BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 



Vol. 11, pp. 61-106, pls. 9-14 March 19, 1900 



THE TETRAHEDRAL EARTH AND ZONE OF THE INTER- 

 CONTINENTAL SEAS 



ANNUAL ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, BENJAMIN KENDALL EMERSON 



(Read before the Society December 27, 1899) 



CONTENTS 



Page 



A prelude on influence of vulcanism of the Mediterranean zone on thought. 61 



Part I. The tetrahedral earth 65 



In general 65 



Green's hypothesis of the tetrahedral earth 65 



General statement of the hypothesis 65 



Shifting of the southern hemispheres 67 



The twinning plane .....! 67 



Argument in favor of tetrahedroid tendency in formation of earth's crust. 67 



Geodetic considerations. 71 



Other tetrahedral maps 73 



Map of Richard Owen 73 



Map of Michel-Levy 74 



Shifting of the southern continents 75 



Part II. The zone of the intercontinental seas 77 



Suggestive relationships of land and sea areas 77 



Green's explanation of the Mediterranean zone 78 



Tidal stresses in the crust 80 



Possible former parallelism of equator with Mediterranean zone and 



greater oblateness as an explanation of this zone 81 



Presentation and discussion of views of other writers 81 



General explanation of the formation of the intercontinental zone. . . 86 

 Particular description of the zone with discussion of the exceptional 



character of the Asiatic chains 88 



Homologies of the Mediterraneans , 90 



Diversity of eruptives 90 



Mountain chains of two types 91 



The Pacific zone • 91 



Printz's torsion map and Darwin's lines of wrinkling 93 



Resume 95 



Appendix : Asymmetry of the northern hemisphere by E. Suess 96 



IX— Bull. Gbol. Soc. ., Vol. 11, 1899 (61) 



