Page:Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857.djvu/437

Rh limestone rock at a greater or less depth, and extending for more than four square miles; above which to the east rise the summits of Monte St. Elia, and Monte della Vajana, which recommence the broken chain of the E. lateral range. Padula therefore, has got, soft, cretaceous, and sandy, white limestone beds with east and west strike, and nearly vertical stratification to the N., similar but harder limestone of unknown stratification to the south, and the deep clays of the piano to the west of it. The rock upon which the town stands is of the same quality and stratification as the range to the north, and the colline is joined on to the great range by a shoulder at rather a lower level. The western and southern slopes of the town are very steep, averaging probably 30° from the horizon towards the plain; the buildings generally, either founded on the bare rock, or upon a thin stratum of diluvial matter, which increases in depth as we descend towards the plain.

The buildings on these sides are the oldest and worst, and have suffered the most, having been exposed to the severest brunt of the shock, and been the least able to bear it, and in the most favourable position heaped above each other to produce mutual destruction in falling. The counterscarp of the town, or that on the east and N. E. towards the narrow valley and gorge behind it, is less steep close to the town, but within a quarter of a mile of both sides of the gorge becomes precipitous; the west side being bare limestone rock nearly to the bottom, which is not much above the level of the piano (at the town), and the opposite, or east side, covered with steep banks of calcareous clays; limestone, angular gravel, and sand, getting very deep and heavy as they descend to the bottom, where they are being cut into and carried away by the torrent