Manual of Geology: Theoretical and Practical, Volume 2

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Charles Griffin and Company, 1885 - Geology

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Page 679 - ... which, if we multiply this depth by the length and breadth of the cavern, will be found to exceed 5000 cubic feet. The whole of this mass has been again and again dug over in search of teeth and bones, which it still contains abundantly, though in broken fragments. The state of these is very different from that of the bones we find in any of the other caverns, being of a black, or, more properly speaking, dark umber colour throughout, and many of them readily crumbling under the finger into a...
Page viii - Numerous TABLES of ORGANIC REMAINS have been prepared and brought down to 1884, embracing the accumulated wealth of the labours of past and present investigators during the last thirty years. Eleven of these Tables contain every known British genus, zoologically or systematically placed, with the number of species in each, showing their broad distribution through time. The remaining 105 Tables are devoted to the analysis, relation, historical value, and distribution of specific life through each...
Page 679 - It is literally true that in this single cavern (the size and proportions of which are nearly equal to those of the interior of a large church) there are hundreds of cart-loads of black animal dust entirely covering the whole floor, to a depth which must average at least six feet, and which, if we multiply this depth by the length and breadth of the cavern, will be found to exceed 5000 cubic feet.
Page 679 - ... in broken fragments. The state of these is very different from that of the bones we find in any of the other caverns, being of a black, or more properly speaking, dark umber colour throughout, and many of them readily crumbling under the finger into a soft dark powder, resembling mummy powder, and being of the same nature with the black earth in which they are embedded. The quantity of animal matter accumulated on this floor...
Page 276 - ... circulars, to which the replies appear to have been exceedingly disproportionate, although the viva voce evidence which they obtained was sufficient. In brief, their conclusions are as follows : — The workable depth of coal mines depends upon human endurance of high temperatures and the possibility of reducing the temperature of the air in contact with heated strata. The mechanical difficulties connected with increased depth, and the cost of steam power for hoisting the deeper coal, do not...
Page 679 - ... were finally dispossessed of their hold by an irruption of water which let fall the muddy sediment now enveloping the bones. The ordinary action of water passing through the calcareous rock then covered the whole with stalagmite, and closed up the bones from the destructive agency of moisture and air. This accounts for the conservation of their gelatine. Few conclusions of this precise nature appear better supported by the facts of the case, and when we reflect on the remarkable analogy in almost...
Page 267 - In some instances a single seam of coal in these strata is sixty feet thick ; and near the middle of the valley, between the Sharp and Broad mountains no less than 65 seams have been counted. The bituminous coal-field, embracing the western part of Pennsylvania, and a part of Ohio, extends over an area of twenty-four thousand square miles ; the largest accumulation of carbonaceous matter probably in the world.
Page 240 - Caermarthen, and part of Brecon, is from 18 to 20 miles ; it becomes much narrower in Pembrokeshire, being there only from 3 to 5 miles. This area extends from Pontypool on the east to St. Bride's Bay on the west, and forms a vast basin of limestone in which all the strata of coal and ironstone are deposited. The...
Page 26 - Hunt, animal life may have afforded part of the carbonaceous material, and, perhaps, as large a part as vegetable life. The presence of graphite in large deposits occurring both in beds and veins in the Laurentian rocks, clearly determines that its origin and deposition were contemporaneous with the mass or containing rock ; the graphite, again, is associated with calcite, quartz, and orthoclase.
Page 267 - ... 65 seams have been counted. The bituminous coal-field, embracing the western part of Pennsylvania, and a part of Ohio, extends over an area of twenty-four thousand square miles ; the largest accumulation of carbonaceous matter probably in the world. In fact, the bituminous coal measures can perhaps be traced almost continuously from Pennsylvania to the Mississippi, and even into Missouri, two hundred miles west of that river. Indeed, coal exists on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains ; and...

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