Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1890 edition. Excerpt: ...of the greatest of geological discoverers shall be fully vindicated. CHAPTER I. ON THE ELEVATION OF THE EASTERN COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA. Upraised Shells of La Plata.--Bahia Blanca, Sand-dunes and Pumice-pebblcs.--Step-formed Plains of Patagonia, with upraised Shells.--Terracebounded Valley of Santa Cruz, formerly a Sea-strait.--Upraised shells of Tierra del Fuego.--Length and breadth of the elevated area.--Equability of the movements, as shown by the similar heights of the plains.--Slowness of the elevatory process.--Mode of formation of the stepformed plains.--Summary.--Great Shingle Formation of Patagonia; its extent, origin, and distribution.--Formation of sea-cliffs. In the following Volume, which treats of the geology of South America, and almost exclusively of the parts southward of the Tropic of Capricorn, I have arranged the chapters according to the age of the deposits, occasionally departing from this order, for the sake of geographical simplicity. The elevation of the land within the recent period, and the modifications of its surface through the action of the sea (to which subjects I paid particular attention) will be first discussed; I will then pass on to the tertiary deposits, and afterwards to the older rocks. Only those districts and sections will be described in detail which appear to me to deserve some particular attention; and I will, at the end of each chapter, give a summary of the results. We will commence with the proofs of the upheaval of the eastern coast of the continent, from the Rio Plata southward; and, in the Second Chapter, follow up the same subject along the shores of Chile and Peru. On the northern bank of the great estuary of the Rio Plata, near Maldonado, I found at the head of a lake, sometimes brackish but...