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Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

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

The air seemed to come along with several swiftlyflowing<br />

underground streams which roared and swelled<br />

in cataracts <strong>of</strong> foam... All this part was palisaded round,<br />

and well for us it was so protected, as the effect <strong>of</strong> the<br />

seething mass <strong>of</strong> foam-covered water had a curious,<br />

hypnotic effect on us, as it ran eddying in countless<br />

circles, all running to the outlet.<br />

Some distance farther on it was even more inviting, for<br />

the cotton wool became detached into little pillows which<br />

twisted and twirled in a most fascinating manner. These<br />

passed on so slowly that we could easily keep pace with<br />

them as we walked along the bank, and then, suddenly<br />

they shot like lightning over the mass <strong>of</strong> smooth, oily-<br />

looking water, and in a second, were split up again into a<br />

dust <strong>of</strong> foam.<br />

<strong>Underground</strong> river map<br />

Our intrepid explorers, not evolved for their battery-like environment, must be wary <strong>of</strong> becoming<br />

short circuits.<br />

"How do you account for the fact that this water is not magnetic?" asked Belt, after putting in his<br />

hands and feeling no shock. "Water is such an excellent conductor that it should carry the<br />

current from the other side <strong>of</strong> the wall. See, it flows from the inside."<br />

"So it would," replied Norris, "if it came here through an archway, or grating j but it seems to<br />

soak through the wall like water through carbon in a filter, thus the wall perhaps also insulates<br />

the water and makes it safe."<br />

This seemed to be the only explanation possible.<br />

Conclusion<br />

This and the previous two chapters suggest a myriad <strong>of</strong> engines thought possible to elevate<br />

subterranean rivers. Da Vinci hypothesized many such mechanisms, Kircher provided striking<br />

graphics and any number <strong>of</strong> early scientists proposed theoretical bases for such hydrologic<br />

pathways. As we will pursue in chapters to come, such speculation even today enlivens popular<br />

fantasy.<br />

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

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

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