The Ancient Volcanoes of Great Britain, Volume 1 (of 2)Geikie, Archibald
History
The Ancient Volcanoes of Great Britain, Volume 1 (of 2)
Geikie, Archibald
Volcanoes -- Great Britain
[Footnote 37: The Tertiary gabbros of the Inner Hebrides have already
been cited, and will be more fully described in a later chapter as
exhibiting the heterogeneousness of an eruptive magma.]
[Footnote 38: See Messrs. Dakyns and Teall, _Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc._
xlviii. (1892), p. 104; Prof. Brögger, _op. cit._ 1. (1894), p. 15; Mr.
A. Harker, _op. cit._ p. 320; Prof. Iddings, _Journ. Geol. Chicago_,
i. (1893), p. 833; _Bull. Phil. Soc. Washington_, ii. (1890), p. 191;
1892, p. 89.]
As illustrations of these features I may cite two good examples, one
from Scotland and one from England. The mass of Garabol Hill, in the
Loch Lomond district, consists mainly of granite, occupying an area
of about 12½ square miles. Messrs. Dakyns and Teall have shown that
while the central portions consist of granite, the south-eastern
margin affords a remarkable series of intermediate rocks, such as
hornblende-biotite-granite, tonalite (quartz-mica-diorite), diorite and
augite-diorite, which lead us outwards into highly basic compounds,
including wehrlites (olivine-diallage rocks), picrites (olivine-augite
rocks), serpentine (possibly representing dunites, saxonites, and
lherzolites), and a peculiar rock consisting essentially of enstatite,
diallage, brown hornblende and biotite. The authors regard the whole
of these widely different rocks as the products of one original magma,
the more basic marginal area having consolidated first as peridotites,
followed by diorites, tonalites and granites in the order of increasing
acidity. The most acid rock in the whole series consists of felspar
and quartz, is almost devoid of ferro-magnesian minerals, and occurs
in narrow veins in the granite and tonalite. It indicates that after
the segregation and consolidation of the whole boss, ruptures occurred
which were filled in by the ascent of the very latest and most acid
remaining portion of still fluid magma.[39]
[Footnote 39: Messrs. Dakyns and Teall, _Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc._
xlviii. (1892), p. 104.]
The case of Carrock Fell in Cumberland has been described by Mr.
A. Harker, who has ascertained that the gabbro of this boss has in
its central portions a specific gravity of less than 2·85 and a
silica-percentage sometimes as high as 59·46, whilst its marginal
zone gives a specific gravity above 2·95 and a silica-percentage as
low as 32·50. The migration of the heavy iron ores towards the margin
is readily apparent to the naked eye, and is well established by
chemical analysis, the oxides of iron amounting in the centre to 6·24
(Fe_{2}O_{3} 3·60, FeO 2·64), and at the margin to 25·54 (Fe_{2}O_{3}
8·44, FeO 17·10).[40] Neither in this instance nor in that of Garabol
Hill has any evidence been noticed which would suggest that the basic
and acid rocks belong to different periods of intrusion. They pass so
insensibly into each other as to form in each case one graduated mass.
[Footnote 40: Mr. A. Harker, _op. cit._ p. 320.]
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