Geological Observations on South AmericaDarwin, Charles
Science
Geological Observations on South America
Darwin, Charles
Beagle Expedition (1831-1836); Geology -- South America; Mollusks, Fossil -- South America; Paleontology
Carefully noting, by the aid of his compass and clinometer, at every
point which he visited, the direction and amount of inclination of the
parallel divisions in these rocks, he was led to a very important
generalisation— namely, that over very wide areas the direction
(strike) of the planes of cleavage in slates, and of foliation in
schists and gneisses, remained constant, though the amount of their
inclination (dip) often varied within wide limits. Further than this it
appeared that there was always a close correspondence between the
strike of the cleavage and foliation and the direction of the great
axes along which elevation had taken place in the district.
In Tierra del Fuego, Darwin found striking evidence that the cleavage
intersecting great masses of slate-rocks was quite independent of their
original stratification, and could often, indeed, be seen cutting
across it at right angles. He was also able to verify Sedgwick’s
observation that, in some slates, glossy surfaces on the planes of
cleavage arise from the development of new minerals, chlorite, epidote
or mica, and that in this way a complete graduation from slates to true
schists may be traced.
Darwin further showed that in highly schistose rocks, the folia bend
around and encircle any foreign bodies in the mass, and that in some
cases they exhibit the most tortuous forms and complicated puckerings.
He clearly saw that in all cases the forces by which these striking
phenomena must have been produced were persistent over wide areas, and
were connected with the great movements by which the rocks had been
upheaved and folded.
That the distinct folia of quartz, feldspar, mica, and other minerals
composing the metamorphic schists could not have been separately
deposited as sediment was strongly insisted upon by Darwin; and in
doing so he opposed the view generally prevalent among geologists at
that time. He was thus driven to the conclusion that foliation, like
cleavage, is not an original, but a superinduced structure in
rock-masses, and that it is the result of re-crystallisation, under the
controlling influence of great pressure, of the materials of which the
rock was composed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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