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
inwards; and this was long ago observed by Von Buch to be the case in
Norway: this fact is perhaps analogous to the folded, fan-like or
radiating structure in the metamorphic schists of the Alps, in which
the folia in the central crests are vertical and on the two flanks
inclined inwards. (Studer in “Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal”
volume 23 page 144.) Where masses of fissile and foliated rocks
alternate together, the cleavage and foliation, in all cases which I
have seen, are parallel. Where in one district the rocks are fissile,
and in another adjoining district they are foliated, the planes of
cleavage and foliation are likewise generally parallel: this is the
case with the feldspathic homogeneous slates in the southern part of
the Chonos group, compared with the fine foliated mica-schists of the
northern part; so again the clay- slate of the whole eastern side of
Tierra del Fuego cleaves in exactly the same line with the foliated
gneiss and mica-slate of the western coast; other analogous instances
might have been adduced. (I have given a case in Australia. See my
“Volcanic Islands.”)
With respect to the origin of the folia of quartz, mica, feldspar, and
other minerals composing the metamorphic schists, Professor Sedgwick,
Mr. Lyell, and most authors believe, that the constituent parts of each
layer were separately deposited as sediment, and then metamorphosed.
This view, in the majority of cases, I believe to be quite untenable.
In those not uncommon instances, where a mass of clay-slate, in
approaching granite, gradually passes into gneiss, we clearly see that
folia of distinct minerals can originate through the metamorphosis of a
homogeneous fissile rock. (I have described in “Volcanic Islands” a
good instance of such a passage at the Cape of Good Hope.) The
deposition, it may be remarked, of numberless alternations of pure
quartz, and of the elements of mica or feldspar does not appear a
probable event. (See some excellent remarks on this subject, in
D’Aubuisson’s “Traite de Geog.” tome 1 page 297. Also some remarks by
Mr. Dana in “Silliman’s American Journal” volume 45 page 108.) In those
districts in which the metamorphic schists are foliated in planes
parallel to the cleavage of the rocks in an adjoining district, are we
to believe that the folia are due to sedimentary layers, whilst the
cleavage- laminae, though parallel, have no relation whatever to such
planes of deposition? On this view, how can we reconcile the vastness
of the areas over which the strike of the foliation is uniform, with
what we see in disturbed districts composed of true strata: and
especially, how can we understand the high and even vertical dip
throughout many wide districts, which are not mountainous, and
throughout some, as in Western Banda Oriental, which are not even
hilly? Are we to admit that in the northern part of the Chonos
Archipelago, mica-slate was first accumulated in parallel horizontal
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