Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
- Page 176 of 779 - First - Home
M. Cordier Found At
Teneriffe Xeolite In An Amygdaloid Which Covers The Basalts Of La
Punta Di Naga.) In Like Manner The Lava Of Scala, With Which The
City Of Naples Is Paved, Contains A Close Mixture Of Basalt,
Nepheline, And Leucite.
With respect to this last substance, which
has hitherto been observed only at Vesuvius and in the environs of
Rome, it exists perhaps at the peak of Teneriffe, in the old
currents of lava now covered by more recent ejections.
Vesuvius,
during a long series of years, has also thrown out lavas without
leucites: and if it be true, as M. von Buch has rendered very
probable, that these crystals are formed only in the currents which
flow either from the crater itself, or very near its brink, we must
not be surprised at not finding them in the lavas of the peak. The
latter almost all proceed from lateral eruptions, and consequently
have been exposed to an enormous pressure in the interior of the
volcano.
In the plain of Retama, the basaltic lavas disappear under heaps of
ashes, and pumice-stone reduced to powder. Thence to the summit,
from 1500 to 1900 toises in height, the volcano exhibits only
vitreous lava with bases of pitch-stone* (* Petrosilex resinite.
Hauy.) and obsidian. These lavas, destitute of amphibole and mica,
are of a blackish brown, often varying to the deepest olive green.
They contain large crystals of feldspar, which are not fissured,
and seldom vitreous. The analogy of those decidedly volcanic masses
with the resinite porphyries* (* Pechstein-porphyr.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 176 of 779
Words from 47660 to 47918
of 211363