3Q4 B. KOTO: CAUSE OF THE GREAT 



volcano in its centre, such us Iwaki, Moriyoshi, Chökai, Ga«san, 

 Daisen, Sambé, and Aono. 



Nearly at the middle of the Pacific side, a notable indentation of 

 the coast-line forms the liay of Ise, whose northern prolonuation is a 

 kettle- like depression. This is the low plain of the twin-provinces of 

 Mino and Owari, which was the scene of the disaster occasioned l)y the 

 subterranean convulsion in the autumn of 1891. This flat has the 

 appearance of a basin, circumscribed on all sides by walls of moun- 

 tains, except at its rim on the south, which is, as just stated, 

 open to the Bay of Ise. The west, nortli, and north-east are l)uilt 

 up of Palaeozoic formations, while the mass of granites of Mikawa 

 lies on the east. 



Mr. Kochibe, of the Geological Survey, made hioini hi Ins 

 ojjicial report Ids view as to the cauae of the late earthijuake, irlncJi 

 is based on the assumption that the ahorc-moilioned plain is a (jeolocjical 

 sag or ' Graben- Depression,' as Prof. Suess would say. He supposes 

 that beneath the surface a number of fault-lines run north and south, 

 a.nd also east and west, and that in consecjuence of the downward 

 movement of strata interposed l^etween the planes of fault, displace- 

 ments have eventually formed the present plain ; and he also beheves a 

 paroxysmal sliding of a complex of rocks on these old geological lines 

 to be tlie actual cause of the earthquake. Our geological knowledge of 

 this part of the country is as yet very imperfect, and some time must 

 elapse before we can expect to see any successful attempt to estaljlish so 

 daring an hypothesis on a tolerably safe scientific basis. So nuich in 

 technical tre;itment of dislocations. 



