Common Minerals and RocksCrosby, William O. (William Otis)
Science
Common Minerals and Rocks
Crosby, William O. (William Otis)
Geology -- Study and teaching
A geological map shows the surface distribution of the rocks, _i.e._,
gives in one view the forms and arrangement of the outcrops of all the
rocks in the district mapped, including the trend or strike of the
folded strata. The map may be lithological, each kind of rock, as
granite, sandstone, limestone, etc., being represented by a different
color; or, it may be historical, each color representing one geological
formation, _i.e._, the rocks formed during one period of geological
time, without reference to their lithological character. But in the best
maps these two methods are combined. The geological section shows the
arrangement of the rocks below the surface, revealing the dip of the
strata and supplementing the map, both modes of representation, the
horizontal and vertical, being required to give a complete idea of the
geological structure of a country. For a detailed and satisfactory
explanation of the construction and use of geological maps and sections,
students are referred to Prof. Geikie’s “Outlines of Field Geology.”
CLEAVAGE STRUCTURE.—This important structure is now known to be, like
rock-folds, a direct result of the great horizontal pressure in the
earth’s crust. It is entirely distinct in its nature and origin from
crystalline cleavage, and may properly be called lithologic cleavage. It
is also essentially unlike stratification and joint-structure. It agrees
with stratification in dividing the rocks into thin parallel layers, but
the cleavage planes are normally vertical instead of horizontal. And the
cleavage planes differ from joints in running in only one direction,
dividing the rock into layers; while joints, as we shall see, traverse
the same mass of rock in various directions, dividing it into blocks.
[Illustration: Fig. 27.—Slaty cleavage in contorted strata.]
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