In Austria, disturbances were observed at Pola (295 miles) and Vienna
(506 miles), beginning at 6h. 28m. 35s. and 6h. 30m. 35s.,
respectively. They reached Brussels (522 miles) at 6h. 29m. 27s., and
Utrecht (600 miles) at 6h. 28m. 38s.[50] At Wilhelmshaven (690 miles),
only the vertical force magnet was affected, the oscillations
beginning at 6h. 30m. 35s., and lasting for fourteen minutes. At 6h.
27m. 55s., the declination and horizontal force magnets of Greenwich
observatory (642 miles) were set vibrating, but no similar
disturbances were revealed by the vertical force curve or by the two
earth-current registers. At Kew (652 miles), the horizontal force
magnetograph was moved by the earthquake at about 6h. 29m. 55s. The
curves at Stonyhurst and Falmouth show no sign of any disturbance, nor
do those at Pawlovsk in Russia, or Seville. At Lisbon (951 miles),
however, the three curves indicate disturbances at 6h. 32m. 35s., but
so feeble are they that they would have escaped discovery if the
occurrence of the earthquake had been unknown.
The effects registered on the magnetograms are quite different from
those which correspond to ordinary magnetic perturbations; but they
are not unlike those produced by the action of the momentary currents
which are used for making the hour-marks, except that the
earthquake-oscillations lasted several minutes (see Fig. 21). In each
case, then, the magnetic bars must have received a succession of
several or many impulses.
Now, the effect of these impulses on each magnet must depend on the
relations which exist between the period of oscillation of the magnet,
the rate of damping of such oscillations, and the interval between the
successive impulses. Also, the apparent commencement of the phenomena
may be delayed if two impulses of contrary sense should follow one
another before the bar is perceptibly displaced. It is therefore to be
expected, as M. Mascart points out, that the disturbances of the three
instruments need not be of the same order of magnitude, that with
different forms of apparatus the effects may be very variable, and
that the deflection of one instrument may precede that of another at
one and the same place.
In all the magnetographs, the record is made on photographic paper,
which travels so slowly that the time of a movement can only be
ascertained to the nearest minute. As the disturbances on the French
curves were apparently almost simultaneous, and as no two of the
others differed in time of occurrence by more than five minutes, there
is thus some colour for M. Mascart's contention that the magnetic
apparatus registered, not the movements of the ground, but the passage
of electric currents produced in the ground at a certain epoch of the
earthquake.[51]
On the other hand, it is important to notice that, in the central part
of the disturbed area, at Nice, two, if not all three, of the
magnetographs were unaffected at the time of the earthquake.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account