Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 3 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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From The Point Where The Littoral
Cordillera Is Linked With The Andes Of New Grenada (Longitude 71 1/2
Degrees)
We observe first the granitic mountains of Aroa and San
Felipe, between the rivers Yaracui and Tocuyo; these granitic
formations
Extend on the east of the two coasts of the basin of the
Valleys of Aragua, in the northern chain, as far as Cape Codera; and
in the southern as far as the mountains (altas savanas) of Ocumare.
After the remarkable interruption of the littoral Cordillera in the
province of Barcelona, granitic rocks begin to appear in the island of
Marguerita and in the isthmus of Araya, and continue, perhaps, towards
the Boca del Drago; but on the east of the meridian of Cape Codera the
northern chain only is granitic (of micaceous slate); the southern
chain is entirely composed of secondary limestone and sandstone.
If, in the granitic series, where a very complex formation, we would
distinguish mineralogically between the rocks of granite, gneiss, and
mica-slate, it must be borne in mind that coarse-grained granite, not
passing to gneiss, is very rare in this country. It belongs peculiarly
to the mountains that bound the basin of the lake of Valencia towards
the north; for in the islands of that lake, in the mountains near the
Villa de Cura, and in the whole northern chain, between the meridian
of Vittoria and Cape Codera, gneiss predominates, sometimes
alternating with granite, or passing to mica-slate. Mica-slate is the
most frequent rock in the peninsula of Araya and the group of Macanao,
which forms the western part of the island of Marguerita.
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