ELEVATION AND DEPRESSION OF EARTH'S CRUST. 



135 



Fig. 112. 



tween a a a, the present coast-line, and the cliff b b b, which marks 

 the position of the former coast line, there is a nearly level plain 

 called the Starza. Now, there is perfect evidence that at one time 

 the land was depressed until the 

 sea beat against the cliff b b, and 

 that both the depression and the 

 re-elevation to its present condition 

 took place since the period of Ro- 

 man greatness. The evidence is as 

 follows : 



1. There are certain shells abundant in the Mediterranean and in 

 many other seas, called litliodomus (Ai0os, a stone ; domus, a house), 

 from the habit of boring for themselves holes in the rocks near the 

 water-line. Such borings, often with the dead shells in them, are found 

 all along the base of the cliff b b, twenty feet above the present sea- 

 level. 2. The level plain called Starza is composed of strata contain- 

 ing shells of the Mediterranean and Roman works of art. 3. On this 

 plain, near the present sea-margin, are the ruins of a Roman temple 

 dedicated to Jupiter Serapis. The floor and three of the columns d of 

 this beautiful work are still almost perfect (Fig. 112). When first dis- 

 covered the floor and the lower part of the columns were covered by 

 the materials of the plain. Above the part thus covered the columns 

 were bored with litliodomi to a height of twenty feet. This temple was, 

 of course, above the sea-level during the Roman period. After that 

 period it sank until the sea-level stood at s' (Fig. 112), twenty feet 

 above the base. Now, the floor of the temple is again on a level with 

 the sea. These changes were so gradual that they were entirely insen- 

 sible, and, in fact, unknown to the inhabitants. The upright position 

 of the columns also shows that it could not have been produced by 

 convulsive action. 4. Italian historians state that in 1530 the sea beat 

 against the cliff b b. 5. Evidences of similar changes, in some cases 

 depression and in others elevation, are seen in many places along the 

 coast of Italy, Candia, and Greece. 



In all the cases thus far mentioned, but especially that of the tem- 

 ple of Serapis, the near vicinity of volcanoes (Fig. Ill) suggests that 

 these effects were probably in some way connected with volcanic ac- 

 tion. But there are many instances in which no such connection can 

 be traced. 



Scandinavia. — The best-observed instance of this kind is that of the 

 coasts of Sweden. Careful observations on the coasts of the Baltic 

 and Polar Seas have proved that nearly the whole of Norway and 

 Sweden is rising slowly, and has been rising for thousands of years. 

 South of Stockholm there is no elevation, but, on the contrary, slight 

 depression ; but north of Stockholm the whole coast is rising at a rate 



