The Earth's Shifting Crust by Charles Hapgood - wire of information

THE MOUNTAINS 111
PART II. Volcanism and Other Questions
In the preceding part of this chapter we have sketched the
principal problems that are basic to the formation of the
folded mountains and block mountains, and have examined
the planetary fracture systems in the light of Campbell's
mechanism for crust displacement. There are, however, a
number of other aspects of this general problem that must
now engage our attention. We must consider, in turn, the
remarkable phenomena of volcanism, in their relationship to
crust displacement. In connection with the creation of vol-
canic mountains we must consider briefly the question of the
origin of the heat of the earth, an unsolved problem of great
interest. We must then examine the relationship of crust
displacement and mountain building to the question of
changes in the sea level. Finally, we must consider the problem
of the chronology of mountain building.
6. Volcanism
We have seen that one kind of mountain is the volcanic
mountain. Volcanic phenomena cover a wide range; all of
these must be considered in order to see how far they can be
related to a general cause. The phenomena that need ex-
plaining include volcanic eruptions, the creation (sometimes
rapid) of volcanic mountains on land or in the sea, the genesis
of volcanic island arcs, and last but not least the vast lava
flows or lava floods that have at times in the past inundated
great areas of the earth's surface.
Since volcanoes occur frequently, and are the most
dramatic manifestations of volcanism, they
have been thor-
oughly studied, and a whole literature has been devoted to
them. It is astonishing, therefore, that neither the causes of
volcanoes nor the present distribution of volcanic zones on