Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1894 — MUD AVALANCHES. [ARTICLE]

MUD AVALANCHES.

A Phenomenon that is Slowly Changing the Features ofthe Himalayas. Explorers are discovering thht mud avalanches are a powerful element in determining the physical features of the Himalayan regions. A number of travelers have observed the results of these great rushes of mud and rock, but very few have been so fortunate as to see them. Mr. W. M. Conway had that good fortune a while ago, and lias given a description ol one of these falling avalanches to the Royal Geographical Society of London. His party were traveling up the Gilgit valley adjoining the Himalayas, in the extreme northern part of India. Suddenly they heard a noise as of continuous thunder. They saw a huge mud avalanche sweeping down a steep gully between two mountains opposite them. The on-rush and weight of the mud tore from the sides of the gully masses of rock and rolled them over and over like so many pebbles. Each of the big rocks that formed the vanguard of the avalanche weighed many tons. The mass ol mud had a width of forty feet and was fifteen feet deep and moved at the rate of five miles an hour. In a few minutes the mass of stuff became shallower. The mixture was then half mud and half rocks and flowed faster. Now and then one of the larger rocks barred the way, and mud filed up behind it and finally swept it on. Looking up the gully, Mr. Conway could see that earth from its sides was constantly falling in the mud river and being swept along as a part of it.

All this material poured over into the gorge through which the river runs. It did not reach the river, but spread out and piled up on one side of it. Conway says that this accumulation of debris has piled up all along the valley to a depth of 500 or 600 feet, and that the Gilget river flows in a sort of canon built up by this accumulation. If the valley were filled up in this way to a depth of 2,000 or 8,000 feet more it would resemble the Pamirs, and all the deeply filled valleys that are characteristic of the Central Asian plateau. Conway says that mud avalanches have done all this working of filling up the valleys, and have done it with great rapidity. These avalanches show how rapidly, under the influence of moisture, cold and heat, the denudation, or crumbling of these stupendous rock masses of the Himalayas is going on. It is denudation that provides the material for mud avalanches. The levelling processes of nature are in continual operation and millions of tons of rock dust and fragments of rock are taken away from the upper portion of the mountains and deposited in the valleys.