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
not acquired the ordinary forms of dikes. Subsequently to the injection
of these feldspathic rocks, a great dislocation has taken place; and
the much shattered gypseous strata here overlie a hillock [G], composed
of vertical strata of impure limestone and of black highly calcareous
shale including threads of gypsum: these rocks, as we shall presently
see, belong to the upper parts of the gypseous series, and hence must
here have been thrown down by a vast fault.
Proceeding up the valley-basin of the Yeso, and taking our section
sometimes on one hand and sometimes on the other, we come to a great
hill of stratified porphyritic conglomerate [H] dipping at 45 degrees
to the west; and a few hundred yards farther on, we have a bed between
three or four hundred feet thick of gypsum [I] dipping eastward at a
very high angle: here then we have a fault and anticlinal axis. On the
opposite side of the valley, a vertical mass of red conglomerate,
conformably underlying the gypsum, appears gradually to lose its
stratification and passes into a mountain of porphyry. The gypsum [I]
is covered by a bed [K], at least 1,000 feet in thickness, of a
purplish-red, compact, heavy, fine-grained sandstone or mudstone, which
fuses easily into a white enamel, and is seen under a lens to contain
triturated crystals. This is succeeded by a bed [L], 1,000 feet thick
(I believe I understate the thickness) of gypsum, exactly like the beds
before described; and this again is capped by another great bed [M] of
purplish-red sandstone. All these strata dip eastward; but the
inclination becomes less and less, as we leave the first and almost
vertical bed [I] of gypsum.
Leaving the basin-plain of Yeso, the road rapidly ascends, passing by
mountains composed of the gypseous and associated beds, with their
stratification greatly disturbed and therefore not easily intelligible:
hence this part of the section has been left uncoloured. Shortly before
reaching the great Pequenes ridge, the lowest stratum visible [N] is a
red sandstone or mudstone, capped by a vast thickness of black,
compact, calcareous, shaly rock [O], which has been thrown into four
lofty, though small ridges: looking northward, the strata in these
ridges are seen gradually to rise in inclination, becoming in some
distant pinnacles absolutely vertical.
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