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
At the distance of a few miles from these two craters, stands the
Kicker Rock, or islet, remarkable from its singular form. It is
unstratified, and is composed of compact tuff, in parts having the
resin-like fracture. It is probable that this amorphous mass, like that
similar mass in the case first described, once filled up the central
hollow of a crater, and that its flanks, or sloping walls, have since
been worn quite away by the sea, in which it stands exposed.
_Small basaltic craters._—A bare, undulating tract, at the eastern end
of Chatham Island, is remarkable from the number, proximity, and form
of the small basaltic craters with which it is studded. They consist,
either
of a mere conical pile, or, but less commonly, of a circle, of black
and red, glossy scoriæ, partially cemented together. They vary in
diameter from thirty to one hundred and fifty yards, and rise from
about fifty to one hundred feet above the level of the surrounding
plain. From one small eminence, I counted sixty of these craters, all
of which were within a third of a mile from each other, and many were
much closer. I measured the distance between two very small craters,
and found that it was only thirty yards from the summit-rim of one to
the rim of the other. Small streams of black, basaltic lava, containing
olivine and much glassy feldspar, have flowed from many, but not from
all of these craters. The surfaces of the more recent streams were
exceedingly rugged, and were crossed by great fissures; the older
streams were only a little less rugged; and they were all blended and
mingled together in complete confusion. The different growth, however,
of the trees on the streams, often plainly marked their different ages.
Had it not been for this latter character, the streams could in few
cases have been distinguished; and, consequently, this wide undulatory
tract might have (as probably many tracts have) been erroneously
considered as formed by one great deluge of lava, instead of by a
multitude of small streams, erupted from many small orifices.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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