Page:The origin of continents and oceans - Wegener, tr. Skerl - 1924.djvu/95

Rh numerous isolated results show the correctness of our assumptions. Thus, for example, B. Wanner explained the deep water between Buru and Sula Besi, which was unexpected tectonically, by the fact that the former has been displaced horizontally about 10 km., a supposition which fits in very well with our ideas. G. A. F. Molengraaff gives a chart of the Sunda islands in which the area with coral reefs elevated more than 5 m. is recorded. This district coincides in an astonishing manner with that in which, according to the displacement theory, the sial must be thickened by compression, that is, the whole of the area lying in front of the Australian block up to and including Celebes, apart from the south-west coasts of Sumatra and Java, as well as the north and north-west coasts of New Guinea. According to Gagel, at Cape King William in New Guinea, and also in New Britain, there are quite recent terraces which have been elevated 1000, 1250, and even probably up to nearly 1700 m. This very striking phenomenon shows that very powerful forces manifested themselves in very recent times, and agrees very well with our conception of the collision of these portions of the earth’s crust.