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Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

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Weight <strong>of</strong> the Sea<br />

Chapter 10 -- Geophysical, Pnuematic and Electromagnetic Engines<br />

Springs<br />

Ocean<br />

Perhaps the sea's very weight propels underground rivers. Heraclitus, a Greek we met in<br />

Chapter 2, was onto the concept, but again we'll jump to da Vinci.<br />

Da Vinci's two illustrations <strong>of</strong> hydrostatic pressure are shown below. The sketch on the left,<br />

clearly representing underground channels, is fundamentally incorrect, as the parabolic outflow<br />

trajectories are independent <strong>of</strong> elevation. The right-hand sketch, however, catches the<br />

distinction. The red overlay shows what hydrostatic theory predicts.<br />

Aristotelian humanist Julius Caesar Scaliger's (1484-1558) posthumous Commentaries on<br />

Theophrastus' de Causis Plantarum (1566) argued that springs result from the infiltration <strong>of</strong> sea<br />

water into the earth under the pressure <strong>of</strong> the oceans.<br />

Daniel Sennert (1572-1637), Célèbre Pr<strong>of</strong>esseur de Médecine à Wittenberg proposed in Epitome<br />

Naturalis Scientiae (1651) that aided by tides, the weight <strong>of</strong> the ocean could push water to the<br />

mountain tops.<br />

DRAFT 1122//66//22001122<br />

Uppddaatteess aatt hhttttpp::////www. .uunnm. .eedduu//~rrhheeggggeenn//UnnddeerrggrroouunnddRi ivveerrss. .hhttml l<br />

93

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