CATASTROPHE OF KANTZOEIK, ARMENIA. 35 



be transformed and modified by the continuation of the actual dis- 

 turbance? or, again, should a volcano be established, will it allow of 

 the expansion of the gases which appear to exert so strong a pres- 

 sure upon the crust of the earth in this region? No one can foresee. 



Discussion. 



The President, in commenting on the remarkable nature of the 

 phenomenon, regarded the offer of the paper on the part of the 

 Author as a compliment to the Society. It was not a volcanic 

 eruption, but more of the nature of a mud-flow produced by a big 

 landslip — possibly connected with the stoppage of the springs. Still 

 it was on a very large scale, though clearly the effect of water and 

 not of fire. 



Dr. Eyans agreed with the President. It was difiicult to recon- 

 cile the alleged incandescence with the other phenomena. Infiltra- 

 tion of water probably had something to do with the outburst. It 

 was not even a mud-volcano. The falling in of the mountain, he 

 thought, might have been due to soft beds covered by harder mate- 

 rial having oozed out. It would be interesting to know if there had 

 been an increased rainfall prior to the occurrence. There was 

 nothing of a truly volcanic nature mentioned in the paper. He should 

 like to have further information about the incandescence. 



Mr. Dallas (who translated the paper) said that the " redness " 

 was reported by the people to the Author. 



Rev. Edwin Hill thought that the mud-balls could in no way be 

 explained by igneous agency. The photographs gave no indication 

 of the presence of steam. As a landslip the amount was very 

 great, and possibly the phenomenon might be something similar to 

 the overflow of peat-bogs. 



Mr. HuDLESTON recalled the statement of the Author regarding 

 the geological constitution of the district, where masses of Secon- 

 dary rocks are folded within igneous ones, probably of Tertiary age. 

 It was likely, therefore, that some of the softer Secondary marls, 

 pressed in more than one direction by harder rocks and soaked by 

 water, might at last have given way. The immediate cause of the 

 catastrophe could scarcely be indicated without a knowledge of the 

 district. Such events occurred from time to time elsewhere. The 

 llussian topographers, if his memory served him right, had described 

 the bursting of a mountain-side, with fatal results, in one of the 

 valleys near Lake Issyk Kul. The smoke-like powder, resulting 

 from the continued falls of rock, had often given rise to the notion 

 of volcanic action. There could be no better instance of this than 

 the case of Mount St. Elias, the highest mountain in North Ame- 

 rica. In geography-books this mountain has almost invariably been 

 described as a volcano, and a portion has actually been designated 

 as the crater. This illusion had been occasioned by the dust of 

 rock-falls resembling smoke. We might well pardon the Author 

 for speculating on the probability of a return to volcanic activity in 

 a region which bears so many traces of it as this part ot Armenia. 



d2 



