Beagle Expedition (1831-1836); Geology -- South America; Volcanoes
Humboldt, in his “Personal Narrative” volume 1 page 236, says “In
general, the masses of known primitive rocks, I mean those which
perfectly resemble our granites, gneiss, and mica-slate, are very rare
in lavas: the substances we generally denote by the name of granite,
thrown out by Vesuvius, are mixtures of nepheline, mica, and
pyroxene.”) One other large fragment, found in another spot, is
deserving of notice; it is a conglomerate, containing small fragments
of granitic, cellular, and jaspery rocks, and of hornstone porphyries,
embedded in a base of wacke, threaded by numerous thin layers of a
concretionary pitchstone passing into obsidian. These layers are
parallel, slightly tortuous, and short; they thin out at their ends,
and resemble in form the layers of quartz in gneiss. It is probable
that these small embedded fragments were not separately ejected, but
were entangled in a fluid volcanic rock, allied to obsidian; and we
shall presently see that several varieties of this latter series of
rock assume a laminated structure.
TRACHYTIC SERIES OF ROCKS.
Those occupy the more elevated and central, and likewise the
south-eastern, parts of the island. The trachyte is generally of a pale
brown colour, stained with small darker patches; it contains broken and
bent crystals of glassy feldspar, grains of specular iron, and black
microscopical points, which latter, from being easily fused, and then
becoming magnetic, I presume are hornblende. The greater number of the
hills, however, are composed of a quite white, friable stone, appearing
like a trachytic tuff. Obsidian, hornstone, and several kinds of
laminated feldspathic rocks, are associated with the trachyte. There is
no distinct stratification; nor could I distinguish a crateriform
structure in any of the hills of this series. Considerable dislocations
have taken place; and many fissures in these rocks are yet left open,
or are only partially filled with loose fragments. Within the space
(This space is nearly included by a line sweeping round Green Mountain,
and joining the hills, called the Weather Port Signal, Holyhead, and
that denominated (improperly in a geological sense) “the Crater of an
old volcano.”), mainly formed of trachyte, some basaltic streams have
burst forth; and not far from the summit of Green Mountain, there is
one stream of quite black, vesicular basalt, containing minute crystals
of glassy feldspar, which have a rounded appearance.
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