A Manual of Elementary Geology; Or, The Ancient Changes of the Earth and Its Inhabitants: As Illustrated by Geological Monuments

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J. Murray, 1852 - 512 pagini

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Pagina 19 - The upper valve is almost invariably wanting, though occasionally found in a perfect state of preservation in the white chalk at some distance. In this case, we see clearly that the sea-urchin first lived from youth to age, then died and lost its spines, which were carried away. Then the young Crania adhered to the bared shell, grew and perished in its turn; after which, the upper valve was separated from the lower, before the Echinus became enveloped in chalky mud.
Pagina 329 - ... lignite or wood-coal, which contains a larger proportion of hydrogen than wood does. A continuance of decomposition changes this lignite into common or bituminous coal, chiefly by the discharge of carburetted hydrogen, or the gas by which we illuminate our streets and houses. According to Bischoff, the inflammable gases which are always escaping from mineral coal, and are so often the cause of fatal accidents in mines, always contain carbonic acid, carburetted hydrogen, nitrogen, and olifiant...
Pagina 56 - We often said to ourselves, What clearer evidence could we have had of the different formation of these rocks, and of the long interval . which separated their formation, had we actually seen them emerging from the bosom of the deep ? We felt ourselves necessarily carried back to the time when the schistus on which we stood was yet at the bottom of out.
Pagina 244 - Here, accordingly, we find that it produces a corresponding influence on the scenery of the country ; for it runs out like a step beyond the foot of the chalk-hills, and constitutes a lower terrace, varying in breadth from a quarter of a mile to three miles, and following the sinuosities of the chalk escarpment.* Fig.
Pagina 424 - Caesar, that general, who encamped upon the plains of Auvergne, and laid siege to its principal city (Gergovia, near Clermont), could hardly have failed to notice them. Had there been even any record of their existence in the time of Pliny or Sidonius Apollinaris, the one would scarcely have omitted to make mention of it in his Natural History, nor the other to introduce some allusion to it among the descriptions of this his native province. This poet's residence was on the borders of the Lake Aidat,...
Pagina 131 - Secondly; a gradual submergence then took place, bringing down each part of the land successively to the level of the waters, and then to a moderate depth below them. Large islands and bergs of floating ice came from the north, which, as they grounded on the coast and on shoals, pushed along all loose materials of sand and pebbles, broke off...
Pagina 230 - The regular and uniform preservation of this thin bed of black earth over a distance of many miles, shows that the change from dry land to the state of a freshwater lake or estuary, was not accompanied by any violent denudation, or rush of water, since the loose black earth, together with the trees which lay prostrate on its surface, must inevitably have been swept away had any such violent catastrophe then taken place.
Pagina 276 - ... was quite active. Their limbs and strong claws are admirably adapted for crawling over the rugged and fissured masses of lava which everywhere form the coast. In such situations, a group of six or seven of these hideous reptiles may oftentimes be seen on the black rocks, a few feet above the surf, basking in the sun with outstretched legs.

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