Comes Naturally
p. 133 · Read in the full issue
Just Doing What Comes Naturally
investigations into eruptions at Bam Island, one of the vol canic islands off the northern mainland of New Guinea which occasionally burst into activity r seem to bear out what the natives have been saying for some time —that it’s normal for bam to erupt about the time of the change of seasons.
The volcano last exploded in March, but its last big eruption was in 1954, when the island’s 400 natives were evacuated.
According to the experts, a seasonal pattern of activity lies in a “luni-solar tidal effect”.
The passage of the sun across the equatorial zone apparently sets up stresses in these lati tudes which produce an erup tive response on Bam.