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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Climatic Changes, by Ellsworth Huntington and Stephen Sargent Visher This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Climatic Changes Their Nature and Causes Author: Ellsworth Huntington Stephen Sargent Visher Release Date: October 26, 2011 [EBook #37855] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLIMATIC CHANGES *** Produced by Robin Monks, Wayne Hammond and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) *** HTML coverted into PDF by TNC *** TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Spelling maintained as closely as possible to the original document, while obvious typos have been corrected. Emdashes in original text for negative temperatures changed to minus signs to standardize temperatures. CLIMATIC CHANGES THEIR NATURE AND CAUSES PUBLISHED ON THE FOUNDATION ESTABLISHED IN MEMORY OF THEODORE L. GLASGOW OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHORS ELLSWORTH HUNTINGTON 1. Four books showing the development of knowledge as to Historical Pulsations of Climate. • The Pulse of Asia. Boston, 1907. • Explorations in Turkestan. Expedition of 1903. Washington, 1905. • Palestine and Its Transformation. Boston, 1911. • The Climatic Factor, as Illustrated in Arid America. Washington, 1914. 2. Two books illustrating the effect of climate on man. • Civilization and Climate. New Haven, 1915. • World Power and Evolution. New Haven, 1919. 3. Four books illustrating the general principles of Geography. • Asia: A Geography Reader. Chicago, 1912. • The Red Man's Continent. New Haven, 1919. • Principles of Human Geography (with S. W. Cushing). New York, 1920. • Business Geography (with F. E. Williams). New York, 1922. 4. A companion to the present volume. • Earth and Sun: An Hypothesis of Weather and Sunspots. New Haven. In press. STEPHEN SARGENT VISHER Geography, Geology and Biology of Southern Dakota. Vermilion, 1912. The Biology of Northwestern South Dakota. Vermilion, 1914. The Geography of South Dakota. Vermilion, 1918. Handbook of the Geology of Indiana (with others). Indianapolis, 1922. Hurricanes of Australia and the South Pacific. Melbourne, 1922. CLIMATIC CHANGES THEIR NATURE AND CAUSES BY ELLSWORTH HUNTINGTON Research Associate in Geography in Yale University AND STEPHEN SARGENT VISHER Associate Professor of Geology in Indiana University NEW HAVEN YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS MDCCCCXXII COPYRIGHT 1922 BY YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS Published 1922. THE THEODORE L. GLASGOW MEMORIAL PUBLICATION FUND The present volume is the fifth work published by the Yale University Press on the Theodore L. Glasgow Memorial Publication Fund. This foundation was established September 17, 1918, by an anonymous gift to Yale University in memory of Flight Sub-Lieutenant Theodore L. Glasgow, R.N. He was born in Montreal, Canada, and was educated at the University of Toronto Schools and at the Royal Military College, Kingston. In August, 1916, he entered the Royal Naval Air Service and in July, 1917, went to France with the Tenth Squadron attached to the Twenty-second Wing of the Royal Flying Corps. A month later, August 19, 1917, he was killed in action on the Ypres front. TO THOMAS CHROWDER CHAMBERLIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO WHOSE CLEAR AND MASTERLY DISCUSSION OF THE GREAT PROBLEMS OF TERRESTRIAL EVOLUTION HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST INSPIRING FACTORS IN THE WRITING OF THIS BOOK THERE is a toy, which I have heard, and I would not have it given over, but waited upon a little. They say it is observed in the Low Countries (I know not in what part), that every five and thirty years the same kind and suit of years and weathers comes about again; as great frosts, great wet, great droughts, warm winters, summers with little heat, and the like, and they call it the prime; it is a thing I do the rather mention, because, computing backwards, I have found some concurrence. FRANCIS BACON PREFACE Unity is perhaps the keynote of modern science. This means unity in time, for the present is but the outgrowth of the past, and the future of the present. It means unity of process, for there seems to be no sharp dividing line between organic and inorganic, physical and mental, mental and spiritual. And the unity of modern science means also a growing tendency toward coöperation, so that by working together scientists discover much that would else have remained hid. This book illustrates the modern trend toward unity in all of these ways. First, it is a companion volume to Earth and Sun. That volume is a discussion of the causes of weather, but a consideration of the weather of the present almost inevitably leads to a study of the climate of the past. Hence the two books were written originally as one, and were only separated from considerations of convenience. Second, the unity of nature is so great that when a subject such as climatic changes is considered, it is almost impossible to avoid other subjects, such as the movements of the earth's crust. Hence this book not only discusses climatic changes, but considers the causes of earthquakes and attempts to show how climatic changes may be related to great geological revolutions in the form, location, and altitude of the lands. Thus the book has a direct bearing on all the main physical factors which have molded the evolution of organic life, including man. In the third place, this volume illustrates the unity of modern science because it is preëminently a coöperative product. Not only have the two authors shared in its production, but several of the Yale Faculty have also coöperated. From the geological standpoint, Professor Charles Schuchert has read the entire manuscript in its final form as well as parts at various stages. He has helped not only by criticisms, suggestions, and facts, but by paragraphs ready for the printer. In the same way in the domain of physics, Professor Leigh Page has repeatedly taken time to assist, and either in writing or by word of mouth has contributed many pages. In astronomy, the same cordial coöperation has come with equal readiness from Professor Frank Schlesinger. Professors Schuchert, Schlesinger, and Page have contributed so materially that they are almost co-authors of the volume. In mathematics, Professor Ernest W. Brown has been similarly helpful, having read and criticised the entire book. In certain chemical problems, Professor Harry W. Foote has been our main reliance. The advice and suggestions of these men have frequently prevented errors, and have again and again started new and profitable lines of thought. If we have made mistakes, it has been because we have not profited sufficiently by their coöperation. If the main hypothesis of this book proves sound, it is largely because it has been built up in constant consultation with men who look at the problem from different points of vision. Our appreciation of their generous and unstinted coöperation is much deeper than would appear from this brief paragraph. Outside the Yale Faculty we have received equally cordial assistance. Professor T. C. Chamberlin of the University of Chicago, to whom, with his permission, we take great pleasure in dedicating this volume, has read the entire proof and has made many helpful suggestions. We cannot speak too warmly of our appreciation not only of this, but of the way his work has served for years as an inspiration in the preliminary work of gathering data for this volume. Professor Harlow Shapley of Harvard University has contributed materially to the chapter on the sun and its journey through space; Professor Andrew E. Douglass of the University of Arizona has put at our disposal some of his unpublished results; Professors S. B. Woodworth and Reginald A. Daly, and Mr. Robert W. Sayles of Harvard, and Professor Henry F. Reid of Johns Hopkins have suggested new facts and sources of information; Professor E. R. Cumings of Indiana University has critically read the entire proof; conversations with Professor John P. Buwalda of the University of California while he was teaching at Yale make him another real contributor; and Mr. Wayland Williams has contributed the interesting quotation from Bacon on page x of this book. Miss Edith S. Russell has taken great pains in preparing the manuscript and in suggesting many changes that make for clearness. Many others have also helped, but it is impossible to make due acknowledgment because such contributions have become so thoroughly a part of the mental background of the book that their source is no longer distinct in the minds of the authors. The division of labor between the two authors has not followed any set rules. Both have had a hand in all parts of the book. The main draft of Chapters VII, VIII, IX, XI, and XIII was written by the junior author; his contributions are also especially numerous in Chapters X and XV; the rest of the book was written originally by the senior author. CONTENTS I The Uniformity of Climate 1 II. The Variability of Climate 16 III. Hypotheses of Climatic Change 33 IV. The Solar Cyclonic Hypothesis 51 V. The Climate of History 64 VI. The Climatic Stress of the Fourteenth Century 98 Glaciation According to the Solar Cyclonic VII. 110 Hypothesis VIII. Some Problems of Glacial Periods 130 IX. The Origin of Loess 155 X. Causes of Mild Geological Climates 166 XI. Terrestrial Causes of Climatic Changes 188 Post-Glacial Crustal Movements and Climatic XII. 215 Changes The Changing Composition of Oceans and XIII. 223 Atmosphere XIV.

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