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
second variety is a reddish non-porphyritic claystone, quite full of
spherical cavities, about half an inch in diameter, each lined with a
collapsed crust formed of crystals of quartz. The third variety also
consists of a pale purple non-porphyritic claystone, almost wholly
formed of concretionary balls, obscurely arranged in layers, of a less
compact and paler coloured claystone; each ball being on one side
partly hollow and lined with crystals of quartz.
PSEUDO-DIKES.
Some miles up the harbour, in a line of cliffs formed of slightly
metamorphosed tufaceous and porphyritic claystone beds, I observed
three vertical dikes, so closely resembling in general appearance
ordinary volcanic dikes, that I did not doubt, until closely examining
their composition, that they had been injected from below. The first is
straight, with parallel sides, and about four feet wide; it consists of
whitish, indurated tufaceous matter, precisely like some of the beds
intersected by it. The second dike is more remarkable; it is slightly
tortuous, about eighteen inches thick, and can be traced for a
considerable distance along the beach; it is of a purplish-red or brown
colour, and is formed chiefly of ROUNDED grains of quartz, with broken
crystals of earthy feldspar, scales of black mica, and minute fragments
of claystone porphyry, all firmly united together in a hard sparing
base. The structure of this dike shows obviously that it is of
mechanical and sedimentary origin; yet it thinned out upwards, and did
not cut through the uppermost strata in the cliffs. This fact at first
appears to indicate that the matter could not have been washed in from
above (Upfilled fissures are known to occur both in volcanic and in
ordinary sedimentary formations. At the Galapagos Archipelago “Volcanic
Islands” etc., there are some striking examples of pseudo-dikes
composed of hard tuff.); but if we reflect on the suction which would
result from a deep-seated fissure being formed, we may admit that if
the fissure were in any part open to the surface, mud and water might
well be drawn into it along its whole course. The third dike consisted
of a hard, rough, white rock, almost composed of broken crystals of
glassy feldspar, with numerous scales of black mica, cemented in a
scanty base; there was little in the appearance of this rock, to
preclude the idea of its having been a true injected feldspathic dike.
The matter composing these three pseudo-dikes, especially the second
one, appears to have suffered, like the surrounding strata, a certain
degree of metamorphic action; and this has much aided the deceptive
appearance. At Bahia, in Brazil, we have seen that a true injected
hornblendic dike, not only has suffered metamorphosis, but has been
dislocated and even diffused in the surrounding gneiss, under the form
of separate crystals and of fragments.
FALKLAND ISLANDS.
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