EXTERNAL GEOLOGICAL AGENCIES CHAPTER I THE WORK OF THE WEATHER In our excursion to the valley with sandstone ledges we witnessed a process which is going forward in all lands. Everywhere the rocks are crumbling away; their fragments are creeping down hillsides to the stream ways and are carried by the streams to the sea, where they are rebuilt into rocky layers. When again the rocks are lifted to form land the process will begin anew; again they will crumble and creep down slopes and be washed by streams to the sea. Let us begin our study of this long cycle of change at the point where rocks disintegrate and decay under the action of the weather. In studying now a few outcrops and quarries we shall learn a little of some common rocks and how they weather away. =Stratification and jointing.= At the sandstone ledges we saw that the rock was divided into parallel layers. The thicker layers are known as _strata_, and the thin leaves into which each stratum may sometimes be split are termed _laminæ_. To a greater or less degree these layers differ from each other in fineness of grain, showing that the material has been sorted. The planes which divide them are called _bedding planes_. Besides the bedding planes there are other division planes, which cut across the strata from top to bottom. These are found in all rocks and are known as _joints_ (Fig. 1). Two sets of joints, running at about right angles to each other, together with the bedding planes, divide the sandstone into quadrangular blocks. [Illustration: Fig. 1. Cliff of Sandstone, Ireland] =Sandstone.= Examining a piece of sandstone we find it composed of grains quite like those of river sand or of sea beaches. Most of the grains are of a clear glassy mineral called quartz. These quartz grains are very hard and will scratch the steel of a knife blade. They are not affected by acid, and their broken surfaces are irregular like those of broken glass. The grains of sandstone are held together by some cement. This may be _calcareous_, consisting of soluble carbonate of lime. In brown sandstones the cement is commonly _ferruginous_,--hydrated iron oxide, or iron rust, forming the bond, somewhat as in the case of iron nails which have rusted together. The strongest and most lasting cement is _siliceous_, and sand rocks whose grains are closely cemented by silica, the chemical substance of which quartz is made, are known as quartzites.