Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 69.djvu/111

Rh it rested, and this crack often assumed formidable dimensions (Fig. 10); in fact its magnitude was found to be a convenient index of the local violence of the earthquake in regions where buildings are rare. Landslips from the bluffs margining the roads (Fig. 11) were also very numerous, in many instances stopping traffic until repairs could be made. And there were many landslides on a larger scale, the earthquake initiating movements which might otherwise have been delayed for years or even centuries. Some of these landslides fell into streams, dammed their waters and created temporary lakes.

Other disturbances of water supply were more directly connected with the earthquake. At several points large volumes of water were squeezed from the ground during the agitation, causing brief but violent torrents, and one of these brought with it so much sand as to constitute a sort of sand eruption. There are reports also that certain springs have received a permanent increase in volume, a result which would naturally follow from the modification of underground circulation by the cracking of rock and earth.