9. Draw diagrams showing by dotted lines the conditions both of _A_
and _B_, Figure 196, after deformation had given the strata their
present attitude.
[Illustration: Fig. 197. A Block Mountain]
10. What is the attitude of the strata of this earth block, Figure
197? What has taken place along the plane _baf_? When did the
dislocation occur compared with the folding of the strata? With the
erosion of the valleys on the right-hand side of the mountain? With
the deposition of the sediments _efg_? Do you find any remnants of the
original surface _baf_ produced by the dislocation? From the left-hand
side of the mountain infer what was the relief of the region before
the dislocation. Give the complete history recorded in the diagram
from the deposition of the strata to the present.
[Illustration: Fig. 198. A Faulted Lava Flow _aa´_]
11. Which is the older fault, in Figure 198, _f_ or _f´_? When did the
lava flow occur? How long a time elapsed between the formation of the
two faults as measured in the work done in the interval? How long a
time since the formation of the later fault?
[Illustration: Fig. 199. Measurement of the Thickness of
Inclined Strata]
12. Measure by the scale the thickness _bc_ of the coal-bearing strata
outcropping from _a_ to _b_ in Figure 199. On any convenient scale
draw a similar section of strata with a dip of 30° outcropping along a
horizontal line normal to the strike one thousand feet in length, and
measure the thickness of the strata by the scale employed. The
thickness may also be calculated by trigonometry.
[Illustration: Fig. 200. Unconformity between Parallel Strata]
[Illustration: Fig. 201. Unconformity between Non-parallel
Strata]
Unconformity
Strata deposited one upon, another in an unbroken succession are said
to be _conformable_. But the continuous deposition of strata is often
interrupted by movements of the earth's crust, Old sea floors are
lifted to form land and are again depressed beneath the sea to receive
a cover of sediments only after an interval during which they were
carved by subaërial erosion. An erosion surface which thus parts older
from younger strata is known as an _unconformity_, and the strata
above it are said to be _unconformable_ with the rocks below, or to
rest unconformably upon them. An unconformity thus records movements
of the crust and a consequent break in the deposition of the strata.
It denotes a period of land erosion of greater or less length, which
may sometimes be roughly measured by the stage in the erosion cycle
which the land surface had attained before its burial. Unconformable
strata may be _parallel_, as in Figure 200, where the record includes
the deposition of strata _a_, their emergence, the erosion of the land
surface _ss_, a submergence and the deposit of the strata _b_, and
lastly, emergence and the erosion of the present surface _s´s´_.
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