Coral Reefs; Volcanic Islands; South American Geology — CompleteDarwin, Charles
Science
Coral Reefs; Volcanic Islands; South American Geology — Complete
Darwin, Charles
Beagle Expedition (1831-1836); Coral reefs and islands; Geology -- South America; Islands; Volcanoes
In this same great valley there are several other conical masses of
injected rock (one, I observed, was composed of compact greenstone),
some of which are not connected, as far as is apparent, with any line
of dike; whilst others are obviously thus connected. Of these dikes,
three or four great lines stretch across the valley in a N.E. and S.W.
direction, parallel to that one connecting the Asses’ Ears, Lot’s Wife,
and probably Lot. The number of these masses of injected rock is a
remarkable feature in the geology of St. Helena. Besides those just
mentioned, and the hypothetical one beneath Flagstaff Hill, there is
Little Stony-top and others, as I have reason to believe, at the
Man-and-Horse, and at High Hill. Most of these masses, if not all of
them, have been injected subsequently to the last volcanic eruptions
from the central crater. The formation of conical bosses of rock on
lines of fissure, the walls of which are in most cases parallel, may
probably be attributed to inequalities in the tension, causing small
transverse fissures, and at these points of intersection the edges of
the strata would naturally yield, and be easily turned upwards.
Finally, I may remark, that hills of phonolite everywhere are apt[11]
to assume singular and even grotesque shapes, like that of Lot: the
peak at Fernando Noronha offers an instance; at St. Jago, however, the
cones of phonolite, though tapering, have a regular form. Supposing, as
seems probable, that all such hillocks or obelisks have originally been
injected, whilst liquified, into a mould formed by yielding strata, as
certainly has been the case with Lot, how are we to account for the
frequent abruptness and singularity of their outlines, compared with
similarly injected masses of greenstone and basalt? Can it be due to a
less perfect degree of fluidity, which is generally supposed to be
characteristic of the allied trachytic lavas?
[11] D’Aubuisson, in his “Traité de Géognosie” (tome ii, p. 540)
particularly remarks that this is the case.
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