On the Wave of Translation in connexion with the Northern Drift

Abstract

The great geological problem of the “Northern Drift” has been attacked in various ways; and the diffusion of Scandinavian rocks and northern detritus over a vast area in the northern part of Europe has been ascribed to various kinds of natural machinery. Of late, a large part of this operation has been attributed to “Waves of Translation,” produced by the sudden upheaval of the bottom or shore of the sea. This view is advocated in the ‘Geology of Russia’ by Sir Roderick Murchison. There are some very simple numerical calculations which belong to this subject, and which may throw some light on the probability of such a theory. These calculations must necessarily be hypothetical as to their quantities, but as to their quantities only; and even these will be capable of correction by a more careful survey of the facts. For the mathematical doctrine on which they proceed is rigorously true, and does not depend upon any hypothetical view of the structure of the masses which we have to deal with. Mr. Scott Russell. tells us that the wave of translation may be regarded as a mechanical agent for the transmission of power, as complete and perfect as the lever or the inclined plane. Assuming this property of the wave of translation as a basis, I shall point out some of the results of its operation in the case now to be considered. It has been stated to the Geological Society, that, by supposing the sudden elevation of a submarine