. Another volcano of the same type as the Hawaiian, Matavanu, in the Samoan group, has been recently described by Dr. Tempest Anderson and Other observers. In the study of the highly heated lavas of these volcanoes, an explanation has been found of the “slaggy “and “ropy” varieties of lava, as well as of the peculiar types known as “pillow-lavas “formed when they flow into the sea (see Fig. 3).
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J., J. Recent Theories of Volcanic Action 1 . Nature 88, 79–81 (1911). https://doi.org/10.1038/088079a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/088079a0