The Journal of Geology, January-February 1893: A Semi-Quarterly Magazine of Geology and Related SciencesVarious
Science
The Journal of Geology, January-February 1893: A Semi-Quarterly Magazine of Geology and Related Sciences
Various
Geology -- Periodicals
It has been urged against the criterion of differential weathering
that superglacial material is or may be thoroughly oxidized before
its deposition, and that a layer of oxidized drift between layers of
till may be no more than superglacial debris deposited during a minor
recession of the ice.[16] We believe that this attempt to eliminate
the value of this criterion rests partly on an exaggerated idea
concerning the amount of superglacial material, but more especially
on a failure to apprehend the real meaning of the argument for the
validity of the criterion, and upon a failure to note the limitations
imposed upon it by its advocates. It is not affirmed that a layer of
oxidized drift between beds of unoxidized drift is _per se_ proof of
two glacial epochs; but it is affirmed that if such layer of weathered
drift can be shown to extend far below any possible superglacial till,
into the subglacial till below, in such wise as to indicate that it
is the result of subaërial exposure in a warm climate subsequent to
its deposition and prior to the deposition of the overlying till,
it constitutes the best possible evidence of an interglacial epoch,
especially when accompanied by the corroborative testimony of other
criteria. It is further affirmed that if the second sheet of drift
failed to reach the limit of the first, and if the drift which was
deposited by the first and never covered by the second ice-sheet, is
more thoroughly and more deeply weathered than that deposited by the
second, and especially if the two types of drift surface meet along
a definite and readily traceable line, the argument becomes, in our
judgment, irrefragable. In its application, this criterion would be
infallible only in the hands of one who could distinguish between
superglacial and superglacially oxidized material on the one hand, and
material subaërially weathered after its deposition, on the other.
[16] This point was urged at the reading of the paper at Ottawa, by
Prof. C. H. Hitchcock, Mr. Upham, and others.
In circumstances and relations where the weathering of the drift is
not in itself conclusive, it might still have corroborative value in
association with other lines of evidence.
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