Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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This Last Rock Is
Analogous To The Limestone Of The High Alps.* (* Alpenkalkstein.)
The very recent sandstone formation of the peninsula of Araya
contains:
- First, near Punta Arenas, a stratified sandstone,
composed of very fine grains, united by a calcareous cement in
small quantity; - secondly, at the Cerro de la Vela, a schistose
sandstone,* (* Sandsteinschiefer.) without mica, and passing into
slate-clay,* (* Thonschiefer.) which accompanies coal; - thirdly, on
the western side, between Punta Gorda and the ruins of the castle
of Santiago, breccia composed of petrified sea-shells united by a
calcareous cement, in which are mingled grains of quartz;
- fourthly, near the point of Barigon, whence the stone employed
for building at Cumana is obtained, banks of yellowish white shelly
limestone, in which are found some scattered grains of quartz;
- fifthly, at Penas Negras, at the top of the Cerro de la Vela, a
bluish grey compact limestone, very tender, almost without
petrifactions, and covering the schistose sandstone. However
extraordinary this mixture of sandstone and compact limestone* (*
Dichter kalkstein.) may appear, we cannot doubt that these strata
belong to one and the same formation. The very recent secondary
rocks everywhere present analogous phenomena; the molasse of the
Pays de Vaud contains a fetid shelly limestone, and the cerite
limestone of the banks of the Seine is sometimes mixed with
sandstone.
The strata of calcareous breccia are composed of an infinite number
of sea-shells, from four to six inches in diameter, and in part
well preserved. We find they contain not ammonites, but
ampullaires, solens, and terebratulae.
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