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Handbook of Inpatient
Cardiology
Bryan J. Wells
Pablo A. Quintero
Geoffrey Southmayd
Editors

123
Handbook of Inpatient
Cardiology
Bryan J. Wells • Pablo A. Quintero
Geoffrey Southmayd
Editors

Handbook of Inpatient
Cardiology
Editors
Bryan J. Wells Pablo A. Quintero
Division of Cardiology Division of Cardiology
Emory University School Beth Israel Deaconess
of Medicine Medical Center
Atlanta, GA Harvard Medical School
USA Boston, MA
USA
Geoffrey Southmayd
Division of Cardiology
Emory University School
of Medicine
Atlanta, GA
USA

ISBN 978-3-030-47867-4    ISBN 978-3-030-47868-1 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47868-1

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether
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lar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service
marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific
statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and
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The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and
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This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer

Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
This book is dedicated to students
and trainees past, present and future.
Contents

Part I Cardiac Pathology

1 Acute Coronary Syndrome�������������������������������������������   3

Mark K. Tuttle and Joseph P. Kannam

2 Stable Ischemic Heart Disease������������������������������������� 19

Daniel H. Katz and Michael C. Gavin

3 Atrial Fibrillation and Atrial Flutter��������������������������� 41

Vladimir Kaplinskiy and Eli V. Gelfand

4 Supraventricular Tachycardia��������������������������������������� 59
George Black and Faisal Merchant

5 Ventricular Arrhythmias����������������������������������������������� 75
Soroosh Kiani and Michael S. Lloyd

6 Bradyarrhythmias and AV Block��������������������������������� 87

Amole O. Ojo and Alfred E. Buxton

7 Pacemakers, Defibrillators, and Cardiac

Resynchronization Therapy ����������������������������������������� 103
Hakeem Ayinde, Muhie Dean Sabayon,
and Michael S. Lloyd

8 Acute Decompensated Heart Failure ������������������������� 119

Donya Mohebali and Edward W. Grandin

vii
viii Contents

9 Chronic Heart Failure ��������������������������������������������������� 137

Donya Mohebali and Marwa Sabe

10 Management of Pulmonary Hypertension

in the Hospital Setting��������������������������������������������������� 155
Vladimir Kaplinskiy, Cyrus Kholdani,
and Debby Ngo

11 Acquired Cardiomyopathies����������������������������������������� 171

Nikoloz Shekiladze, Appesh Mohandas,
and Priya Kohli

12 Cardiogenic Shock and Advanced

Heart Failure Therapies������������������������������������������������� 191
Mohsin Chowdhury and Pablo A. Quintero

13 Native Valve Disease����������������������������������������������������� 205

John C. Lisko and Vasilis C. Babaliaros

14 Prosthetic Valve Disease����������������������������������������������� 223

Ankit Ajay Bhargava and Allen L. Dollar

15 Infective Endocarditis��������������������������������������������������� 239

John Ricketts and Jesse T. Jacob

16 Peripheral Artery Disease, Carotid

Artery Disease, and Renal Artery Disease����������������� 255
Dandan Chen and Bryan J. Wells

17 Aortic Disease����������������������������������������������������������������� 271

Marvin Louis Roy Lu and Rebecca LeLeiko

18 Pericardial Disease, Myocarditis,

and Cardiac Tamponade����������������������������������������������� 285
Bruno B. Lima, Waddah Malas,
and Puja K. Mehta

19 Pulmonary Embolism and DVT�����������������������������������301

Stephanie Wang and Michael McDaniel
 Contents ix

20 Hypertension������������������������������������������������������������������� 315
Akanksha Agrawal and M. Carolina Gongora Nieto

21 Commonly Encountered Congenital

Heart Disease����������������������������������������������������������������� 335
Logan Eberly and Maan Jokhadar

22 Pregnancy and Heart Disease��������������������������������������� 351

An Young, Mariana Garcia, and Gina Lundberg

23 Cardio-oncology������������������������������������������������������������� 373
Devinder S. Dhindsa and Anant Mandawat

Part II Clinical Approach to the Patient Chief Complaint

24 Chest Pain����������������������������������������������������������������������� 389

Serge Korjian and C. Michael Gibson

25 Palpitations��������������������������������������������������������������������� 405
Dustin Staloch and Mikhael El Chami

26 Syncope ��������������������������������������������������������������������������� 415

Shu Yang and Peter Zimetbaum

27 Dyspnea��������������������������������������������������������������������������� 441
Susan McIlvaine and Eli V. Gelfand

28 Perioperative Cardiac Risk Assessment��������������������� 457

Mark K. Tuttle and Joseph P. Kannam

Part III Cardiac Diagnostic Imaging and Procedures

29 Approach to ECG Interpretation ������������������������������� 469

Geoffrey Southmayd and David Hirsh

30 Basic Principles of Echocardiography������������������������� 487

Bryan Kindya and Byron Robinson Williams III
x Contents

31 Stress Testing, Nuclear Imaging,

CT Angiography, and Cardiac MRI����������������������������� 503
Talal Khalid Al-Otaibi and Thomas H. Hauser

32 Left and Right Heart Catheterization������������������������� 521

Mistyann-Blue Miller and Duane Pinto

Index����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 533
Contributors

Akanksha Agrawal, MD Department of Internal Medicine,

Division of Cardiology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
Talal Khalid Al-Otaibi, MD Department of Medicine,
Cardiovascular Institute, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center, Boston, MA, USA
Hakeem Ayinde, MD, MS Department of Cardiac
Electrophysiology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
Vasilis C. Babaliaros, MD, FACC Cardiology, Emory
University Hospital, Atlanta, GA, USA
Ankit Ajay Bhargava, MD Department of Cardiovascular
Medicine, Emory University Hospital School of Medicine,
Atlanta, GA, USA
George Black, MD Division of Cardiology, Emory
University, Atlanta, GA, USA
Alfred E. Buxton, MD Department of Medicine,
Cardiovascular Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Dandan Chen, MD, PhD Department of Medicine, Division
of Cardiology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
Mohsin Chowdhury, MD Cardiovascular Medicine, Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School,
Boston, MA, USA

xi
xii Contributors

Devinder S. Dhindsa, MD Emory Clinical Cardiovascular

Research Institute, Division of Cardiology, Department of
Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta,
GA, USA
Allen L. Dollar, MD, FACC, FACP Department of
Cardiovascular Medicine, Emory University Hospital School
of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Logan Eberly, MD Department of Medicine, Division of
Cardiology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
Mikhael El Chami, MD Medicine, Division of Cardiology,
Emory University Hospital-Midtown, Atlanta, GA, USA
Mariana Garcia, MD Division of Cardiovascular Disease,
Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Michael C. Gavin, MD, MPH Department of Medicine, Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
Eli V. Gelfand, MD, FACC Department of Cardiology, Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School,
Boston, MA, USA
C. Michael Gibson, MD Cardiovascular Division,
Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Edward W. Grandin, MD, MPH, MEd Department of
Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston,
MA, USA
Thomas H. Hauser, MD, MPH, MMSc Department of
Medicine, Cardiovascular Institute, Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
David Hirsh, MD Division of Cardiology, Emory University,
Atlanta, GA, USA
Jesse T. Jacob, MD Division of Infectious Diseases, Emory
University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
 Contributors xiii

Maan Jokhadar, MD Department of Medicine, Division of

Cardiology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
Joseph P. Kannam, MD Division of Cardiology, Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, Boston,
MA, USA
Vladimir Kaplinskiy, MD Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Daniel H. Katz, MD Department of Medicine, Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
Cyrus Kholdani, MD Department of Pulmonary, Critical
Care and Sleep Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Soroosh Kiani, MD, MS Department of Medicine, Division
of Cardiology, Section of Electrophysiology and Pacing,
Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Bryan Kindya, MD Department of Medicine, Division of
Cardiology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta,
GA, USA
Priya Kohli, MD Department of Cardiology, Emory
University School of Medicine, Atlanta VA Medical Center,
Decatur, GA, USA
Serge Korjian, MD Cardiovascular Division, Department of
Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard
Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Rebecca LeLeiko, MD, MS Department of Internal
Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Emory University
Hospital, Atlanta, GA, USA
Bruno B. Lima, MD PhD Emory Clinical Cardiovascular
Research Institute, Department of Medicine, Division of
Cardiology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta,
GA, USA
xiv Contributors

John C. Lisko, MD, MPH Cardiology, Emory University

Hospital, Atlanta, GA, USA
Michael S. Lloyd, MD Department of Medicine, Division of
Cardiology, Section of Electrophysiology and Pacing, Emory
University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Department of Cardiac Electrophysiology, Emory University,
Atlanta, GA, USA
Marvin Louis Roy Lu, MD Cardiovascular Disease, Emory
University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Gina Lundberg, MD Division of Cardiovascular Disease,
Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Waddah Malas, MD Emory Clinical Cardiovascular Research
Institute, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology,
Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Anant Mandawat, MD Emory Clinical Cardiovascular
Research Institute, Division of Cardiology, Department of
Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta,
GA, USA
Winship Cancer Institute, Department of Hematology and
Medical Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine,
Atlanta, GA, USA
Michael McDaniel, MD Division of Cardiology, Emory
University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Susan McIlvaine, MD Department of Cardiology, Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
Puja K. Mehta, MD Emory Clinical Cardiovascular Research
Institute, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology,
Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Faisal Merchant, MD Division of Cardiology, Emory
University, Atlanta, GA, USA
Mistyann-Blue Miller, MD Department of Interventional
Cardiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard
Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
 Contributors xv

Appesh Mohandas, MD Department of Cardiology, Emory

University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Donya Mohebali, MD Department of Medicine, Division of
Cardiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston,
MA, USA
Debby Ngo, MD Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care
and Sleep Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center,
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
M. Carolina Gongora Nieto, MD Department of Internal
Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Emory University, Atlanta,
GA, USA
Amole O. Ojo, MD Department of Medicine, Cardiovascular
Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard
Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Duane Pinto, MD, MPH Department of Interventional
Cardiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard
Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Pablo A. Quintero, MD Cardiovascular Medicine, Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School,
Boston, MA, USA
John Ricketts, MD Division of Cardiovascular Disease,
Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, GA, USA
Muhie Dean Sabayon, MD Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology,
Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, GA, USA
Marwa Sabe, MD, MPH Department of Medicine, Division
of Cardiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston,
MA, USA
Nikoloz Shekiladze, MD Department of Cardiology, Emory
University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Geoffrey Southmayd, MD Division of Cardiology, Emory
University, Atlanta, GA, USA
xvi Contributors

Dustin Staloch, MD Department of Medicine, Division of

Cardiology, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, GA, USA
Mark K. Tuttle, MD Division of Cardiology, Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, Boston,
MA, USA
Stephanie Wang, MD Division of Cardiology, Emory
University, Atlanta, GA, USA
Bryan J. Wells, MD Department of Medicine, Division of
Cardiology, Emory University Hospital Midtown, Atlanta,
GA, USA
Byron Robinson Williams III, MD Department of Medicine,
Division of Cardiology, Emory University School of Medicine,
Atlanta, GA, USA
Shu Yang, MD Department of Medicine, Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
An Young, MD, MPH Division of Cardiovascular Disease,
Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Peter Zimetbaum, MD Department of Medicine, Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
Other documents randomly have
different content
Japan currents, an ice age could be brought about in the northern
hemisphere equal in intensity to the glacial periods of the past.
And, when we know that a considerable portion of the heat
carried into the northern latitudes by tropical streams is largely
derived through the mingling of the waters of such currents with the
warm waters of the southern tropical oceans, it is evident that the
ice periods of the northern and southern hemispheres were
concurrent; although the culmination of the northern frigid period
would be somewhat later than the perfected southern ice age, on
account of the northern seas requiring the assistance of the cold
oceans of the southern hemisphere to perfect a northern ice age.
The small area of the northern seas, compared with the
southern oceans, and the wide mingling of the ocean waters of the
hemispheres, make it evident that the comparatively scanty northern
seas could not bring about or maintain either a frigid or mild period
in opposition to the superior oceans of the southern hemisphere.
On the consummation of an ice period in the northern
hemisphere heavy glaciers covered the larger portion of its
continents and islands, which added so much weight to the northern
lands as to attract the waters of the southern oceans into the
northern latitudes, as I have before explained.
Thus, when the ice was mostly melted from the lands of the
southern hemisphere, the heavy ice-sheets that remained on the
extensive northern lands would still continue to attract the warm
waters of the southern seas into the northern oceans; and in this
way the Japanese and Gulf currents would gain a higher
temperature and greater volume, and thus add to their ability for
melting the northern glaciers wherever they were able to flow, and
so hasten the growth of a mild era in the northern hemisphere.
And it seems reasonable to suppose that there was more water
in the northern hemisphere on the ending of its ice period than at
this age; yet it appears that it was returned to the southern
hemisphere during a short period by the prevailing winds in the
manner which I have previously explained.
Therefore, there are but few traces of such flowage to be found
in the glacial drift, especially with the scarcity of marine life after the
rigor of a frigid age.
An article in Science, July 5, 1895, written by Agnes Crane,
states that Professor Joseph Prestwich has recently contributed a
suggestive memoir on this subject to the Philosophical Transactions
of the Royal Society. It treats of the evidence of a submergence of
Western Europe and the Mediterranean coasts at the close of the
glacial period; and in a previous paper communicated to the
Geological Society of London, in 1892, the author gave evidence,
deduced from personal observation, of the submergence of the
south of England not less than a thousand feet, at the close of the
glacial epoch.
Since that time the flood of water which flowed all of the low
lands of the high northern latitudes has been returned to the
southern seas, because of the force of the prevailing winds in
connection with the great oceans which open so widely toward the
south, the force of the winds being assisted through the attraction
caused by the difference of temperature in the surface waters of the
vast southern temperate oceans and the antarctic seas, and in this
manner bringing about the geographical conditions of to-day which
favor the return of another ice age.
It is said by those who attribute the great currents of the ocean
to the rotation of the earth that the winds have little to do in causing
such currents as the Gulf Stream. But my impression is that the
southern portion of the Gulf Stream waters, after being drifted by
westerly winds over abreast Europe, are attracted to the low sea-
level in the vicinity of the Canary Islands, to be moved by the trade
winds toward the equatorial calm belt and the West India Islands.
And during my many months’ cruising over these seas I have had
my attention directed to the singular action of the surface waters,
while being impelled by the trade winds toward the West India sea;
for during the first fifteen hundred miles of their passage they are
moved by the prevailing easterly winds without much apparent
resistance or unusual disturbance. But on nearing the longitude of
Cape St. Roque, and having acquired a high sea-level from which
there is no easy or wide outlet, the impelled surface waters begin to
rebel against the forceful winds, and cause a remarkable commotion
in the shape of tide-rips and white-capped ripples, which extend
from the equator in a northerly direction to the latitude of about 19°
north, thus crossing the central portion of the north-east trade-wind
belt, with a breadth of over three hundred miles, as shown on
map No. 2.
This disturbed region where the winds and waters conflict is the
probable fountain-head of the Gulf Stream. The reason why the
surface waters of this disturbed portion of the Atlantic do not flow
peacefully along through the West India passages into the Caribbean
Sea and Gulf of Mexico is because of their narrow outlet at the
Florida channel. For it is mainly through this narrow channel that the
vast waters of the tropical high sea-level are attracted to the low
ocean-level of the Western North Atlantic.
Thus it seems that the great fountain-head of the Gulf Stream is
situated between the wide tide-rips and the Caribbean Islands. The
waters from this high ocean-level enter the Caribbean Sea mainly
through the several passages south of Guadeloupe; while the
northern portion of the raised waters set mostly toward the north-
west, and so unite with the eastern portion of the Gulf currents after
they enter the Atlantic. Still, the great high sea-level which presses
against the Windward Islands, being somewhat higher than the
Caribbean Sea, forces its waters through the island passages in
quantities sufficient to supply the Gulf Stream; and there are times
when the winds are so strong and favorable that all of the passages
east of Cuba conduct water into the Caribbean Sea, the cold under-
waters entering the deeper channels as well as the warm surface
waters. Yet the currents setting through these numerous channels
are subject to fluctuations, and so also is the Gulf Stream which they
supply.
 That portion of the high sea-level south of Guadeloupe receives
considerable assistance as a feeder for the Gulf Stream through
being connected on the south by the great high sea-level abreast
Brazil and the great high sea-level of the equatorial calm belt. The
latter high level is caused by the trade winds, which generally blow
briskly down the coast of Sahara, and also further off shore, and
ending south of the Cape Verde Islands somewhat abruptly in the
equatorial calm belt.
The south-east trades which blow over the Eastern and Middle
South Atlantic terminate on the southern side of the calm region.
Therefore, the two trade winds impel the surface waters of the
tropical Atlantic from opposite directions directly toward the calm
belt, and so raise its waters above the common level of the sea.
This is the opinion of the writers of the South Atlantic Directory.
Still, it is probable that the high ocean-level of the calm belt is but
slightly raised above the common level of the sea, on account of the
trade winds having to contend against the tendency of the warm
tropical surface waters to move toward the polar latitudes. The calm
belt expanse which extends from Africa, where it attains its greatest
width, gradually narrows as it extends westward to the longitude of
Cape St. Roque, where it attains its highest sea-level, on account of
the borders of its narrowing space being impelled westward by the
trade winds.
The movement of the waters of this high ocean-level is mostly
toward the west, forming a portion of the equatorial current of the
Atlantic. The reason of its western movement is on account of its
raised waters being able to supply a portion of the Gulf Stream with
water which is sent off in a westerly current along the South
American coast, west of Cape St. Roque into the Caribbean Sea;
while, on the other hand, it joins with the great high sea-level
abreast Brazil, and so unites with its great southern current. The
gradient of the high sea-level of the calm belt on its southern side
probably extends south of the equator, on account of the south-east
trades being weak in latitudes near the equator; while on the north
side the north-east trades generally blow brisk and end more
abruptly, so producing a gradient of less width than that of the
South Atlantic side.
It does not appear that the seas of the high northern latitudes
gain an undue proportion of the tropical Atlantic waters, because of
the south-east trades extending north of the equator, on account of
such winds being weak, and the waters of the high sea-level of the
Western North Atlantic having narrow and otherwise obstructed
passages leading to its northern seas. Yet the high sea-level of the
equatorial calm belt is always ready, whenever a favorable grade is
formed by a monsoon or otherwise, to run off its surplus water
obtained by winds and rain; and I have noticed, while cruising in
these seas, that it happens at times during the northern winter
months when the north-westerly gales drive the surface waters of
the North-western Atlantic toward the tropical zone, and at the same
time a strong north-east monsoon is prevailing along the southern
coast of Brazil, the westerly currents setting past the Amazon River
are reversed, and set to the south-east, while such conditions last.
For, when the summer solstice is in the south, and the north-
east monsoon moves southward along the coast of Brazil, much
equatorial water moves off in that direction; and during the same
season the cooled Sahara has an outward flow of air toward the
south, which moves more or less water from the coast of Guinea,
which is easily accomplished, because the warm surface waters of
that coast are inclined to join with the south equatorial stream.
Consequently, the waters move from their high sea-level north of
Cape Palmas, and so form the Guinea current.
The high sea-level of the equatorial calm belt of the Atlantic
contains a large portion of the conserved heat of the tropical
Atlantic, which at this age sends off a somewhat limited supply of
warm water to the Gulf Stream, and also to the Brazil current. But,
whenever the Cape Horn channel is closed or much obstructed, so
causing a great low sea-level in the Southern Atlantic, the tropical
waters heaped against Brazil, and the raised waters of the great
calm region being one continuous high sea-level, would mostly be
attracted to the vast low sea-level of the southern ocean. Hence it
will be seen how large a portion of the conserved heat of the tropical
Atlantic would be used to warm the high southern latitudes during a
warm period in the southern hemisphere, and at the same time the
head-waters of the Gulf Stream would obtain the same height as
now. For we now see much of the force of the north-east trade
winds lost, while maintaining so large a high sea-level to the
windward of the West India Islands, which is probably capable of
supplying a stream of double the capacity of the gulf current which
passes through the Florida channel.
And it appears, while viewing the vast reservoirs of warm water
apparently gathered by trade winds to subdue the cold of the high
latitudes, that much of the energy of such winds is now lost to the
world, while maintaining a vast and pent-up high sea-level which has
a difficult outlet to the northern seas, and no strongly attractive low
sea-level to move its waters into the oceans of the high southern
latitudes. The wide waters which are banked up to the windward of
the West India Islands, and cause the wide tide-rips, set mostly to
the westward into the Caribbean Sea through the passages south of
Guadeloupe, while the northern portion of the raised waters set
mostly toward the north, and thus form the eastern boundary of the
Gulf Stream, and comprise the inner circle of the great current that
encircles the Sargasso Sea.
I have been informed by an old Barbuda fisherman that “the
weeds which float on the surface of the Sargasso Sea grow in large
quantities on the bottom of the shoal waters to the north and
eastward of that island and Antigua.” Consequently, the currents of
that region carry such weeds as become detached from their places
of growth into the higher latitudes, where the westerly winds in the
winter season drift them eastward south of Bermuda, until finally the
central area of their gathering, where the most dense collection of
weeds is found, is situated near the tropic of Cancer, and about 55°
west longitude, as shown on map No. 2.
 This position is also the centre of the great circular currents
which encompass the Sargasso Sea. The comparatively few weeds
which enter the Gulf Stream abreast Florida are currented to the
northward of the Bermuda Islands, and from thence drifted by the
westerly winds to the south-west of the Azores before entering the
trade-wind belt. The weeds, on their long drift from their native
shoals, hold their freshness, and continue to grow while floating on
the sea for a considerable time, but at length lose their renovating
properties, and in certain areas of the sea acquire an appearance of
age and decay.
The Gulf Stream, and such other tropical waters as are attracted
northward to the low sea-level abreast the North American coast,
pass into the westerly wind-belt, and so gradually become drift
currents, while being forced by the winds over to the European side
of the ocean, as we have previously shown.
The vast movement of the North Atlantic waters encircling the
great Sargasso Sea has often been pointed out by writers on the
subject. But the central and most dense portion of the vast sea of
weeds has always been placed on the charts several degrees of
longitude east of its true position.
It is fifteen years since I wrote of the Gulf Stream and arctic
currents as being attracted to a low sea-level caused by the westerly
winds. But, as far as I know, writers on the Atlantic currents have
had nothing to say of the great low sea-level caused by the westerly
winds blowing the surface waters of the North Atlantic away from
the eastern coast of North America, from Georgia to Newfoundland,
and thus attracting the arctic and Gulf Stream waters in opposite
directions, fifteen hundred miles along the North American coast.
For, were it not for this low sea-level, the Gulf Stream would not be
able to move so far northward as it now flows, but would spread
out, were there no unevenness in the sea-level of the Atlantic, and
become a drift current far south of its present northern limits. The
United States government has caused surveys to be made of the
Gulf Stream, and the interesting discoveries thus obtained have all
been laid before the public. Still, such surveys cover but a portion of
the whole round of the vast movement of the Gulf Stream water, and
do not refer to the vast high sea-level of the calm belt as being one
of its feeders, or to the wide disturbance of the surface waters of the
tropical North Atlantic in their conflict with the trade winds, while
being forced to the vast high sea-level of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf
of Mexico, and so giving head to the Gulf Stream.
Thus from the foregoing explanations it will be seen that the
ability of the prevailing winds to move the surface waters of the
ocean away from the weather shores of continents over against the
opposite leeward shores in the different wind-belts of the globe, and
so cause both high and low sea-levels, is the main reason why there
is an interchange of surface water between the tropical and colder
zones sufficient to carry heat from the tropics to the cooler regions,
and thus largely affect the temperature of the higher latitudes.
The unmistakable traces of cold periods having occurred in both
hemispheres have given rise to an ingenious astronomical theory to
account for their origin. According to this theory the ice periods in
the two hemispheres were consecutive; and it is admitted by its
supporters that, should it be shown that the frigid periods in the
northern and southern hemispheres were concurrent, the
astronomical doctrine would have to be abandoned.
It is impossible for a person who is acquainted with the great
surface currents of the several oceans to conceive how a mild period
could be maintained in the northern hemisphere with a frigid period
existing in the southern hemisphere. A frigid period in the latter
hemisphere necessitates a cold temperature for the superior oceans
of the globe south of the equator. With this vast area of water
reduced to a chilling temperature, it seems impossible for the inferior
waters of the northern latitudes to maintain sufficient warmth to
favor a mild period in the northern hemisphere, especially with both
hemispheres receiving an equal annual amount of the sun’s rays.
The great Humboldt current, having its rise in the southern ocean
west of Cape Horn, would during a southern frigid period greatly
lower the temperature of the vast equatorial stream in the Pacific
Ocean. Consequently, the Japanese stream, which branches off from
the equatorial current into the North Pacific, would be cooled to such
a degree that it would be unable to maintain the mild climate on the
shores of the North Pacific which extensive lands now enjoy.
Furthermore, during a cold period in the southern hemisphere the
temperature of the Gulf Stream would also be greatly lowered by the
great South-eastern Atlantic return current, which is caused by the
south-east trade winds impelling the surface waters of that region
into the equatorial latitudes, such waters being replenished from the
common level of the southern ocean, and so mingling the cool
waters of that sea with the equatorial waters of the Atlantic during a
frigid period in the southern latitudes. And it may be said that during
such times the frigid Antarctic Ocean would send its cold under-
currents to cool the inferior northern oceans. Even to-day the
northern and southern hemispheres, through the intermingling of
the waters of the northern and southern oceans, largely maintain a
like temperature in their temperate zones. Therefore, when we
consider the certain traces of ice-sheets having formed on South
Africa and Southern Australia, and to have overrun South America
above the latitude of 40° south, thus strewing the oceans of the
southern temperate zone with ice that are now largely free from it, it
seems that the maintenance of warm oceans in the northern
hemisphere during the time of a frigid period in the southern
hemisphere would be impossible.
In order to make this statement more plain, I will again refer to
the importance of the great Humboldt current for cooling the waters
of the North Pacific during the perfection of a southern ice age. For
during such times the ocean strewed with ice west of Cape Horn,
where the Humboldt current takes its rise, would impart its coldness
to the Humboldt stream, while it was floating icebergs toward the
equator. The equatorial current of the Pacific being a continuation of
the Humboldt stream, its waters would partake of its coldness. The
Japanese current, being a large offshoot from the equatorial stream,
would also possess a lower temperature than it obtains at this age.
Yet at this date, with the southern ice-sheets confined to the
antarctic lands, it does not possess heat sufficient to prevent glaciers
from flowing down to the tide-water from mountains in Alaska.
Consequently, the Japanese stream could not maintain a mild
climate on the North Pacific coasts while a cold period was being
completed in the southern hemispheres. Therefore, under the
conditions above set forth the support of a mild period in the
northern hemisphere during the existence of a frigid period in the
southern hemisphere could not be carried out.
From what has been explained, it will be seen that the growth of
an ice period is necessarily slow, especially in its early stage, and
also that the storage of ice is carried on in both hemispheres at the
same time; but I will call further attention to the southern
hemisphere, because it possesses greater resources than the
northern for the production of an ice age.
The independent circulation of the southern ocean waters, as
before shown, turns away the tropical currents, and thus largely
prevents their warm waters from entering the high southern
latitudes. Consequently, the heat from the sun’s rays, and all other
sources of heat included, are not sufficient to prevent ice from
gathering on lands within the antarctic circle. This increasing storage
of ice is only another name for the accumulation and spreading of
cold, and so the increasing chillness goes on. The snow falls, and
thus adds to the extension and thickness of the ice-sheets; and at
the same time the spreading snow-fields reflect the heat received
from the sun’s rays into space, while the cold is retained and
increased in the growing glaciers.
The spreading ice-sheets having covered the land are able to
flow into the surrounding seas, where their outer edges become
detached and form icebergs, which float out to sea, and so scatter
over the adjoining oceans. Thus their coldness is mingled with and
largely preserved by the sea, while the surface water, which is
carried into the southern latitudes from the northern oceans by the
prevailing winds, and also such surface waters as are attracted into
the antarctic seas because of the difference of temperature of the
antarctic waters and the more northern seas, are on gaining the
frigid latitudes made cool, and returned to the more northern seas in
cold under-currents, and so chilling the vast under-waters of the
great oceans of the globe, and eventually their wide surface waters
also; and so the coldness increases until the ice-sheets which at first
formed on polar lands are enabled to spread slowly toward the
equatorial regions so long as the independent circulation of the
southern ocean is maintained.
But at length the depth of the great southern ocean is
diminished because of the water evaporated from its surface, and
precipitated in the shape of hail and snow over the vast continents
and islands of the high northern latitudes, thus adding sufficient
weight to the northern lands to attract the waters of the southern
seas and still further lessen their depth. Thus during such times the
Cape Horn channel is so reduced as to be obstructed by the heavy
glaciers and icebergs of an ice age.
Consequently, a great change is wrought in the circulation of the
southern seas. For, when the Cape Horn channel is closed, the
westerly winds employ their strength to force the ocean’s surface
waters away from the glaciers which have filled the diminished
channel. This potent action of the winds necessarily creates a great
low sea-level on the Atlantic side of the obstructed strait, sufficient
to attract the tropical waters heaped against Brazil by the trade
winds, and the waters of the high sea-level of the equatorial calm
belt, and also the equatorial waters which set along the east coast of
Africa, well into the southern seas.
It will thus be seen that the conditions for the circulation of the
tropical ocean waters have met with a great change.
But the temperature of the waters has been lowered by the
coldness of a frigid period; and, consequently, their capability for
conveying heat to the high latitudes has largely diminished.
Therefore, their first inroads in the higher latitudes make small
impression on the icy seas, so the early process for melting ice is
exceedingly slow. But the icy southern ocean, deprived of its
independent circulation, in the course of time yields to the warming
invasion of the tropical waters, whose wide and increasing spread is
eventually able to bring about a mild period, according to the natural
methods which I have explained in the preceding pages.
And it may be said that a mild period succeeding a glacial age
gained sufficient warmth to melt the ice-sheets from all lands
excepting the highest mountains. For it is probable that there are
lands situated in the antarctic circle sufficiently elevated even during
late Tertiary times to have been above the snow-line. Therefore, the
glaciers on such lands could not have melted away during mild
periods succeeding an ice age. For, as has been explained, a portion
of the waters of the southern seas had moved into the northern
hemisphere. Consequently, the antarctic lands were raised higher
above the sea-level than at this age. Hence the area of lofty land
was increased above the snow-line. And, according to Dr. James
Croll’s estimate, the ice-sheet at the south pole is at this age several
miles in thickness. Therefore, its upper surface is above the line of
perpetual snow, and could not be melted away during the warm eras
succeeding glacial periods.
 CHAPTER III.

THE SPREAD OF GLACIERS DURING COLD

EPOCHS.

I have before explained that the conditions are such that the cold
periods of the northern and southern hemispheres were concurrent.
Through this cause, while the glacial epoch was being perfected, the
ice followed down the mountain ranges of both hemispheres; and,
while gathering on the lands of the temperate latitudes, it also
spread over a portion of the tropical zone. It is reported that traces
of ancient glaciers are found in India, and also in Central America
and in tropical South America. In fact, the denudation caused by
ancient glaciers on the elevated lands of the tropics are too well
defined to be attributed to any process of weathering, while Alpine
plants of the same species are found near the summits of mountains
in the tropics as well as in the high latitudes of both hemispheres.
This fact goes to show that a portion of the lowlands of the
tropical zone have experienced a temperature favorable for the
growth of Alpine plants. And, judging from the tropical islands I have
visited, situated in the cold currents which flow down the eastern
sides of the oceans from the high latitudes, I think they show strong
traces of having during some remote period been subject to the
action of glaciers. The island of St. Helena, situated in the southern
tropical Atlantic, has the appearance of having been heavily iced
during a frigid age. Its steep ravines, which deepen as they
approach the sea, recall to the southern voyager the ice-worn
islands of the high latitudes. It seems improbable that these deep
ravines which penetrate the hard volcanic rock, on their short course
to the sea, could have been caused by their scanty brooklets.
The bowlders scattered over the island are not in harmony with
the weathering process, while the obliteration of its craters seems to
point to a more rapid process of erosion than could be attributed to
weathering.
Professor Agassiz, in his “General Sketch of the Expedition of the
‘Albatross,’” states that the Galapagos Islands are of volcanic origin,
and that their age does not reach beyond the earliest Tertiary
period; and his report seems to favor the impression of their having
undergone denudation sufficient to slough off large portions of the
rims of the older craters, and also the eastern face of Wenman
Island. On Hood’s Island, at the time of my visit, its crater had
entirely disappeared.
The highest portion of the island, which was the probable site of
its ancient crater, showed no trace of its former existence; yet at the
foot of this low mountain, on its southern side, I saw a large
collection of loose bowlders, composed of hard volcanic rock, which
were mostly free from soil and other débris, and easily moved from
their places, while the spaces afforded by the loose piles of dark
basaltic rocks afforded a secure retreat for numerous owls and
lizards. Beyond the rocky piles to the southward a horizontal area of
land was strewn with bowlders to the sea, which was some two
miles distant from the higher land. The bowlders which covered the
plain were somewhat smaller than those at the foot of the mountain,
as none of the former were more than three or four feet in their
longest measurement.
They seem to have been formed from thin strata of lava, which
were broken in pieces from pressure, such as the action of ice could
perform. In fact, the crowded and angular and somewhat worn
blocks of lava presented a different appearance from stones thrown
from the crater of a volcano, while no such bowlders are found
among the recent volcanic eruptions on the islands.
 The plain so thickly strewn with bowlders, and partly shaded by
a tall growth of shrubs, fell off abruptly at the seaside, forming a
steep cliff some two hundred feet in height.
The rocky floor at the foot of the cliff received such débris as fell
from the sea-washed land; yet it contained few bowlders, they
having been washed away by the waves soon after falling.
At one place a steep, dry ravine penetrated the land from the
seashore, which was dangerous to cross on account of the loose
stones resting on its sides. Two or three miles further west, on the
level land bordering the sea, a large rookery of albatross were
brooding their eggs and chicklings. The land on the south side of
Albemarle, near the sea, consists of débris from the eroded high
lands; and, judging from the crumbling cliffs by the sea, it seems
that the land at one time extended further seaward.
Besides the excessive denudation which appears to have taken
place on portions of these bowlder-strewn lands, we have other
unmistakable testimony of their having formerly possessed a frigid
temperature. The characteristic Alpine flora of these islands points to
a time when they were exposed to a cold climate. Furthermore,
rookeries of seal and albatross, which naturally belong to shores
situated in cold latitudes, still exist on these equatorial islands; and,
when we consider the favorable position of the Galapagos for the
reception of cold during a frigid period, we can well account for the
lingering signs which point to their former cold climate.
During the perfection of an ice period the western shore of
South America was covered with an ice-sheet from the summits of
its mountain range to the sea, extending northward as far as the
latitude of 38° south.
This vast ice-sheet, situated in a region of great snow-fall, was
constantly sending icebergs into the sea, where they were borne
northward by the cold Humboldt current directly toward the
Galapagos Islands; while, on the other hand, in the northern
latitudes, in regions of great snow-fall, such as Alaska and British
America, numerous icebergs were launched into the ocean, to be
currented southward to the Galapagos seas. Thus during the frigid
epoch the equatorial waters surrounding the Galapagos group was
one of the greatest gathering places for floating ice to be found on
the globe.
And here the frigidity stored up in the glaciers of the higher
latitudes was set free, thus chilling the waters as well as the
atmosphere of that region. The Alpine flora of the American coast
mountains was probably carried by floating ice to the Galapagos,
while its rookeries of albatross and seal date back to a cold period.
And it seems that these cold-weather animals, with the assistance of
the cool Humboldt current, may be able to preserve their rookeries
at the equator until the advent of another ice period. In connection
with the evidences of a cold climate having possessed the
Galapagos, there are ample traces of ice-sheets having flowed over
a large portion of the high lands of tropical America, and in some
places the ice may have flowed down to the sea, especially where
the large rivers now empty; and it is said that masses of clay, mixed
with sub-angular stones, have been found in Brazil, which goes to
prove the glaciation of portions of that tropical land during a remote
age. Professor Louis J. R. Agassiz, during his research in the Amazon
valley, found bowlders resting near the summits of the low hills of
that region, which he attributed to the action of ice. The spread of
glaciers on southern continents and islands is shown on map No. 1.
In Science, Nov. 17, 1893, Mr. J. Crawford published a summary
of his discoveries in Nicaragua, during ten months of nearly
continuous exploration since August, 1892.
The author of this report says: “The numerous eroded mountain
ridges and lateral terminal moraines of that tropical region give
unquestionable evidences of the former existence of a glacial epoch,
which covered an area of several thousand square miles in
Nicaragua with glacial ice. The ice-sheet covered a large part of the
existing narrow divide of land (containing about 48,000 square
miles) between the Pacific and Caribbean Sea.” And it is likely that
other large areas of tropical America were glaciated at the same
time, especially in regions of great precipitation.
The island of Cuba, during a portion of the ice age, probably
supported heavy glaciers, and obtained an average temperature as
low as South-western New Zealand at this age. According to the
description given by J. W. Spencer, of the Cuban land, great valleys
have been excavated, the lower portion of which are now fiords,
reaching in one case at least to seven thousand feet in depth before
gaining the sea beyond. Thus, while keeping in view the glacial
condition of Central America during the frigid period, it seems that
the great Cuban excavations were partly the work of glaciers of the
same cold epoch.* Judging from such reliable statements, it is
probable that the climate of tropical America during the frigid age
was somewhat colder than obtained in the tropical regions of the
eastern continent, owing to the wide connection of the Atlantic with
the Arctic Ocean as well as with the antarctic seas, and because of
its shores possessing a larger area of glaciated lands in proportion to
its size than the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and also owing to the
tropical Atlantic containing so small a portion of the world’s waters
which lie within the torrid zone, and its equatorial current being
separated by continental lands from the great equatorial stream of
the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

*The meeting of the British Association for the Advancement

of Science, September, 1895, was reported in Science of October
18, where mention is made of an interesting paper by Mr. R. B.
White, on “The Glacial Age of Tropical America,” in which he
described a number of apparently glacial deposits in the Republic
of Colombia, almost under the equator. He spoke of moraines
forming veritable mountains, immense thicknesses of bowlder
clay, breccias, cement beds, sand, gravels, and clays, beds of
loess, valleys scooped, grooved, and terraced, monstrous erratics,
and traces of great avalanches.

Therefore, the tropical Atlantic waters must have been reduced

to a lower temperature during a frigid age than the tropical waters
of the Indian Ocean or the western part of the tropical Pacific, as a
large portion of the great equatorial current of the latter oceans,
during its western movement, was exposed to the rays of a tropical
sun for a much longer time, after being replenished by the cold
waters of the high latitudes, than the tropical currents of the
Atlantic; and it is probable that, on account of tropical America
possessing a colder climate than the tropical lands of the eastern
continent during the frigid epoch, the cold of the western continent
was more destructive to its fauna and flora than was the case in the
tropical regions of the eastern continent. Professor Wright, in his
valuable work on “The Ice Age of North America,” gives a good
description of the “flight of plants and animals during the glacial
epoch,” and also of the extermination of many superior species
because of the frigid climate.
The high lands of tropical Africa, above the altitude of three
thousand feet, and situated in places of great precipitation, were
probably covered with snow and ice during the glacial age. Travellers
have reported that islands composed partly of granite bowlders are
found in the lakes at the head-waters of the Nile. But the glaciers
that invaded the tropical latitudes were of short duration compared
with the ice-sheets that burdened the lands of the temperate zones.
Besides, such tropical ice as flowed to the low lands was so near a
melting condition that it made small impression on the rocks; but on
steep mountain slopes, where the movement of the ice was
comparatively rapid, it possessed considerable eroding power. The
climate of the tropical zone on both continents during the perfection
of an ice period was so cold that such animals as could not endure a
low temperature retreated into the warmest regions of the equatorial
latitudes, while many species who failed to reach such places
perished. And especially was this the case with the pre-glacial fauna
of the western continent. Mr. W. B. M. Davidson, in his treatise on
Florida phosphates, says: “The great mammal hordes of the glacial
epoch were driven into Florida in their flight southward for life and
warmth, and there perished because of the deadly cold which ever
moved southward. The Florida waters grew so icy cold, fishes,
reptiles, and mammoth animals died, and added their frames and
teeth to the valley of bones now found in that southern region.”
Such species of the tropical fauna of the ocean as survived the
ice age could have existed only in torrid seas with small connection
with the cold oceans during the frigid epochs. For, with the
diminished oceans of a cold period, it seems that the conditions
were favorable for the maintenance of such seas in the region of the
East India Islands.
Such parts of Southern Europe and Northern Africa as bordered
on the Mediterranean Sea probably possessed a milder climate
during the ice age than regions in the same latitudes on the Atlantic
coast, for the reason that the North Atlantic was proportionally a
greater receptacle for icebergs which were launched into it from the
numerous glaciers of North-eastern America, Greenland, Iceland,
and North-western Europe than the great inland sea obtained from
its less frigid shores. And it may have happened that during such
times the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean had some connection
with the Mediterranean through the Red Sea and Suez, and so
during portions of the year the waters of the tropical Indian Ocean
were forced by the periodical winds into the inland sea. It is the
opinion of several writers that man, along with other species of
animal life, existed previous to the glacial period; for, since the seas
and lands of the globe were chilled, the conditions seem to have
been less favorable for the spontaneous generation of animate
bodies than during the previous warm ages. Therefore, it appears
that the generative ages should be ascribed to the long genial eras
prior to the glacial epochs. For it is probable that the lower parts of
the ocean, which now possess a low temperature even in the
tropical latitudes, were, during the warm eras, wholly composed of
warm water, because the surface waters of the antarctic seas of that
age, which supply the great under-currents of the ocean, would
possess a high temperature; and it is probable that the temperature
of a large portion of the seas of the torrid zone was for a long time
maintained at blood heat. For it should be considered that the
waters which moved from the torrid seas, after making their journey
through the warm regions of the high latitudes, would on their
return to the tropics retain a large portion of the heat they acquired
in the torrid zone before making their journey to the mild polar
regions.
And, when we reflect how the heat of the sun’s rays was
conserved by the ocean waters, and that their circulation during
such times was almost wholly performed by the winds, as the
difference of temperature between the polar latitudes and the
equator was small, it appears that during the eras previous to the
glacial age the oceans must have obtained a higher temperature
than possessed by the warmest seas of to-day.
According to the discoveries of Professor Wright and others,
ancient stone implements have been found beneath the glacial drift,
as well as the bones of animals whose descendants are now living,
which goes to prove that man, with other species of fauna which
now inhabit the earth, existed anterior to the glacial epoch.
And on consideration it seems unreasonable to suppose that any
of the superior species of animals could have been brought into
existence since the waters and lands of the earth were chilled by the
cold of a glacial age. And it appears that many species of animals
which are known to have survived the cold periods were indebted for
such survivals to the slow process through which a frigid period is
brought about, thus affording time for evolutionary inurement to the
slow increase of cold which at length perfects a glacial epoch.
The inurement to cold acquired by animals during the glacial age
is still an attribute possessed by many species of fauna to-day. For,
when a warm climate took possession of the tropical zone, it was
deserted by a large portion of the animals that found refuge there
during the glacial age.
Thus, while the seas and shores of the cooler latitudes swarm
with animate bodies, the torrid latitudes seem comparatively lonely
to the voyagers on the tropical oceans.
 CHAPTER IV.

THE GLACIERS OF THE TEMPERATE ZONES.

Having asserted that during the culmination of a frigid period the

ice-sheets spread over a portion of the lands of the tropical zone, I
will give my views, with those of several writers, on the spread of
ice-sheets within the now temperate latitudes; and meanwhile I will
repeat a portion of my former essays on the subject. Professor
Hitchcock, in his lectures on the early history of North America, says
that “the history opens with igneous agency in the ascendant,
aqueous and organic forces become conspicuous later on, and ice
has put on the finishing touches to the terrestrial contours.” But
there appear to be various opinions held by geologists respecting the
changes brought about on the earth’s surface during the glacial
period. Some think that glaciers have never been an important
geological agent, while others assert that during the glacial epoch
heavy ice-sheets covered the elevated portions of Western North
America as far south as the thirty-sixth parallel of latitude, and
Eastern North America was overspread with ice-sheets, which
attained a depth of five or six thousand feet, and were able to move
their débris over wide lands of little declivity toward the sea, their
immense deposits forming the lands of Cape Cod, and also the
islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.
But it is now said that this implied magnitude of the glacial
deposits on the lands skirting the New England coast is without
foundation, since the larger bulk of these islands consists of
upturned Cretaceous and Tertiary strata, which are only thinly
covered with glacial débris, such as bowlders, gravel, clay, and sand,
from the eroded shores of the mainland of New England. But it
appears that the dislocated and folded cretaceous strata which
underlie the glacial drift of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard were
during an early period deposited on the bottom of a shallow sea,
which then covered the Vineyard Sound, Buzzard’s Bay, and their
surrounding lowlands. Thus the ice-sheets of the frigid age which
moved over New England displaced the yielding stratified deposits of
the shallow sea, and forced them southward in a disturbed condition
to the position which they now occupy.
Still, it is apparent that only a small portion of the glacial drift is
found on these islands, which, according to appearances, must have
been eroded and moved southward from the rocky lands of New
England during the ice age; but there is sufficient to show that large
quantities of such débris were carried over the islands into the
Atlantic. And, judging from the eroded rocky New England lands,
there must have been sufficient glacial drift moved over Nantucket
and Martha’s Vineyard into the ocean beyond to far exceed in bulk
the deranged Tertiary and Cretaceous deposits which now form so
large a portion of the islands.
For, when we look over lands bearing traces of the ice age,
where the glaciers did not move their drift into the sea, so the
terminal moraines of such glaciers can be better estimated, we can
realize the great work that has been performed by the ice-sheet that
overran New England during a frigid age.
Professor James Geikie states, in his discussion on the glacial
deposits of Northern Italy, that the deposits from Alpine glaciers of a
frigid period “rise out of the plains of Piedmont as steep hills to a
height of fifteen hundred feet, and in one place to nearly two
thousand feet. Measured along its outer circumference, this great
morainic mass is found to have a frontage of fifty miles, while the
plain which it encloses extends some fifteen miles from Andrate
southward.” And it is reported that there are found on the southern
flank of the Jura numerous scattered bowlders, all of which have
been carried from the Alps across the intervening plains, and left
where they now rest. Many contain thousands of cubic feet, and not
a few are quite as large as cottages.
Such blocks are found on the Jura, at a height of no less than
two thousand feet above the Lake of Neuchâtel. The Jura Mountains
being formed of limestone, it is easy to distinguish the débris
deposited by Alpine glaciers; and, from what I can learn of extensive
glacial work, it appears that intervening plains, lakes, and sounds
are so often found separating the source of ancient glaciers from
their deposits that their existence becomes almost necessary to
represent the general outlines of disturbance performed during an
ice period. In consideration of such facts and the foregoing
statements of reliable observers, I am prompted to offer my views
on glacial work performed on a portion of the Pacific shores of North
America, which seems to me to be much more extensive than
hitherto supposed.
Professor Whitney describes the coast mountains of California as
being made up of great disturbances, which have been brought
about within geologically recent times; and this statement I found to
be so obvious in my travels over that region that it appears to me
that the coast ranges originated in a different manner from the older
Sierras. The western sides of the latter mountains everywhere show
the great eroding power of ancient glaciers; and, when I considered
their favorable position for the accumulation of snow during a glacial
period, I was led to seek for the glacial deposits adequate to
represent the great gathering of ice which an age of frigid
temperature would produce.
But it seemed to me that such deposits could not be found in the
foot-hills of the Sierras, which contain the moraine of inferior ice-
sheets that terminated at the base of the mountains.
Under these conditions I came to the conclusion that during the
earlier ice period the immense glaciers which must have formed on
the western slopes of the Sierra range moved their gigantic
accumulation of débris so far seaward as to form the range of hills
now existing next the coast line, and perhaps the islands abreast the
Santa Barbara coast, the Contra Costa, or eastern range, being
formed during a subsequent ice period, in the same manner as the
hills next the coast line.
Still, it may be that neither of the coast ranges was the work of
a single cold epoch; but the western range must necessarily have
been the earliest deposit. Although the coast ranges differ from the
Sierras in their make up, yet it does not disagree with the glacial
origin of the former inferior mountains, from the fact that the ice-
sheets, while moving their bulk westward, displaced the deposits of
such bays, lakes, rivers, and marshes as lay abreast of the Sierra
slopes. The advancing ice-sheets, thousands of feet in depth,
moving from a lofty and steep incline, pressed and ploughed below
the somewhat superficial cretaceous and alluvial strata which lay in
their course. The disturbed strata, while forced along in confused
heaps in front of the ice, were amassed in ridges sufficient to form
the hills of the coast ranges. The bowlders found imbedded in
several of the coast hills must have been moved by the ice from the
Sierras on account of the coast ranges not having a rocky core of
sufficient firmness to give shape to such bowlders. Moreover, the
temperature of the Pacific waters would not be favorable for glaciers
to form on the coast ranges, with the ice-sheets of the Sierras
terminating at the foot-hills.
The Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys are now covered by
recent river deposits. Therefore, the glacial drift which should be
traced from the Sierras to the coast ranges is concealed.
Yet the abraded appearance of exposed solid rocks at the base
of the foot-hills, and also the scattered bowlders which gradually
disappear beneath the diluvial deposits of the plains, indicate that
the Sierra ice-sheets could not have ended at the foot-hills, but must
have moved further westward, while gathering immense
accumulations in their front, sufficient to form the coast hills, the
débris thus amassed being able to arrest the further movement of
the ice seaward.
 The coast ranges in several places have been subject to igneous
action, which may have been brought about through heat generated
from pressure exerted on the interior masses after the ice had
melted away, the heat thus produced being sufficient to cause
outbursts of lava, where the nature of the material favored
combustion. The low plains, lakes, and bays which separate the
Sierras from the coast hills are in a position similar to the shallow
sounds which separate Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and Long
Island from the inferior slopes of the mountains of New England.
Therefore, while agreeing with glacialists, who believe that great
geological changes have been wrought by ice-sheets in Italy and
New England, it appears to me that the ancient glaciers of the Sierra
Nevada have accomplished more extensive work, owing to the
Sierras being situated in a more favorable position to receive the
humidity of the ocean.
Hence, with a low temperature, vast quantities of snow must
have collected on their lofty sides; and at the same time their great
height and declivity would cause the ice to move down their steeps
with greater force than the glaciers which passed over New England.
Writers who have given the subject considerable study think that the
deep valleys of the Sierra Nevada were produced by disruptive
rather than erosive agencies. This conclusion has been formed from
the lack of large accumulations of débris about their lower
extremities, which would not be the case if such valleys were the
result of glacial erosion. But, should the coast ranges be attributed
to glacial action, as has been stated, we can well account for the
débris that should accumulate from the erosion of the deep valleys.
The only thing that could prevent the ice from gathering on the
Sierra Nevada range during an ice period in greater masses than on
any mountains in the northern hemisphere would be the lack of
cold; for, with a low temperature, the fall of snow would be
enormous. This is shown by the great snow-fall during the short mild
winters of to-day. Therefore, with ice-sheets covering a large portion
of the lands of the high northern latitudes, and with the Japanese
current which tempers the north Pacific waters made cold in the
manner described in the foregoing pages, and while the sea along
the north-west coast of America was strewn with icebergs launched
from Alaska and British Columbia, it seems that California must also
have obtained a frigid climate during the ice age. Therefore, on
account of its exposure to the ocean winds, and the consequent
heavy snow-fall, the accumulation of ice on its lands must have been
immense. For, when it is considered that the glaciers of North
America extended southward even into the torrid zone sufficient to
cover a large portion of Central America, it is unreasonable to
suppose that any portion of California could escape being covered by
heavy ice-sheets during the glacial epoch. The comparatively scant
fall of rain and snow over Greenland is known to form ice-sheets
hundreds of feet in thickness.
Therefore, what must have been the depth of ice over the high
lands of the Pacific coast north of California at the culmination of a
frigid period? The descriptions given by Dr. Dawson and others, of
glacial phenomena along that coast, favor the impression that an
immense ice-sheet at one time deeply covered the whole region
from the top of the mountain range to the ocean.
Thus all the deep channels were filled and all the islands deeply
overrun with ice, while the immense bergs launched from the shore
and carried by the winds and currents southward were probably not
melted until they reached the tropical latitudes. Thus, when the
whole circulation of the Pacific waters are taken into account, it will
be seen that their temperature during the ice age must have been
considerably lowered. The movement of ice-sheets on the Pacific
slope was probably local in character, and not connected with the
movement of ice on the eastern sides of the mountains.
From what I have seen of the vast territory lying between the
Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains it appears that it obtained
much heavier ice-fields than generally supposed. Professor Geikie in
his lectures says of this region that during the glacial age, “in the
Second Colorado Canyon, the sides were completely glaciated from
bottom to top. These walls are from 800 to 1,000 feet high, and at
the thickest point the glacier was 1,700 feet thick”; and he says that
“the country around Salt Lake was covered with ice, for the rocks
about there show the action of ice, and that the bones of the musk-
ox are found there.” This vast area of ancient ice, although subject
to little movement in its interior basin, still, in whatever movement it
may have had, must have found its main outlet through the Grand
Canyon of the Colorado.
For in no other way can we account for the erosive forces
necessary to excavate that immense chasm. Not even the mighty
torrent that carried off the waters of the melting ice-sheets that
covered the interior portion of the continent could accomplish work
of such magnitude.
According to Professor Geikie’s observations the Second
Colorado Canyon was filled with glaciers during the ice age.
Therefore, it seems that these glaciers must have flowed down into
the Grand Canyon, and there united with glaciers flowing from more
northern regions.
An account of a collecting expedition to Lower California by G.
Eison, in 1895, describes ancient moraines at the extremity of the
peninsula as being prominent, large, and steep. This region lies
under the tropic of Cancer, and 8° south of the mouth of the
Colorado River where it empties into the Gulf of California. Hence it
appears that the temperature of that portion of North America
during the ice age was favorable for the great glacier of the Colorado
Canyon to have flowed into the Gulf of California.
The wide, shallow basins of Utah and Nevada were filled with
the water from the melting ice-sheet on the breaking up of the ice
period, and the lakes so caused remained for a considerable time
after the disappearance of the ice. But, owing to the great
evaporation and light rain-fall of that region, the lakes gradually
shrank away, the filling and emptying of the lake basins being
governed by the cold and mild epochs.
 The conglomerate deposits in the Appalachian district of North
America are known as occurring on a large scale. Professor Shaler is
inclined to attribute them to glacial action, because he knows of no
other force that could bring together such masses of pebbles from a
wide-spread surface. In Eastern Kentucky and East Tennessee these
deposits are found to be several hundred feet in thickness. Such
accumulations of apparent glacial origin are to be found from New
Brunswick to Alabama.
Hence it seems that the ice during a frigid period followed down
the Alleghany range even so far south as Georgia and Alabama; and
for a time, when the ice attained its greatest spread, it flowed over
the central portion of the Gulf States. For how else can we account
for the clay mixed with gravel and pebbles and stony fragments
being spread broadcast over that region?
I know that such statements do not agree with the views of
glacialists who have written on the subject, and have drawn the
glacial boundary from seven to ten degrees further north, where a
line of bowlders with other glacial débris is plainly traced. Still, it
appears to me that a line of bowlders deposited by an ice-sheet
spreading over a continent and across many degrees of latitude
cannot be compared to the moraines of inferior mountain glaciers of
the temperate latitudes of the present age.
An ice-sheet moving from a high latitude to a lower would, while
in the colder latitude, freeze firmly to the rocky ledges, and hold
them so strong in its frigid grasp as to break off the weaker portions
of the rocks, and drag them toward a milder region, as far as the
freezing grip of the ice-sheet would permit; but, on gaining lower
and milder latitudes, the holding and dragging power of the ice
would be lost on account of the increased warmth of the earth over
which the glacier must pass, and also because of the ice-sheet
having lost a portion of the low temperature acquired in the higher
latitudes. Therefore, on such lines the bowlders would be released,
while the ice-sheet would still move on, although largely deprived of
its eroding power.
 This is the probable reason why a line of glacial débris, largely
composed of bowlders, is found to extend across the Middle and
Western States, and so generally supposed to be the glacial
boundary of a frigid period. But there is no reason to suppose that
an ice-sheet, although deprived of its eroding power, was arrested in
its southern movement on the line of its stony débris, because there
could be no sudden change of temperature in a particular latitude on
the eastern lands of North America to cause an abrupt ending of the
ice-sheets. And there appears to be nothing to hinder the ice from
gathering and flowing over lands warm enough to loosen its
implements of erosion; for there is much to show that the ice-sheets
flowed much further southward, even into the middle portion of the
Gulf States, and there spread the clay mixed with gravel and
pebbles, with now and then a bowlder, over the land. The scattered
bowlders, found in numerous instances many miles south of the
bowlder line, were so deeply imbedded in the ice-sheet that they
could not be dropped on the usual releasing ground. The ice-sheet,
when deprived of its rocky, eroding implements, would, while flowing
over the land, leave few or no imprints on the rocks; but it would
probably move and spread a large amount of clay, gravel, pebbles,
and sand over its wide course, especially if the ice moved from a
region abounding with such material.
Should we place the glacial boundary on the line of the rocky
débris, how could we account for the glaciated stones found on the
hills and plains situated far southward of the bowlder-strewn regions
of the Middle and Western States? The clay mixed with gravel and
sand, and spread so broadcast over a large portion of Georgia and
even into Northern Florida, makes it appear that the ice of a cold
period must have covered that southern region.
Moreover, it seems to have been through the great abrasion
which only ice-sheets could perform that the sands of the Florida
peninsula were produced; for on examination they seem to have
resulted from the abrasion and weathering of crystalline rocks.
 The worn remnants of such rocks are now found in the southern
Appalachian range. In fact, the hills and mountains of that region at
the present time are supposed to be a small remnant of the ancient
highlands. Thus, on consideration, it appears that the sands caused
by the action of glaciers were, on the disappearance of ice-sheets,
blown by the strong north-west winds toward the Florida peninsula
as fast as the receding waters of the ocean which flowed the
lowlands on the breaking up of the ice age would permit; and in this
way the sand was spread over the lowland region, which was largely
composed of coral sea shells and other marine matter. And it seems
that the sand must have been blown over large areas in Florida soon
after the ending of the frigid period, because the sand, in order to
be moved by the winds, must have spread over a country nearly
destitute of vegetation; and such would be the condition of that
region during times which succeeded the ice period and the
subsequent brief flowage of the lowlands on the ending of the frigid
age, which would not be the case if such sands resulted entirely
from water erosion and weathering, because with such a state of
things the country would be covered with forests and grasses, which
would prevent the sand from being moved by the winds to any great
extent.
This goes to show that the region of the Gulf States was so
much affected by the cold of the glacial period, together with the
submergence of the lowlands at its close, its flora and also its
animals were exterminated; for how else can we account for the
abundant fossil remains of animals now found buried in the Florida
sands? It appears also that, when Florida was being covered with
drifting sands, many of the lake basins now formed did not exist, as
the wind-blown sand could not have crossed a continuous chain of
lakes like the St. John’s River; and it is an easy matter to-day to
trace the beds of the ancient lakes that prevented the sands from
drifting over certain lands now nearly destitute of it. And it is
probable that the sea flowed the lowest lands during the period
when the winds were drifting the greater portion of the sands over
the peninsula. Therefore, regions which embrace the Everglades and
portions of the Indian River territory are quite free from heavy sand
deposits, and so also are the extensive flat woods of the peninsula.
Since the sands blew over the ancient desert of Florida, many
lake basins have been formed because of the sinking of the ground.
This sinking of the ground is a common occurrence in limestone
regions, where a great amount of material is moved in solution,
leaving caverns whose roofs often fall in. The great amount of sand
blown upon Florida caused the marine strata to give way in the
weaker places under its burden. The sinks thus formed, probably of
frequent occurrence at one time, have now nearly ceased. Still, there
are depressions to be seen to-day where the tops of large pine-
trees, which grew on dry, sandy land, are barely above the surface
of the water which partly fills the basins so recently formed. Yet I
would not assert that all of the depressions where Florida lakes exist
were caused by the sinking of the ground; for the winds may have
caused shallow basins in the sand, where the decayed vegetation
has formed mud sufficient to hold the water which now partly fills
such basins.
The mobility of Florida sands can be seen to good advantage
when exposed to a strong, dry north-west wind, where the ground
happens to be destitute of vegetation. An observer can then realize
what the result would be, should the whole land be deprived of
vegetation and laid bare to the action of the winds.
Under such conditions, not only would the winds be much
stronger than now, but the air near the ground would be filled with
sand, moving like drifting snow in a Dakota blizzard. And,
furthermore, it is probable that the rainfall was very light while
Florida was void of vegetation; and, even if shallow basins were
formed, there would be a lack of rain to supply them with water.
The wide plains west of the Mississippi River, extending
southward into Texas, during the frigid period must have been
covered with a sheet of ice and snow. And it is probable that it was
not wholly a product of more northern latitudes, but was mostly
produced by the snow which fell on the plains during the long
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