“EARTHQUAKE YEAR”

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11412, 8 January 1923, Page 4

“EARTHQUAKE YEAR”

SCIENTIST’S PREDICTION, j ... NEW. UPHEAVALS EXPECTED. The Abbe Moreux, director of Bourses Observatory, in .an article published in Paris at the end of, November in regard to■ the reoent earthquakes, prediots new upheavals for the coming year. One of the most seriously affected earthquake regions in the world, he says, is the fajnous msditerraneeii depression whioh surrounds the globe at the point of separation between the ancient African and Eurasian continents on, the one hand end North and South American on the other. 'lt is now "SeSfe. tgat earthquakes. are' more or less Continually ..occurring, the seosmograbhs registering on an • average "30,000 of these movements of the earth every year. The majority of the shocks oooor during the colder season, end than more often in the night than during the day, and in the morning more frequently- than in the eveningA Those facts have led this well-known astronomer ■ to • conduct researches .since 1902 as to whether the Son has not an affective action in the internal economy of the globe, as it -has on ito atmosphere. Hie conclusion is that atmospheric electricity serves os an intermediary between the sun end or< rather—which comes to the same thinm-botwisefi solar phenomena and contractions of ithe' terrestrial globe Earthquakes'are most numerous, he asserts, in the periods of exceptional solar oalm which recur every 11 ’ yearn. Now the maximum of solar activity according- to Abba Mjoxesax's observations, was registered in 1817; therefore he predicts that it wSI boar "its minimum in 1923, which should therefore he marked -by an increased number, of earthquakes. Tbs series, he instate. has already begun, and in a little while shocks may be expected to be reported -from Japan, the west, Indies, and perhaps Mexioo and Turkestan. With the exception of the Provencal dirtricts, France, he believes, may expect to,-es-cape, as it is normally largely free l from phenomena of this Had.