350 



GEOLOGY 



1897, " fishes were killed in myriads as by the explosion of a dyna- 

 mite cartridge and for days after the earthquake the 



river (Sumesari) was choked with thousands of dead fish 



and two floating carcasses of Gangetic dolphins were seen which 



Fig. 285. Line of the California fault. (U. S. Geol. Surv.) 



had been killed by the shock." 1 This wholesale destruction of life 

 is of interest since the surfaces of layers of rock, often of great age, 

 are sometimes covered with fossils in such numbers as to indicate 

 that the animals were killed suddenly and in great numbers, and 

 their bodies quickly buried. It has been suggested that such 

 1 Oldham, loc. cit., p. 80. 



