woodworth: geoldgical expedition to beazil and chile. 39 



elevation exceeding forty-two feet was ascertained by indubitable 

 evidence. But this case arose in a folded mountain-chain of recent 

 development where uplift is not denied by Suess. The Coastal 

 Cordillera of Chile is composed of an elongated horst lying outside of 

 the folded chain of the Andes and the evidence of uplifts at the time 

 of the Valparaiso earthquake of 1906 is therefore of especial interest in 

 confirming the conclusion of Darwin and Fitzroy that an elevation 

 of the coast may take place concomitant with an earthquake on this 

 coast, though it does not prove that the coast has been permanently 

 elevated by successive stages at long intervals in this manner. 



From the information collected and published by Dr. Steffen, we 

 also learn that no noticeable seaquake wave or tsunami was set up 

 in that part of the coast which was the seat of the maximum seismic 

 activity and change of level. At Constitucion and particularly in 

 the bay of Talcahuano unusual movements of the sea, however, 

 appear to have taken place. At Tome on the eastern shore of this 

 large shallow harbor at a time differently stated as a quarter of an 

 hour and as an hour after the earthquake, the sea retired for about 

 fifty meters, returning quieth^ to its place. This movement was 

 repeated three or four times, the last two incursions being the greatest, 

 covering a space of seventy meters. At Penco, the site of Old Con- 

 cepcion, made famous by the number of times it has been devasted 

 by earthquakes and sudden irruptions of the sea, similar phenomena 

 took place. A wave rose to the level of the railway (Plate 4) along 

 the beach and passed through the bridges and drains to the low 

 ground behind, causing the inhabitants in their alarm to begin to 

 take refuge in the neighboring hills; but the sea returned, so it is 

 stated, to its normal level in less than ten minutes. (Steffen, 1907, 

 p. 66-67). 



The Valparaiso earthquake followed immediately upon a heavy 

 earthquake on the submarine border of the x\leutian Island platform 

 in 50 N. L. and somewhere between 175° and 180° of longitude E. 

 from Greenwich according seismometric determinations.^ The mean 

 of the determinations of the time at origin of this shock by Zoeppritz, 

 Oh. 10m. 47s., and by the observatories at Florence, Oh. 10m. 35s., 

 Laibach, Oh. 11m. 19s., and Tokyo, oh. 11m. 16s., is Oh. 10m. 59s. 



1 Zoeppritz places the origin witliin 100 Idlometers of 180 of Longitude from Gr. 

 and the time as Oli. 10m. 47s.=i=20s. See E. Rudolph und E. Tarns Seismogramme 

 der nordpaziflschen und sudamerikanischen erdbebens am 16 August 1906, Strassburg 

 i. E. 1907. Professor Omori gives the origin at 175 +° B. L. and the time as Oh. 

 11m. 44s. G. M. T., midnight to midnight. 



