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
Let us now turn to the foliation of the metamorphic schists, a subject
which has been much less attended to. As in the case of
cleavage-laminae, the folia preserve over very large areas a uniform
strike: thus Humboldt found for a distance of 300 miles in Venezuela,
and indeed over a much larger space, gneiss, granite, mica, and
clay-slate, striking very uniformly N.E. and S.W., and dipping at an
angle of between 60 and 70 degrees to N.W. (“Personal Narrative” volume
6 page 59 et seq.); it would even appear from the facts given in this
chapter, that the metamorphic rocks throughout the north-eastern part
of South America are generally foliated within two points of N.E. and
S.W. Over the eastern parts of Banda Oriental, the foliation strikes
with a high inclination, very uniformly N.N.E. to S.S.W., and over the
western parts, in a W. by N. and E. by S. line. For a space of 300
miles on the shores of the Chonos and Chiloe Islands, we have seen that
the foliation seldom deviates more than a point of the compass from a
N. 19 degrees W. and S. 19 degrees E. strike. As in the case of
cleavage, the angle of the dip in foliated rocks is generally high but
variable, and alternates from one side of the line of strike to the
other side, sometimes being vertical: in the Northern Chonos Islands,
however, the folia are inclined almost always to the west; in nearly
the same manner, the cleavage-laminae in Southern Tierra del Fuego
certainly dip much more frequently to S.S.W. than to the opposite
point. In Eastern Banda Oriental, in parts of Brazil, and in some other
districts, the foliation runs in the same direction with the
mountain-ranges and adjoining coast-lines: amongst the Chonos Islands,
however, this coincidence fails, and I have given my reasons for
suspecting that one granitic axis has burst through and tilted the
already inclined folia of mica-schist: in the case of cleavage, the
coincidence between its strike and that of the main stratification
seems sometimes to fail. (Cases are given by Mr. Jukes in his “Geology
of Newfoundland” page 130.) Foliation and cleavage resemble each other
in the planes winding round concretions, and in becoming tortuous where
veins of quartz abound. (I have seen in Brazil and Chile concretions
thus enfolded by foliated gneiss; and Macculloch “Highlands” volume 1
page 64, has described a similar case. For analogous cases in
clay-slate, see Professor Henslow’s Memoir in “Cambridge Philosophical
Transactions” volume 1 page 379, and Macculloch’s “Classification of
Rocks” page 351. With respect to both foliation and cleavage becoming
tortuous where quartz-veins abound, I have seen instances near Monte
Video, at Concepcion, and in the Chonos Islands. See also Mr.
Greenough’s “Critical Examination” page 78.) On the flanks of the
mountains both in Tierra del Fuego and in other countries, I have
observed that the cleavage-planes frequently dip at a high angle
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