It is admitted that if the cascades of Tivoli, for example, can give
birth to the oolitic grains, the same thing happens in the quietest
basins, that in stalactite-caverns oolitic grains develop themselves,
which afterwards, becoming cemented together from the continued, but
very slow, affluence of the calcareous waters, give rise to certain
kinds of oolitic rocks.
On the other hand, it is known that nodules, more or less large, develop
themselves in marls in consequence of the concentration of the
calcareous elements, without the possibility of any wearing action of
water. Now, as there exists every gradation of size between the smallest
oolitic grains and the largest concretions, it is reasonable to suppose
that the oolites are equally the product of concentration.
Finally, from research to research, it is found that perfectly
constituted oolites--that is to say, concentric layers, as in the
Jurassic limestone--develop themselves in vegetable earth in places
where the effects of water in motion is not more admissible than in the
preceding instances.
Thus we arrive at the conclusion, that if Nature sometimes forms
crystals with perfect terminations in magmas in the course of
solidification, she gives rise also to spheroidal forms surrounding
various centres, which sometimes originate spontaneously, and in other
cases are accumulated round the débris of fossils, or even mere grains
of sand. Nevertheless, all mineral substances are not alike calculated
to produce oolitic rocks; putting aside some particular cases, this
property is confined to limestone and oxide of iron.
* * * * *
With regard to the distribution of the Jurassic formation on the
terrestrial globe, it may be stated that the Cotteswold Hills in
England, and in France the Jura mountains, are almost entirely composed
of these rocks, the several series of beds being all represented in
them--this circumstance, in fact, induced Von Humboldt to name the
formation after this latter range. The Upper Lias also exists in the
Pyrenees and in the Alps; in Spain; in many parts of Northern Italy; in
Russia, especially in the government of Moscow, and in the Crimea; but
it is in Germany where it occupies the most important place. A thin bed
of oolitic limestone presents, at Solenhofen in Bavaria, a geological
repository of great celebrity, containing fossil Plants, Fishes,
Insects, Crustaceans, with some Pterodactyles, admirably preserved; it
yielded also some of the earliest of the feathered race. The fine
quarries of lithographic stone at Pappenheim, so celebrated all over
Europe, belong to the Jurassic formation.
It has recently been announced that these rocks have been found in
India; they contribute largely to the formation of the main mass of the
Himalayas, and to the chain of the Andes in South America; finally, from
recent investigations, they seem to be present in New Zealand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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