II. GEOLOGY. 1. United States Geological Survey.-The following publications have recently been issued. MONOGRAPH XL.-Adephagous and Clavicorn Coleoptera from the Tertiary Deposits at Florissant, Colorado, with Descriptions of a few other Forms and a Systematic List of the non-Rhynchophorous Tertiary Coleoptera of North America; by SAMUEL HUBBARD SCUDDER. BULLETINS. No. 177.-Catalogue and Index of Publications of the United States Geol. Survey, 1880-1901; by PHILIP CREVELING WARMAN. Pp. 858. No. 178.-The El Paso Tin Deposits; by WALTER HARVEY WEED. Pp. 15.-Three veins have been discovered ten miles north of El Paso, Texas, containing cassiterite with wolframite in a gangue of quartz. The ores are the result of deep-seated agencies and "it is believed that further exploration will develop well-defined tin veins." No. 180.-The occurrence and distribution of Corundum in the United States; by JOSEPH HYDE PRATT. Pp. 93. No. 181. Results of Primary Triangulation and Primary Traverse, Fiscal Year 1900-1901; by H. M. WILSON, J. H. RENSHAWE, E. M. DOUGLAS and R. U. GOODE. Pp. 228. No. 183.-A Gazetteer of Porto Rico; by HENRY GANNETT. Pp. 51. This bulletin contains a summary of the recent Porto Rican census and the official spelling of geographic names pertaining to the island. No. 184.-Oil and Gas Fields of the Western Interior and Northern Texas Coal Measures and of the Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary of the Western Gulf Coast; by GEORGE I. ADAMS. Pp. 62, with 10 plates and 4 cuts. No. 185.-Results of Spirit Leveling, Fiscal Year 1900-'01; by H. M. WILSON, J. H. RENSHAWE, E. M. DOUGLAS and R. U. GOODE. Pp. 207. No. 186.-On Pyrite and Marcasite; by H. N. STOKES. Pp. 48. The results of this investigation are given on pp. 414-420 of vol. xii of this Journal, Dec. 1901. No. 187. Geographic Dictionary of Alaska; by MARCUS BAKER. Pp. 11-446. This bulletin is the result of some ten years work on the part of the Board on Geographic Names. A descriptive list of authorities is given and in the main body of the work the origin, history, modes of spelling and application of each name and in the case of Indian, Eskimo and foreign names their meaning also is given. The approved forms of spelling are shown in bold faced type. The Geologic Branch of the Survey has been reorganized by the appointment of C. WILLARD HAYES as Geologist in charge of Geology. This arrangement will relieve the Director of execu tive details and will make it possible for Bailey Willis, who since 1897 has performed the administrative work of Geology, to give more attention to the division of Areal and Stratigraphic Geology of which he has charge. 2. The Fauna and Geography of the Maldive and Laccadive Archipelagoes; edited by J. STANLEY GARDINER. Vol. i, part i, with plates i-v, and text illustrations 1-23, pp. 1-118. Cambridge, 1901.-This work, of which the first part is now published, gives an account of the investigations carried on by an expedition, headed by Mr. Gardiner, in 1899 and 1900. The special region studied was that of the Maldive Archipelago of Coral Islands, but a careful study was also made of the atoll of Minikoi, which forms the southernmost of the Laccadives. These two Archipelagoes lie to the south-southwest of the Peninsula of British India, although separated from it by a depth of 1,000 to 1,500 fathoms. The India Peninsula itself has practically no coral reefs, though the southern part towards Ceylon partakes of the same formation as the northern portion of that island. The part of the work now published contains an account of the atoll of Minikoi, from which some quotations are given below, and besides papers on the Hymenoptera by P. Cameron, on the Land Crustaceans by L. Borradaile, and the Nemerteans by R. C. Punnett. 66 "The surface of Minikoi island is sharply divided into two areas, an outer, covered on the surface with large loose coral or rock masses, and an inner with sand." In the outer area, "Madrepora, Pocillopora and other branching corals are found with their stems still unbroken while massive species have their calicles and septa even yet entire, absolutely negativing the possibility of a beach origin for the rocky area." At the base of the outer beach is a conglomerate which seems to have constituted part of the original reef (which by subsequent growth fashioned the atoll of Minikoi)" and which "may be considered to prove conclusively an elevation of the atoll," "of at least 24 feet." An examination of all the facts indicate" that the atoll existed as such when the change of level took place," that it has "been stationary for a considerable period of time." "Supposing the land in the present atoll to be entirely swept away, the condition at the present day cannot be far different from that of the atoll before the change of level, allowing for its then smaller size." 3. The Formation of the Maldives.-Mr. J. STANLEY GARDINER closes an interesting article on the results of his expedition to the Maldive archipelago (Geographical Journal, March, 1902, pp. 277-296) with the following remarks on the origin of the coral atolls:* "It [the expedition] has shown that the banks of the Maldives arise on a common plateau at a depth of about 190 fathoms. The land has been undoubtedly, by some means or other, raised above the sea, and is now everywhere on the larger banks being washed away. The atoll-reefs are growing out See the preceding notice, also the paper by Professor Agassiz, pp. 297– 308, of this number. wards on all sides, while their lagoons are increasing in area, and probably also in depth. The atolls owe their existence to the fusion of reefs lying on the circumferences of banks, together with the washing away of the reefs in the interiors of the same banks as their circumscribing reefs became more perfect. In general, the results of the expedition are in striking agreement with the conclusions drawn by Sir John Murray as to the formation of atoll reefs; but I should hesitate to apply these views to all coral-reef areas in the present state of our knowledge, to the exclusion of the subsidence or any other hypothesis." 4. Om de senglaciale og postglaciale Nivåforandringer i Kristianiafeltet (Molluskfaunan). Norges geologiske undersögelse, No. 31, pp. xii, 1–731, pls. i-xix, 1900-1901; by W. C. BRÖGGER. -The terminal moraines on both sides of the Christiania Fiord were considered by De Geer as indicating the lower limit of the last great ice sheet, but the results of the investigations by Professor Brögger in this work show that the land ice extended to the extreme boundary of the land mass in Southern Norway, and even beyond this limit. Many new occurrences of the late and post-glacial deposits are recorded and accompanied by lists and illustrations of the contained faunas. On the basis of their molluscan fossils, these deposits are classified into a number of divisions, indicating changes in level and climate. There was first a period of subsidence of the land after the morainic period (ra-time), which is divisible into six stages. This was followed by a period of reëlevation divided into seven stages and reaching down to the recent period. The climate during the latter part of the post-glacial uplift was somewhat warmer than at present. Brögger agrees with Ekholm in his time-estimate of 9000 years since the formation of the Kitchen-middens of Denmark, or the beginning of the Littorina Sea in the Baltic area. The succession of faunas and deposits is treated in great detail, and the whole work is an admirable example of exact methods of geological and faunal correlation. C. E. B. 5. The Berkeley Hills-A Detail of Coast Range Geology ; by A. C. LAWSON and CHAS. PALACHE. Bull. Dept. Geol. Univ. Cal., vol. ii, pp. 349-450, pls. 10-17, map. Berkeley, Cal., 1902.The area described in this memoir is about six square miles in extent, lying immediately northeast of the town of Berkeley and long used as a subject of field drill for students in geology. The subject matter is, therefore, brought out in a somewhat detailed and popular manner for local usage and benefit. The geology comprises the description of a series of Cretaceous and Tertiary beds, folded and faulted and mingled with intrusive and extrusive igneous materials. These volcanic accumulations are of different periods and described under the heading of the sedimentary series they accompanied. They consist of rhyolites, andesites, laterites and basalts and in the lowest members of serpentines. The petrography of these rocks, accompanied by analyses, is given by Palache, and the interesting fact is brought out that in five recurrent periods of eruption the sequence has invariably been, andesite, basalt, rhyolite in each period. This is harmonious in principle, if not in exact detail, with the general laws regarding the succession of eruptive magmas as observed in other areas. L. V. P. 6. Gesteine der Ecuatorianischen Ost-Cordillere, Der-Cotopaxi und die umgebenden Vulkanberge; von A. YOUNG. (Reiss & Stübel Reisen in Süd Amerika. Hochgebirge der Repub. Ecuador II Petro. Untersuch. 2 Ost. Cord. Berlin, 1902, 4°, pp. 275, 4 pl.). This work, offered as an inaugural dissertation for the doctor's degree, is a further continuation of the series of investi gations being carried on in the mineralogical-petrographical department of the University of Berlin, under the supervision of Prof, Klein, upon the material brought back by Reiss and Stübel. The first half of the work contains a detailed account of the topography and physiography of the well known volcano of Cotopaxi. Its history, its varied outbreaks, its geological relations, the effect of erosion and its glaciers and glaciation are fully treated. This part is by W. REISS. The petrographical portion, by Young, consists of a detailed and careful study of the various lavas, rock types, which are all comprised under the heads of dacites, andesites of various kinds and basalts. The descriptions are accompanied by a number of analyses. While the rocks described are of well known types, the work is, on the whole, a decided addition to our knowledge of the Andean rocks. L. V. P. 7. Der grosse Staubfall vom 9. bis 12. März, 1901, in Nordafrik, Süd- und Mitteleuropa; von G. HELLMANN und W. MEINARDUS, Abhandl. k. pr. Meteorol. Instituts., Bd. II, No. 1. Berlin, 1901. Some years ago, Ehrenberg maintained that the dust falls of Europe were derived from South America. This idea never gained general acceptance, and it is now completely disproved for the remarkable dustfall of March 9-12, 1901, concerning which the above cited memoir presents abundant and convincing data. Dust storms were observed in the Algerian Sahara during the days immediately preceding the dustfall in Europe, and a stormy sirocco prevailed over the Mediterranean; North of the Alps, direct observation at mountain observatories and the computed gradients at a level of 2500 met. indicated the prevalence of a southerly current moving at a rate of 70 kilom. an hour; and this rate agrees with that of the extension of the area over which dust spread. In the south, the dust fell from the dry sirocco; in the north it came down with rain and snow. The composition of the dust, prevailingly quartz, was such as the Sahara might furnish. Larger and heavier grains were collected in the south than in the north. In north Germany the quartz grains averaged 1: 3,200,000,000 gram in weight. The total quantity of dust imported on this occasion from the Sahara is estimated at about 2,000,000 tons. W. M. D. 8. Ricerche Petrografiche e Geologiche sulla Valsesia di E. ARTINI e G. MELZI. Mem. del. Istit. Lomb. di Sci. e Lett., class. di Sci. mat. e nat., vol. xviii, pp. 219-392, 4°. Milan, 1900.The region described in this memoir lies in the Alpine portion of northern Italy, southeast from Monte Rosa and comprises mainly the basin of the Sesia and its tributaries. It consists chiefly of highly crystalline rocks, of gneisses of several types, and mica schist with lenses of crystalline limestone, lime schists and serpentine associated with large masses of granite and gabbros passing into diorites and peridotites. These rocks have been carefully studied in the field and the results attained are given with the aid of a geological map and cross sections. The petrographic study of the rocks collected is presented in considerable detail accompanied by twenty beautiful large plates reproducing micro-photographs of the various rock types. The work, besides its local value, is a considerable addition to our knowledge of the crystalline rocks of the Alpine region. L. V. P. 9. Influence of Country Rock on Mineral Veins; by WALTER HARVEY WEED. Transactions Amer. Inst. Min. Engin., Mexican meeting, November, 1901.-There is discussed in this paper, first, the influence of the country rock on the shape and size of the rock fissures in which subsequently mineral material has been deposited; second, the influence which the chemical nature of the rocks may have on this mineral content. From his discussion Mr. Weed concludes that the nature of the country rock through which a vein fissure runs has determined in great part the nature of the fissure, such as its course, width, etc.; that the character of the mineral contents of a vein, which is formed wholly by the filling of an open fissure, cannot have been determined by the character of the wall rock, but that, in the case where metasomatic replacement of the fissure walls has occurred, the nature of those walls has influenced the character of the minerals deposited; lastly, that as the metasomatic processes must vary with the variation of the mineral solutions, no invariable general relation can be established between certain rock types and rich ore deposits. W. E. F. 10. Additional notes on the Cambrian of Cape Breton, with descriptions of new species; by G. F. MATTHEW, LL.D., F.R.S.C. From Bulletin of Natural History Society of New Brunswick, Canada, No. xx, vol. iv, pt. v, pp. 377-425, with 5 plts.-This is a continuation of Dr. Matthew's studies on the Cambrian Faunas of Cape Breton. The present article gives (1st) new species of the Etcheminian or Basal Cambrian and (2d) a description of the Tremadoc Fauna which has been found in one of the Cambrian valleys. The following new species and mutations are described in this paper and figured in five plates at the end. Acrothyra, 2 species (one already published) and 6 mutations. Acrotreta, 1 species, 1 mutation, and a species referred to an European form. Acrothele, 3 species (one already published) and 1 mutation. |