The Journal of Geology, May-June 1893: A Semi-Quarterly Magazone of Geology and Related SciencesVarious
Science
The Journal of Geology, May-June 1893: A Semi-Quarterly Magazone of Geology and Related Sciences
Various
Geology -- Periodicals
The general petrographical similarity of the two series, taken in
connection with the more varied nature of the Grenville Series, its
frequent stratified character, and the presence in it of limestones and
graphite indicating an approach to modern conditions and the advent of
life, together with the difficulty of clearly separating the two series
from one another and defining their respective limits, lends support to
this view.
(2) A second view is that the Grenville Series is distinct from the
Fundamental Gneiss reposing on it unconformably and of much more recent
age; that it consists of a highly altered series of clastic origin--the
Fundamental Gneiss having possibly some such origin as that mentioned
under the last heading, or representing a much older series of still
more highly altered sediments. This is supported by the fact that
some observers have thought they could in places trace out a line of
contact between the two. But in these cases it always becomes a matter
of serious doubt whether what has been considered to represent the
Fundamental Gneiss is not really a mass of intrusive rock, in which,
by pressure or motion, a somewhat gneissic structure has been induced.
If the Fundamental Gneiss, moreover, was ever an ordinary sediment,
it must have undergone a metamorphosis so profound that no trace of
clastic origin remains, unless the generally indistinct foliation or
banding of some portions of it be considered as such. It must also be
noted in this connection that, although the rocks of the Grenville
series are more frequently possessed of a decided foliation and are
often banded, bands of different composition alternating with one
another as in ordinary sedimentary deposits, and although in this
series crystalline limestones and quartzites occur, we have as yet no
absolutely conclusive proof that even they are of sedimentary origin.
The series is thoroughly crystalline, most of its members at least show
the effect of great dynamic action, and so far as the present writer is
aware, no undoubted conglomerate or finer grained rock showing distinct
clastic structure has ever been found. In view of this fact,--although
the series is, in all probability, made up in part at least and perhaps
wholly of sedimentary material,--the proposal to separate it from the
rest of the Laurentian and class it as Algonkian or Huronian seems at
least premature.
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