From this arises a singular phenomenon which
has no analogy upon the earth. At the melting of the snows accumulated
at that pole during the long night of ten months and more the liquid
mass produced in that operation is diffused around the circumference of
the snowy region, converting a large zone of surrounding land into a
temporary sea and filling all the lower regions. This produces a
gigantic inundation, which has led some observers to suppose the
existence of another ocean in those parts, but which does not really
exist in that place, at least as a permanent sea. We see then (the last
opportunity was in 1884) the white spot of the snow surrounded by a
dark zone, which follows its perimeter in its progressive diminution,
upon a circumference ever more and more narrow. The outer part of this
zone branches out into dark lines, which occupy all the surrounding
region, and seem to be distributary canals by which the liquid mass may
return to its natural position. This produces in these regions very
extensive lakes, such as that designated upon the map by the name of
Lacus Hyperboreus; the neighboring interior sea called Mare Acidalium
becomes more black and more conspicuous. And it is to be remembered as a
very probable thing that the flowing of this melted snow is the cause
which determines principally the hydrographic state of the planet and
the variations that are periodically observed in its aspect. Something
similar would be seen upon the earth if one of our poles came to be
located suddenly in the center of Asia or of Africa.
Pages:
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199