VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15848, 19 February 1915, Page 6

VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS.

POSITION OF AUCKLAND.

The possibility of a volcanic eruption in the vicinity of Auckland has been seriously ' suggested by occasional scientific visitors v ? to the city, but the idea was discussed very calmly by a well known Americas geologist who arrived from Wellington £ ■ yesterday. This wis Prof. P. J Iddings, ione of the leading authorities on the constitution ol volcanic rocks, and although he did not dismiss the suggestion as entirely unjustified, he remarked that ample warring would be given of new life in any of the extinct volcanoes. Ho said that until a few years ago there was rot a single active volcano in the United States, and there was no evidence in the Indian traditions of any eruption within the memory of man. However, a volcanic eruption had occurred, and it was then found that a neighbouring cono must also have been active within recent times, for the stomps of trees destroyed by an eruption were still standing. Students no longer speak of extinct volcanoes, preferring to regard them as merely latent, but Prof. Iddings remarked that" beiore auv of the Auckland hills could erupt, there would bo ample warning by rumblings ?na earthquakes, and even then the eruption might ce quite a tame affair. Unless water were introduced into the threat of a volcano, it would not, as a general rule, " go off with a bang. '