Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
life's present-day diversity to evolve. But on the Chilean coast Darwin dis-
covered that geological changes could be startlingly sudden—not necessar-
ily the major catastrophes of the old-fashioned geologists, but mini-catas-
trophes that when summed together could accomplish major changes.
On February 20th, Darwin went ashore to collect specimens near the
tiny Chilean town of Concepciòn. While he was resting in a little wood
nearby the ground began to shake violently. It turned out to be the strongest
earthquake that had been recorded in the region up to that time.
Even as the earthquake was happening Darwin's superb powers of obser-
vation did not desert him. He watched as the ground visibly undulated, and
tried to determine from the waves the direction from which the quake had
originated. As an experiment he attempted to stand up, and found himself
swaying as if drunk. Afterwards he wrote in his journal: “A bad earthquake
at once destroys our oldest associations: the earth, the very emblem of solid-
ity, has moved beneath our feet like a thin crust over a fl uid;—one second
of time has created in the mind a strange sense of insecurity, which hours of
refl ection would not have produced.”
Although the earthquake had lasted for two minutes, the forest that sur-
rounded him seemed unaf ected. But when he traveled to Concepciòn some
days later he found the town in ruins. A hundred people along that part of
the coast had been killed by collapsing buildings and by an eight-meter tidal
wave. A schooner that had been anchored in Concepciòn's harbor was car-
ried 200 meters inland.
Darwin's earthquake was far more powerful than the relatively mild
earthquake I had experienced on the fringing reef of Yap. In my case water
had magnifi ed the earthquake's power, damaging the reef and battering me
and my fellow divers but causing no damage on land. Darwin was aston-
ished by the destructive ef ect of the compression waves that had been
generated by the far larger Chilean earthquake. He noted, as he explored
a nearby of shore island: “The ef ect of the vibration on the hard primary
slate, which composes the foundation of the island, was . . . more curious:
the superfi cial parts of some narrow ridges were as completely shivered as
if they had been blasted by gunpowder.” It is a good thing that scuba gear
was not available in 1835, or Darwin might have been collecting specimens
