Fragments of Earth Lore: Sketches & Addresses Geological and Geographical

47

Archiv für Anthropologie, Bd. xv. Heft 3, 1884.

48

Rothpletz: Denkschrift d. schweizer. Ges. für d. gesammt. Nat., Bd. xxviii. 1881.

49

Andreæ: Abhandl. z. geolog. Specialkarte v. Elsass-Lothringen, Bd. iv. Heft 2, 1884.

50

Pohlig: op. cit.

51

Boule: Revue d’Anthropologie, 1889, t. 1.

52

This article contains the substance of two papers, one read before the Victoria Institute, in 1892; the other an address delivered to the Geological Society of Edinburgh, in 1891.

53

“Geographische Wirkungen der Eiszeit,” Verhandl. d. vierten deutschen Geographentages zu München, 1884.

54

It is interesting to note that while in the Tatra (north Carpathians) the snow-line was depressed in glacial times to the extent of 2700 feet only, in the Alps it descended some 4000 feet or more below its present level. With the snow-line of that great chain at such an elevation it is obvious that only a few of the higher points of the Apennines could rise into the region of névé. This is the reason why moraines are met with in only the higher valleys of that range.

55

Professor Brückner thinks the general lowering of temperature may not have exceeded 5-1/2° to 7° F. Verhandlungen der 73 Jahresversammlung der schweizerischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Davos, 1890.

56

Wahnschaffe: Forschungen zur deutschen Landes- und Volkskunde von Dr. A. Kirchhoff, Bd. vi., Heft 1.

57

For interglacial beds of north Germany see Helland: Zeitschr. d. deutsch. geol. Ges., xxxi., 879; Penck: Ibid., xxxi., 157; Länderkunde von Europa (Das deutsche Reich), 1887, 512; Dames: Samml. gemeinverständl. wissensch. Vorträge, von Virchow u. Holtzendorff: xx. Ser., 479 Heft; Schröder: Jahrb. d. k. geol. Landensanst. f. 1885, p. 219. For further references see Wahnschaffe, op. cit. I have not thought it worth while in this paper to refer to the interglacial deposits of our own islands. A general account of them will be found in my Great Ice Age, and Prehistoric Europe. The interglacial phenomena of the Continent seem to be less known here than they ought to be.

58

Zeitschrift d. deutsch. geolog. Gesellschaft, Bd. xxxvii, p. 197.

59

Anzeichen einer interglaziären Epoche in Central-Russland, Moskau, 1891.

60

Neues Jahrbuch f. Mineralogie, Geologie, u. Palæontologie, 1891, Bd. ii., pp. 62, 228; 1892, Bd. i., p. 114.

61

Sixth Annual Report, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1884-5, P. 315.

62

Die Vergletscherung der deutschen Alpen, 1882, p. 256.

63

Prehistoric Europe, p. 303.

64

Bull. Soc. Géol. de France, 1884.

65

Des Phénomènes glaciaires dans le Plateau central de France, etc.

66

Preuves de l’existence d’anciens glaciers dans les vallées des Vosges, 1847, p. 141.

67

Kinkelin: Bericht über die Senckenberg. naturf. Ges. in Frankfurt a. M., 1889.

68

Schumacher: Mittheilungen d. Commission für d. geolog. Landes-Untersuch. v. Elsass-Lothringen, Bd. ii., 1890, p. 184.

69

Zeitschr. d. deutsch. geolog. Ges., 1887, p. 806.

70

Prehistoric Europe, p. 67.

71

For Scottish post-glacial glaciers see J. Geikie: Scottish Naturalist, Jan., 1880; Prehistoric Europe, pp. 386,407; Penck: Deutsche geographische Blätter, Bd. vi., p. 323; Verhand. d. Ges. f. Erdkunde, Berlin, 1884, Heft 1; Hinxman: Trans. Edin. Geol. Soc., vol. vi., p. 249.

72

“Die Eiszeit in den Pyrenäen”: Mitth. d. Vereins. f. Erdkunde, Leipzig, 1883.

73

Kerner: Mitth. k. k. geograph. Ges. Wien, 1890, p. 307; Sitzungsb. d. kais. Akad. d. Wissensch. in Wien, Bd. c., Abth. i., 1891; Brückner: X. Jahresbericht d. geograph. Ges. v. Bern, 1891.

74

For a full statement of the evidence see Prehistoric Europe, chaps. xvi., xvii.

75

American Geologist, vi., p. 327.

76

Professor Dana inclines to date the erosion of the Hudson trough so far back as the Jura-Trias period. —American Journ. Science, xl., p. 435.

77

It must not be inferred from the above remarks that I deny the possibility of deformation of the crust having been induced by the old ice-sheets. The geological evidence is certainly suggestive of such having been the case. But I much doubt whether the sinking of the surface was brought about by the mere weight of the ice pressing the crust down into a subjacent liquid layer. Dr. Drygalski’s explanation would better account for the geological phenomena, but, according to Rev. Osmond Fisher, it cannot be maintained.

78

Trans. Royal Soc. Edinburgh, vol. xxxvii. (1892).

79

Neues Jahrbuch f. Min. Geol. u. Palæont., 1891, ii., pp. 62, 228; Ibid., 1892, i., p. 114.

80

Naturwissenschaftliche Wochenschrift, Bd. vii. (1892), No. 4, p. 31. The plants were determined by Dr. Weber, Professor Wittmack, and Herr Warnstorf. [More recent investigations have considerably increased our knowledge of this flora. See Naturwissenschaftliche Wochenschrift, Bd. vii. (1892), Nr. 24, 25. Ausland, 1892, Nr. 20; Neues Jahrb. f. Min., etc., 1893, Bd. i., p. 95.]

81

Not quite so far south. There is no reason to believe that the ice-sheet of the so-called Great Baltic Glacier advanced beyond the Baltic ridge. The upper boulder-clay south of that ridge is the ground-moraine of an earlier glaciation – the equivalent of our upper boulder-clay. See note, page 324. Nov. 1, 1892.

82

“Beskrifning. till geol. Kartbl. Trolleholm”: Sveriges Geologiska Undersökning, Ser. Aa., Nr. 87.

83

“Om de äldre baltiska isströmmen i södra Sverige”: Geolog. Förening. i Stockholm Förhandl., Bd. x., p. 157.

84

Bull. de la Soc. Impér. des Naturalistes de Moskau, No. 4, 1890.

85

Sederholm, Fennia, i., No. 7; Frosterus, ibid., iii., No. 8; Ramsay, ibid., iv., No. 2.

86

Geol. Mag., 1881, p. 354.

87

Morlot: Bulletin de la Soc. Vaud. d. Sciences nat., 1854, 1858, 1860. Deicke: Bericht. d. St. Gall. naturf. ges., 1858. Heer: Urwelt der Schweiz. Mühlberg: Festschrift d. aarg. naturf. Ges. z. Feier ihrer 500 Sitz., 1869. Rothpletz: Denkschr. d. schweizer. Ges. f. d. ges. Naturwissensch., Bd. xxviii., 1881. Wettstein: Geologie v. Zurich u. Umgebung, 1885. Baltzer: Mitteil. d. naturf. Ges. Bern, 1887. Renevier: Bull. de la Soc. helvèt. d. Sciences nat., 1887.

88

Penck: Die Vergletscherung d. deutschen Alpen, 1882. Brückner: “Die Vergletscherung des Salzachgebietes,” Geogr. Abhandl. Wien, Bd. i. Böhm: Jahrb. der k. k. geol. Reichsanst., 1884, 1885. See also O. Fraas, Neues Jahrb. f. Min. Geol. u. Palæont., 1880, Bd. i. p. 218; E. Fugger and C. Kastner, Verhandl. d. k. k. geol. Reichsanst., 1883, p. 136.

89

Mittheil. des deutsch. u. oesterreich. Alpenvereins, 1890, No. 20 u. 23.

90

Beiträge z. geolog. Karte der Schweiz, 31 Lief., 1891; Archiv. d. Sciences phys. et nat., 1891, p. 44.

91

“Die grosse Eiszeit,” Himmel u. Erde.

92

Penck: Die Vergletscherung der deutschen Alpen, p. 228. Verhandl. d. k. k. geol. Reichsanst., 1887, No. 5; Himmel und Erde, 1891. Böhm: Jahrb. d. k. k. geol. Reichsanst., 1884, p. 147. Blaas: Ferdinandeums Zeitschr., iv. Folge; Bericht. d. naturwissensch. Vereins, 1889, p. 97.

93

Des Phénomènes glaciaires dans le Plateau central de la France, &c.; Paris, 1869.

94

Bull. Soc. géol. de France, 1884; see also M. Boule, Bull. de la Soc. philomath. de Paris, 8e sér. i., p. 87.

95

Garrigou: Bull. Soc. géol. de France, 2e sér. xxiv., p. 577. Jeanbernat: Bull. de Soc. d’Hist. nat. de Toulouse, iv., pp. 114, 138. Piette: Bull. Soc. géol. de France, 3e sér. ii., pp. 503, 507.

96

Mitteilungen d. Vereins f. Erdkunde zu Leipzig, 1883.

97

For a particular account of the Tay-valley Succession, see Prehistoric Europe, p. 385.

98

Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin. 1883-84, p. 745; Mem. Geol. Survey, Scotland, Explanation of Sheet 31.

99

Prehistoric Europe, chaps. xvi., xvii.

100

British Association Reports (1854): Trans. of Sections, p. 78.

101

L. Hinxman: Paper read before Edin. Geol. Soc., April 1892.

102

Prehistoric Europe (chaps. xvi., xvii.) gives a fuller statement of the evidence.

103

Sitzungsberichte d. Kais. Acad. d. Wissensch. in Wien, mathem. – naturw. Classe, Bd. xcvii. Abth. i., 1888.

104

In some places, however, certain marine deposits (Leda myalis bed) immediately overlie the Forest-bed.

105

Mem. of Geol. Survey, “Pliocene Deposits of Britain.” See postea, footnote, p. 317.

106

The inference that the Forest-bed occupies an interglacial position is strengthened by the evidence of certain marine deposits which immediately overlie it. These (known collectively as the Leda myalis bed) occur in irregular patches, which, from the character of their organic remains, cannot all be precisely of the same age. In one place, for example, they are abundantly charged with oysters, having valves united, and with these are associated other species of molluscs that still live in British seas. At another place no oysters occur, but the beds yield two arctic shells, Leda myalis and Astarte borealis, and some other forms which have no special significance. Professor Otto Torell pointed out to Mr. Reid that these separate deposits could not be of the same age, for the oyster is sensitive to cold and does not inhabit the seas where Leda myalis and Astarte borealis flourish. From a consideration of this and other evidence Mr. Reid concludes that it is possible that the deposits indicate a period of considerable length, during which the depth of water varied and the climate changed. Two additional facts may be noted: Leda myalis does not occur in any of the underlying Pliocene beds, while the oyster is not found in the Weybourn and Chillesford Crag, though common lower down in the Pliocene series. These facts seem to me to have a strong bearing on the climatic conditions of the Forest-bed epoch. They show us that the oyster flourished in the North Sea before the period of the Weybourn Crag – that it did not live side by side with the arctic forms of that period – and that it reappeared in our seas when favourable conditions returned. When the climate again became cold an arctic fauna (including a new-comer, Leda myalis) once more occupied the North Sea.

107

Elephas meridionalis is usually regarded as a type-form of the Newer Pliocene, but long ago Dr. Fuchs pointed out that in Hungary this species is of quaternary age: Verhandl. d. k. k. geolog. Reichsanstalt, 1879, pp. 49, 270. It matters little whether we relegate to the top of the Pliocene or to the base of the Pleistocene the beds in which this species occurs. That it is met with upon an interglacial horizon is certain; and if we are to make the Pleistocene co-extensive with the glacial and interglacial series we shall be compelled to include in that system some portion of the Newer Pliocene.

108

Julien: Des Phènoménes glaciaires dans le Plateau central, etc., 1869. Boule: Revue d’Anthropologie, 1879.

109

Prehistoric Europe, p. 306. Professor Penck writes me that he and the Swiss glacialist, Dr. Du Pasquier, have recently examined these deposits, and are able to confirm my conclusion as to their interglacial position.

110

The Scottish Geographical Magazine, vol. ii., 1886.

111

The Red Sandstones of the north-west Highlands are now believed to be of pre-Cambrian age.

112

I now doubt whether any vertical upheaval of a wide continental area is possible. The so-called “continental uplifts” are probably in most cases rather negative than positive elevations. In other words, the land seems to rise simply because the sea retreats owing perhaps to the sinking of the crust within the great oceanic basins. See on this subject, Article XIII.

113

Address delivered before the Royal Physical Society at the opening of the Session 1889-90.

114

I need hardly remind geologists that some of the so-called “Archæan schists” may really be the highly altered accumulations of later geological periods.

115

See footnote p. 341.

116

See Island Life.

117

It may be objected that the conglomerates were probably not marine, but deposited in lakes, the beds of which may have been much above sea-level. But from all that we know of the Old Red Sandstone of Scotland it would appear that the lakes of the period now and again communicated with the sea, and were probably never much above its level.

118

From The Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1891.

119

Presidential Address to the Geographical Section of the British Association, Edinburgh, 1892.

120

Professor Suess thinks it is probable that the Caribbean Sea and the Mediterranean are portions of one and the same primitive depression which traversed the Atlantic area in early Cretaceous times. He further suggests that it may have been through the gradual widening of the central Mediterranean that the Atlantic in later times came into existence.