The Coming Ice Age - C. A. M. Taber

GEO. H. ELLIS, PRINTER, 141 FRANKLIN STREET, BOSTON.

PREFACE.

The explanations given in the following pages, in which I have sought to show the manner in which an ice age is being brought about, is an extension of a treatise on “The Cause of Warm and Frigid Periods,” which I published in a small edition in 1894. And, from the small number of copies circulated, only a few came to the hands of persons particularly interested in such matter. Yet there were instances of its having proved of special interest to persons celebrated for their geological attainments, and also to instructors in physical geography. Besides, it received considerate notice in some of the leading reviews. Being thus somewhat encouraged, and thinking that the subject was too important to be neglected, I have given it further study during the last year, and meanwhile have obtained additional information from recent discoveries which has served to corroborate my views. Hence I have been able to be more explicit in my explanations in the present volume than in my earlier writings. Still, while acting as a pioneer in the matter, it will be seen that I have only attempted to expose the main outlines, as my age and failing health will not permit me to enter into the voluminous details necessary for a full explanation. In order to show why my attention has been turned to the great climatic changes which have taken place during past ages, and now threaten the future, I will repeat the introduction of my earlier publication, wherein I wrote that “the reason why I have undertaken to explain the causes which have brought about the warm and cold epochs is because of my being unable to harmonize the several theories that have been published with the general mode of action which nature pursues to-day. Having in the early part of my life been employed for a score of years in the whaling service, during which time my sea voyages were passed in cruising over the North and South Atlantic, and over the Indian Ocean, from latitudes north of the equator to the southern shores of Kerguelen Land, and along the seas of Southern Australia, I also, in my searching, cruised over the Pacific Ocean from the icy seas south of Cape Horn to the northern latitudes of Alaska, and, from New Zealand in the Western Pacific to the numerous islands in the tropical zone. And it may be said that among the chief things to be learned on such voyages was the direction of the prevailing winds and surface currents of the sea. Thus the impressions then received were in mind when, in after years, I had my attention drawn to the several theories advanced for explaining the causes which produced the warm and frigid epochs. But, so far as my marine experience goes, such theories have not harmonized with nature’s mode of operating at this age of the world. Therefore, I have conceived views which, to my mind, are more agreeable to the simple operations of nature of which I have long been witness. Consequently, I have written several short essays on climatic changes since 1880, and also letters relating to the same subject, which have been published in Science and Scientific American. But the space allowed for the introduction of such matter was necessarily too limited for so wide an explanation as the subject required. The views then advanced I have again repeated, with the addition of several facts pertaining to physical geography, which, so far as I know, have never before been published.”

Wakefield, Mass., U.S.A.
June, 1896.

CONTENTS.

[CHAPTER I].
	PAGE
Cause of cold and mild periods,	[9–36]
Traces of ancient glaciers in temperate zones, 9; prevailing winds the main cause of the circulation of the ocean waters between the tropical and temperate zones, 10; general direction of prevailing winds, and how, in connection with continents, they circulate the surface waters of the sea, 11; high and low sea-levels; separation of antarctic lands from South America, 12; Captain Larsen’s discoveries in antarctic regions, 13; how low lands south of Cape Horn were submerged, 13; how the winds move more surface water southward than northward, 14; Dr. Croll’s views on winds and ocean currents, 16; under-currents of the ocean, and how caused, 16; Gulf Stream currents, 17; antarctic under-currents, 18; why the winds were able to force more of the ocean waters southward than northward at the close of the Tertiary age, 19; Mr. Alfred R. Wallace’s views on Tertiary seas, 20; how the Cape Horn channel affects the ocean currents, 21; cause of the increase of cold in southern latitudes, 22; how the Cape Horn channel is closed during ice age, and its effect on ocean currents and temperature of southern latitudes, 24; the melting of glaciers from southern lands, 27; a salt sea requisite for circulation during ice age, 28; direction of surface currents in southern seas, 29; Humboldt current, 30; Agulhas current, 32; temperature of arctic ice, 34; movement of southern icebergs, 35; glaciers south of Cape Horn, 36.

[CHAPTER II].
How ice periods in the northern hemisphere are brought about,	[37–54]
Northern seas during Tertiary age, 37; Gulf Stream during Tertiary times, 38; the origin of a cold period in the northern hemisphere, 38; remarks on Gulf Stream and arctic currents, 39; circulation of arctic waters, 40; arctic channels during ice age, 41; how the weight of glaciers in the northern hemisphere attracts the waters of the southern seas during ice age, 42; Professor Prestwich on the submergence of European lands, 43; the great Atlantic tide rips the head-waters of the Gulf Stream, 44; high sea-level of Atlantic calm region, 45; tropical Atlantic currents, 46; Sargasso Sea, 48; arctic and Gulf Stream currents, 49; Pacific Ocean currents, 50; slow growth of an ice period, 52; reduction of Cape Horn channel, 53; permanence of antarctic glaciers elevated above the snow-line during mild periods, 54.
[CHAPTER III].
Spread of glaciers during cold epochs,	[54–61]
Spread of glaciers in tropical zone, 54; Professor Agassiz on the origin of Galapagos Islands, 55; the bowlders of Hood’s Island and rookery of Albatross, 56; alpine flora of Galapagos and tropical America, 57; Mr. J. Crawford on ancient glaciers in Nicaragua, 58; Cuba and Republic of Colombia during ice age, 58; destruction of animal life during glacial age, 59; temperature of North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea during ice age, 60; temperature of ocean during warm epochs, 61; generative age ascribed to warm eras; Professor Wright on pre-glacial man, 61.
[CHAPTER IV].
The glaciers of the temperate zone,	[62–75]
Professor Hitchcock on the early history of North America, 62; glacial deposits of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, 63; Professor James Geikie on the glacial deposits of Northern Italy, 64; California coast ranges the work of Sierra glaciers, 65; ancient glaciers on the Pacific slope north of California, 67; Professor Geikie’s views on the ancient glaciers in the Salt Lake region, 68; Colorado Cañon, 69; the conglomerate deposits in the Appalachian district, 69; remarks on the glacial boundaries in United States during ice age, 70; sands of Florida, 71; ancient ice-sheets of the plains west of the Mississippi River, 73; the driftless region of Wisconsin, 74; tropical waters of North Atlantic chilled during ice age, 75; the drifted snow of British America and Siberia during ice age, 75.
[CHAPTER V].
Remarks on theories advanced for explaining ice periods,	[76–93]
Professor Geikie on supposed causes of the glacial period, 76; change in the relative level of the land and sea during glacial and post-glacial times, 77; submergence of northern lands at close of ice age, 78; the main cause of the movement of water from the northern seas at the close of glacial age, 79; why the earth-movement hypothesis should be rejected, 79; glaciers of Europe and Alaska, 80; North Pacific currents, 81; why the Pacific waters are growing cool, 82; the lowering temperature of the northern seas, 83; the increase of cold in Europe and Asia, 84; falling temperature of the Andean region, 85; General Drayson’s astronomical discoveries for explaining the cause of ice periods, 87; why the Gulf Stream was always confined to the North Atlantic, 89; the improbability of the Indian Ocean currents entering the arctic seas, 90; why the increase of glaciers must continue while the Cape Horn channel maintains its present capacity, 91; comments on the coming ice age, 92; tropical zone the abode of man during ice age, 93; preservation of the tropical ocean fauna through the glacial period, 93.