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
Coy Inlet, south of (partly angular and partly estimation) 200 to 300
Port Desire (barometric) 245 to 255 C. Blanco (angular) 250 North
Promontory of St. George’s Bay (angular) 250 South of New Bay (angular)
200 to 220 North of S. Josef (estimation) 200 to 300 Plain of Rio Negro
(angular) 200 to 220 Bahia Blanca (estimation) 200 to 300
The extension, moreover, of the 560 to 580, and of the 80 to 100 feet,
plains is remarkable, though somewhat less obvious than in the former
cases. Bearing in mind that I have not picked these measurements out of
a series, but have used all those which represented the edges of
plains, I think it scarcely possible that these coincidences in height
should be accidental. We must therefore conclude that the action,
whatever it may have been, by which these plains have been modelled
into their present forms, has been singularly uniform.
These plains or great terraces, of which three and four often rise like
steps one behind the other, are formed by the denudation of the old
Patagonian tertiary beds, and by the deposition on their surfaces of a
mass of well-rounded gravel, varying, near the coast, from ten to
thirty-five feet in thickness, but increasing in thickness towards the
interior. The gravel is often capped by a thin irregular bed of sandy
earth. The plains slope up, though seldom sensibly to the eye, from the
summit edge of one escarpment to the foot of the next highest one.
Within a distance of 150 miles, between Santa Cruz to Port Desire,
where the plains are particularly well developed, there are at least
seven stages or steps, one above the other. On the three lower ones,
namely, those of 100 feet, 250 feet, and 350 feet in height, existing
littoral shells are abundantly strewed, either on the surface, or
partially embedded in the superficial sandy earth. By whatever action
these three lower plains have been modelled, so undoubtedly have all
the higher ones, up to a height of 950 feet at S. Julian, and of 1,200
feet (by estimation) along St. George’s Bay. I think it will not be
disputed, considering the presence of the upraised marine shells, that
the sea has been the active power during stages of some kind in the
elevatory process.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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