The Principles of Stratigraphical GeologyMarr, J. E. (John Edward)
Science
The Principles of Stratigraphical Geology
Marr, J. E. (John Edward)
Geology, Stratigraphic
At the close of Carboniferous times a marked change took place in the
nature of the earth-movements. The prevalent depression which occurred
over the British and adjoining regions during Carboniferous times was
replaced by upward movement, accompanied by orogenic folds, which once
more brought on continental conditions and developed a series of
mountain ranges. The change is marked even at the close of
Carboniferous times by the abnormal red sandstones of the uppermost
part of the Carboniferous system which are found around Whitehaven in
Cumberland and Rotherham in Yorkshire, as the Whitehaven Sandstone and
Rotherham Red Rock. These movements continued through Permian and
Triassic times, and it is to them and to the climatic conditions of
the periods, that the anomalous nature of the Permo-Triassic deposits
is largely due, as will be shewn in the succeeding chapters. At
present it is our purpose to call attention to the effect of these
movements upon the sediments which had been deposited previously to
their occurrence.
Over the British area, two different systems of orogenic movement can
be detected, producing folds of which the axes run approximately at
right angles to one another. One of these, of which the Pennine system
is the best representative in Britain, caused the production of
elevations having axes in a general north and south direction, and we
may therefore speak of it as the Pennine system of movement, while the
other, which gave rise to folds running in an east and west direction,
is well represented in the Mendip Hills, and may be therefore termed
the Mendip system, though it is more widely known as the Hercynian
system, as, on the Continent, the rocks which are greatly affected by
it form the foundations of the region occupied by the ancient
Hercynian forest.
The effects of these systems were in the main similar; they resulted
in the uplift of parallel belts of country to form hill-ranges with
intervening lowlands, but when studied in detail the movements are
seen to be of a different character. The Pennine system of movements
was of a type which is familiar to the geologists as developed in the
Great Basin Region of the western territories of North America, and
produced what is spoken of as Basin-Range structure. The movements
were of the nature of direct uplift, causing fracture, only
accompanied by folding in a minor degree, and accordingly the hills
are composed of terraced scarps, with one gently sloping side, and one
steep scarp-side, the latter on the upthrow side of the fault, as seen
in fig. 21.
In the Mendip system, the folds were of the Alpine type, which is a
familiar product of lateral pressure, consisting essentially of
overfolds, though these are often complicated by reversed faults.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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