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PHYSICAL See also:GEOGRAPHY]
and deltas on the enclosing slopes, hundreds of feet above the See also:present See also:lake surfaces; the abandoned See also:shore lines, as studied by G. K. See also: Lake Chelan, See also:long and narrow, deep set between spurless ridges with See also:hanging lateral valleys, and evidently of glacial origin, ornaments one of the eastern valleys. The range is squarely transected by the See also:Columbia See also:river, which bears every See also:appearance of antecedent origin : the cascades in the river See also:gorge are caused by a sub-See also:recent landslide of great See also:size from the mountain walls. See also:Klamath river, draining several lakes in the north-See also:west part of the Basin Range province and traversing the Cascade Range to the Pacific, is apparently also an antecedent river.
The Cascade Mountains present a marked example of the effect of See also:relief and aspect on rainfall; they rise across the path of the prevailing See also:westerly winds not far inland from a great ocean; hence they receive an abundant rainfall (80 in. or more, annually) on the west-See also: The highlands and uplands between the chief valleys are but moderately dissected; many small side streams still flow on the highland, and descend by steeply incised See also:gorges to the valleys of the larger See also:rivers. Some of the chief valleys are not cut in the floors of the old valleys of the former cycle, because the rivers were displaced from their former courses by623 lava flows, which now stand up as table mountains. Glacial erosion has been potent in excavating great cirques and small See also:rock-basins, especially among the higher southern surmounting summits, many of which have been thus somewhat reduced in, height while gaining an Alpine sharpness of See also:form; some of the short and steep canyons in the eastern slope have been converted into typical glacial troughs, and huge moraines have been laid on the desert See also:floor below them. Some of the western valleys have also in part of their length been converted into U-shaped troughs; the famous See also:Yosemite Vailey, eroded in massive granite, with side cliffs 1000 or 2000 ft. in height, and the smaller Hetch-Hetchy Valley not far away, are regarded by some observers as owing their See also:peculiar forms to glacial modifications of normal preglacial valleys. The western slope of the Sierra Nevada bears See also:fine forests similar to those of the Cascade Range and of the Coast Range, but of more open growth, and with the redwood exchanged for groves of " big trees " (See also:Sequoia gigantea) of which the tallest examples reach 325 ft. The higher summits in the south are above the See also:tree See also:line and expose great areas of See also:bare rock: See also:mountaineering is here a delightful summer recreation, with camps in the highland forests and ascents to the lofty peaks. See also:Gold occurs in See also:quartz See also:veins traversing various formations (some as young as See also:Jurassic), and also in gravels, which were for the most part deposited previous to the uplift of the Sierra " block." Some of the gravels then occurred as piedmont deposits along the western border of the old mountains; these gravels are now more or less dissected by new-cut valleys. Other auriferous gravels are buried under the upland lava flows, and are now reached by tunnels driven in beneath the rim of the table mountains. The reputed See also:discovery of traces of See also:early See also:man in the lava-covered gravels has not been authenticated. The northernmost part of the coast ranges, in Washington, is often given See also:independent See also:rank as the Olympic Range (Mt See also:Olympus, 8150 ft.) ; it is a picturesque mountain See also:group, bearing snowfields and glaciers, and suggestive of the See also:dome-like uplift of a previously worn-down mass; but it is now so maturely dissected as to make the suggested origin uncertain. Farther south, through Oregon and northern California, many members of the coast ranges resemble the Cascades and the Sierra in offering well-attested examples of the uplift of masses of disordered structure, that had been reduced to a tame surface by the erosion of an earlier cycle, and that are now again more or less dissected. Several of the ranges ascend abruptly from the See also:sea; their base is cut back in high cliffs ; the Sierra See also:Santa See also:Lucia, south of See also:San Francisco, is a range of this See also:kind; its seaward slope is almost uninhabitable. Elsewhere moderate re-entrants between the ranges have a continuous See also:beach, See also:concave seaward; such re-entrants afford imperfect See also:harbour-See also:age for vessels; See also:Monterey See also:Bay is the most pronounced example of this kind. On still other parts of the coast a recent small elevatory movement has exposed part of the former sea bottom in a narrow coastal See also:plain, of which some typical harbourless examples are found in Oregon. Most of the recent movements appear to have been upward, for the coast presents few embayments such as would result from the depression and partial submergence of a dissected mountain range; but three important exceptions must be made to this See also:rule. In the north, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the intricately branching waterways of See also:Puget See also:Sound between the Cascade and the Olympic ranges occupy trough-like depressions which were filled by extensive glaciers in Pleistocene times; and thus See also:mark the beginning of the great stretch of fiorded coast which extends northward to Alaska. The waterways here afford excellent harbours. The second important embayment is the See also:estuary of the Columbia river; but the occurrence of shoals at the mouth decreases the use that might otherwise be made of the river by ocean-going vessels. More important is San Francisco Bay, situated about midway on the Pacific coast of the United States, the result of a moderate depression whereby a trans-See also:verse valley, formerly followed by Sacramento river through the outermost of the Coast ranges, has been converted into a narrow strait—the " See also:Golden See also:Gate "—and a wider intermont See also:longitudinal valley has been flooded, forming the expansion of the inner bay. The Coast Range is heavily forested in the north, where rainfall is abundant in all seasons; but its lower ranges and valleys have a scanty tree growth in the south, where the rainfall is very tight: here grow redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) and live oaks (Quercus agrifolia). The chief metalliferous deposits of the range are of See also:mercury at New See also:Almaden, not far south of San Francisco. The open valleys between the spaced ranges offer many tempting sites for See also:settlement, but in the south See also:irrigation is needed for cultivation. The See also:belt of relative depression between the inner Pacific ranges and the Coast range is divided by the fine See also:volcano Mt Shasta (14,380 ft.) in northern California into unlike portions. To the north, the floor of the depression is for the most part above baselevel, and hence is dissected by open valleys, partly longitudinal, partly transverse, among hills of moderate relief. This district was originally for the most part forested, but is now coming to be cleared and farmed. South of Mt Shasta, the " Valley of California " is an admirable example of an aggraded intermont depression, about 400 M. long and from 30 to 70 M. wide. The floor of this depression being below baselevel, it has necessarily come to be the seat of the mountain See also:waste brought down by the many streams from the newly uplifted 62+ Sierra Nevada on the east and the coast ranges on the west; each stream forms an alluvial See also:fan of very See also:gentle slope; the fans all become laterally confluent, and incline very gently forward to meet in a nearly level axial belt, where the See also:trunk rivers—the Sacramento from the north and the San Joaquin from the south-east—wander in braided courses; their tendency to aggradation having been increased in the last half See also:century by the gravels from gold washing; their See also:waters entering San Francisco Bay. See also:Kings river, rising in the high southern Sieria near \'It Whitney, has built its fan rather actively, and obstructed the See also:discharge from the part of the valley next farther south, which has thus come to be overflowed by the shallow waters of Tulare Lake, of See also:flat, reedy, uncertain See also:borders. A little north of the centre of the valley rise the Marysville Buttes, the remains of a maturely dissected volcano (2128 ft.). Elsewhere the floor of the valley is a featureless, treeless plain. (W. M. D.) 11.-See also:GEOLOGY All the great systems of rock formations are represented in the United States, though See also:close correlation with the systems of See also:Europe is not always possible. The general See also:geological See also:column for the See also:country is shown in the following table: Eras of Time. Periods of Time. See also:Groups of Systems. Systems of Rocks. (Present. Pleistocene. See also:Pliocene. See also:Miocene. Oligocene. See also:Eocene. Transition (Arapahoe and See also:Denver formations). Upper Cretaceous. Widespread unconformity. Comanchean (Lower Cretaceous). Jurassic. Triassic. i See also:Permian. See also:Coal See also:Measures, or Pennsylvanian. Widespread unconformity. Subcarboniferous, or Mississippian. Palaeozoic . . Devonian. See also:Silurian. Widespread unconformity. Ordovician. See also:Cambrian. Great unconformity. Keweenawan. Widespread unconformity. Upper Huronian. Widespread unconformity. See also:Middle Huronian. Il Widespread unconformity. Lower Huronian. Great unconformity. Great Granitoid See also:Series (intru- sive in the See also:main, Laurentian). Archeozoic. . . Archean . Great Schist Series (See also:Mona, '` Kitchi, See also:Keewatin, Quinnissec; Lower Huronian of some L authors). Archeozoic (Archean) Group.—The See also:oldest group of rocks, called the Archean, was formerly looked upon, at least in a tentative way, as the See also:original crust of the See also:earth or its downward See also:extension, much altered by the processes of See also:metamorphism. This view of its origin is now known not to be applicable to the Archean as a whole, since this See also:system contains some metamorphosed sedimentary rocks. In other words, if there was such a thing as an original crust, which may be looked upon as an open question, the Archean, as now defined, does not appear to represent it. The See also:meta-sedimentary rocks of the Archean include metamorphosed See also:limestone, and See also:schists which carry carbonaceous See also:matter in the form of See also:graphite. The See also:marble and graphite, as well as some other indirect evidence of See also:life less susceptible of brief statement, have been thought by many geologists sufficient to See also:warrant the inference that life existed before the close of the era when the Archean rocks were formed. Hence the era of their formation is called the Archeozoic era. Most of the Archean rocks fall into one or the other of two great series, a schistose series and a granitoid series, the latter being in large part intrusive in the former. The rocks of the granitoid series appear as great masses in the schist series, and in some places form great protruding bosses. They were formerly regarded as older than the schists and were designated on this See also:account " See also:primitive," " fundamental," &c. They have also been called Laurentian, a name which is still sometimes applied to them. Nearly all known sorts of schist are represented in the schistose part of the system. Most of them are the metamorphic products of[GEOLOGY igneous rocks, among which extrusive rocks, many of them pyroclastic, predominate. Metamorphosed sedimentary rocks are widely distributed in the schistose series, but they are distinctly subordinate to the meta-igneous rocks, and they are so highly metamorphic that stratigraphic methods are not usually applicable to them. In some areas, indeed, it is difficult to say whether the schists are meta-sedimentary or meta-igneous. The likeness of the Archean of one part of the country to that of another is one of its striking features. The Archean appears at the surface in many parts of the United States, and in still larger areas north of the See also:national boundary. It appears in the cores of some of the western mountains, in some of the deep canyons of the west, as in the See also:Grand See also:Canyon of the See also:Colorado in northern See also:Arizona, and over considerable areas in northern See also:Wisconsin and See also:Minnesota, in New See also:England and the piedmont See also:plateau east of the Appalachian Mountains, and in a few other situations. Wherever it comes to the surface it comes up from beneath younger rocks which are, as a rule, less metamorphic. By means of deep borings it is known at many points where it does not appear at the surface, and is believed to be universal beneath younger systems. Locally the Archean contains See also:iron ore, as in the See also:Vermilion district of northern Minnesota, and at some points in See also:Ontario. The ore is mostly in the form of See also:haematite. Proterozoic (Algonkian) Systems.—The Proterozoic group of rocks (called also Algonkian) includes all formations younger than the Archean and older than the Palaeozoic rocks. The See also:term Archean was formerly proposed to include these rocks, as well as those now called Archean, but the subdivision here recognized has come to be widely approved. The Proterozoic formations have a wide See also:distribution. They appear at the surface adjacent to most of the outcrops of the Archean, and in some other places. In many localities the two groups have not been separated. In some places this is because the regions where they occur have not been carefully studied since the subdivision into Archeozoic and Proterozoic was made, and in others because of the inherent difficulty of separation, as where the Proterozoic rocks are highly metamorphosed. On the whole, the Proterozoic rocks are predominantly sedimentary and subordinately igneous. Locally both the sedimentary and igneous parts of the group have been highly metamorphosed ; but as a rule the alteration of the sedimentary portions has not gone so far that stratigraphic methods are in-applicable to them, though in some places detailed study is necessary to make out their structure. The Proterozoic formations are unconformable on the Archean in most places where their relations are known. The unconformity between these groups is therefore widespread, probably more so than any later unconformity. Not only is it extensive in See also:area, but the stratigraphic break is very great, as shown by (I) the excess of metamorphism of the lower group as compared with the upper, and (2) the amount of erosion suffered by the older group before the deposition of the younger. The first of these See also:differences between the two systems is significant of the dynamic changes suffered by the Archean before the beginning of that part of the Proterozoic era represented by known formations. The extent of the unconformity is usually significant of the geographic changes of the See also:interval unrecorded by known Proterozoic rocks. The Proterozoic formations have been studied in detail in few great areas. One of these is about Lake See also:Superior, where the formations have attracted See also:attention on account of the abundant iron ore which they contain. Four See also:major subdivisions or systems of the group have been recognized in this region, as shown in the preceding table. These systems are separated one from another by unconformitics in most places, and the lower systems, as a rule, have suffered a greater degree of metamorphism than the upper ones, though this is not to be looked upon as a hard and fast rule. The commoner sorts of rock in the several Huronian systems are See also:quartzite and See also:slate (ranging from shale to schist) ; but limestone is not wanting, and igneous rocks, both intrusive and extrusive, some metamorphic and some not, abound. Iron ore occurs in the sedimentary part of the Huronian, especially in Minnesota, See also:Michigan, Wisconsin and parts of Canada. The ore is chiefly haematite, and has been See also:developed from antecedent ferruginous sedimentary deposits, through concentration and See also:purification by ground See also:water. The lower part of the Keweenawan system consists of a great See also:succession of lava flows, of prodigious thickness. This portion of the system is overlain by thick beds of sedimentary rock, mostly See also:conglomerate and See also:sandstone, derived from the igneous rocks beneath. A few geologists regard the sedimentary rocks here classed as Keweenawan as Palaeozoic; but they have yielded no fossils, and are unconformable beneath the Upper Cambrian, which is the oldest sedimentary formation of the region which bears fossils. The aggregate thickness of the Proterozoic systems in the Lake Superior region is several See also:miles, as usually computed, but there are obvious difficulties in determining the thickness of such great systems, especially when they are much metamorphosed. The See also:copper of the Lake Superior region is in the Keweenawan system, chiefly in its sedimentary and amygdaloidal parts. The Proterozoic formations in other parts of the See also:continent cannot be correlated in detail with those of the Lake Superior region. The number of systems is not everywhere the same, nor are they every-where alike, and their definite correlation with one another is not See also:Cainozoic . Mesozoic . Proterozoic possible now, and may never be. The Proterozoic formations have yielded a few fossils in several places, especially See also:Montana and northern Arizona; but they are so imperfect, their See also:numbers, whether of individuals or of See also:species, are so small, and the localities where they occur so few, that they are of little service in correlation throughout the United States. The See also:carbon-bearing shales, slates and schists, and the limestone, are indications that life was relatively abundant, even though but few fossils are preserved. Among the known fossils are vermes, See also:crustacea and probably brachiopods and pteropods The See also:character of the sediments of the Proterozoic is such as to show that mature weathering affected the older rocks before their material was worked over into the Proterozoic formations. This mature weathering, resulting in the relatively See also:complete separation of the quartz from the See also:kaolin, and both from the See also:calcium carbonate and other basic materials, implies conditions of rock decay comparable to those of the present time. In all but a few places where their relations are known, the Proterozoic rocks are unconformable beneath the Palaeozoic Where conformity exists the separation is made on the basis of fossils, it having been agreed that the oldest rocks carrying the Olenellus See also:fauna are to be regarded as the base of the Cambrian system. The Palaeozoic and later formations are usually less altered,12,000 ft. in eastern New See also:York, and almost as much in the southern Appalachian Mountains (See also:Georgia and See also:Alabama) ; but its See also:average thickness is much less. In Wisconsin, where the Upper Cambrian only is present, the thickness is about See also:i000 ft. The greater thickness in the east appears to be due in part to the fact that an extensive area of See also:land, Appalachia. See also:lay east of the site of the Appalachian Mountains throughout the Palaeozoic era, and quantities of sediment from it were accumulated where these mountains were to arise later. The greatness of the thickness, as it has been measured, is also due in part to the oblique position in which the beds of sediment were originally deposited. The Cambrian formations have not been notably metamorphosed, except in a few regions where dynamic metamorphism has been effective. The system is without any notable amount of igneous rock. As in other parts of the See also:world, the system here contains abundant fossils, among which See also:trilobites, brachiopods and See also:worms are the most abundant. The range of forms, however, is great. Ordovician System.—The succeeding Ordovician (Lower Silurian) system of rocks is closely connected with the Cambrian, geographically, stratigraphically and faunally. Its distribution is much the same as that of the Upper Cambrian, with which it is conform-able in many places. The Ordovician system contains much more more accessible, and better known than the Proterozoic and Archeozoic, and will be taken up by systems. Cambrian System.—The lower part of the Cambrian system, characterized by the Olenellus fauna, is restricted to the borders of the continent, where it rests on the older rocks unconformably in most places. The middle part of the system, characterized by the Paradoxides fauna, is somewhat more widespread, resting on the lower part conformably, but overlapping it, especially in the south and west. The upper part of the system, carrying the Dicellocephalus fauna, is very much more extensive; it is indeed one of the most widespread series of rocks on the continent. The lower, middle and upper parts of the system all contain marine fossils. This being the See also:case, the distribution of the several divisions indicates that progressive submergence of the United States was in progress during the See also:period, and that most of the country was covered by the sea before its close. The system is composed chiefly of clastic rocks, and their See also:composition and structure show that the water in which they were deposited was shallow. In the interior, the upper part of the system, the See also:Potsdam sandstone, is generally arenaceous. It is well exposed in New York, Wisconsin, See also:Missouri and elsewhere, about the out-crops of older rocks. The system is also exposed in many of the western mountains or about their borders, especially about those the cores of which are of Archean or Proterozoic rock. The thickness of the system has been estimated at io,009 toJurassic&Triassic 1ilermwn.Pennsylvanin pp~~~~& Mississippian Y11/~Devonian&Silurian Ordovician & mbrian „Metamorphic rocks "Age undetermined vv°v v Proterozoic& V V "Archaeozoic 25 7 limestone, and therefore much less clastic rock, than the Cambrian, pointing to clearer seas in which life abounded. The succession of beds in New York has become a sort of See also:standard with which the system in other parts of the United States has been compared. The succession of formations in that See also:state is as follows See also:Richmond beds (in See also:Ohio Upper Ordovician (or and See also:Indiana). Cincinnatian) See also:Lorraine beds. See also:Utica shales. Middle Ordovician (or ( Trenton limestone. Mohawkian) jl See also:Black River limestone. Lowville limestone. Lower Ordovician (or ( Chary limestone. See also:Canadian) jl Beekmantown limestone. (=Calciferous). The See also:classification in the right-See also:hand column of this table is not applicable in detail to regions remote from New York. There is in some places an unconformity between the Richmond beds (or their See also:equivalent) and underlying formations, and this unconformity, together with certain palaeontological considerations, has raised the question whether the uppermost part of the system, as outlined above, should not be classed as Silurian (Upper Silurian). Over the interior the strata are nearly See also:horizontal, but in the mountain regions of the east and west, as well as in the mountains of See also:Arkansas Ordovician and See also:Oklahoma, they are tilted and folded, and locally much metamorphosed. The outcrops of the system appear for the most part in close association with the outcrops of the Cambrian system, but the system appears in a few places where the Cambrian does not, as in southern Ohio and central See also:Tennessee. The thickness of the system varies from point to point, being greatest in the Appalachian Mountains, and much less in the interior. The oil and See also:gas of Ohio and eastern Indiana come from the middle portion of the Ordovician system. So also do the See also:lead and See also:zinc of south-western Wisconsin and the adjacent parts of See also:Iowa and See also:Illinois. The lead of south-eastern Missouri comes from about the same See also:horizon. The fossils of the Ordovician system show that life made great progress during the period, in numbers both of individuals and of species. The life, like that of the later Cambrian, was singularly See also:cosmopolitan, being in contrast with the provincial character of the life of the earlier Cambrian and of the early (Upper) Silurian which followed. Beside the expansion of types which abounded in the Cambrian, vertebrate remains (fishes) are found in the Ordovician. So, also, are the first See also:relics of See also:insects. The departure of the Ordovician life from that of the Cambrian was perhaps most pronounced in the great development of the molluscs and crinoids (including cystoids), but See also:corals were also abundant for the first time, and See also:graptolites came into prominence. Silurian System.—The Silurian system is much less widely distributed than the Ordovician. This and other corroborative facts imply a widespread emergence of land at the close of the Ordovician period. As a result of this emergence the stratigraphic break between the Ordovician and the Silurian is one of the greatest in the whole Palaeozoic group. The classification of the system in New York is as follows: See also:Manlius limestone. Cayugan (Neo- or Rondout waterlime. Upper Silurian) Cobleskill limestone. See also:Salina beds. `See also:Guelph See also:dolomite. Silurian . Niagaran (Meso- or See also:Lockport limestone. Middle Silurian) See also:Rochester shale. See also:Clinton beds. See also:Medina sandstone. See also:Oneida conglomerate. Shawangunk grit. The lower part of this system is chiefly clastic, and is known only in the eastern part of the continent. The middle portion contains much limestone, generally known as the See also:Niagara limestone, and is much more widespread than the lower, being found very generally over the eastern interior, as far west as the See also:Mississippi and in places somewhat beyond. The Niagara limestone contains the oldest known See also:coral reefs of the continent. They occur in eastern Wisconsin and at other points farther east and south. It is over this limestone that the Niagara falls in the world-famous See also:cataract. One member of the middle See also:division of the system (Clinton beds) contains much iron ore, especially in the Appalachian Mountain region. The ore is extensively worked at some points, as at See also:Birmingham, Alabama. The upper part of the system is more restricted than the middle, and includes the See also:salt-bearing series of New York, Ohio and See also:Pennsylvania, with its peculiar fauna. It is difficult to see how salt could have originated in this region except under conditions very different climatically from those of the present time. In the interior the thickness of the system is less than woo ft. in many places, but in and near the Appalachian Mountains its thickness is much greater—more than five times as great if the maximum thicknesses of all formations be made the basis of calculation. In the Great Plains and farther west the Silurian has little known See also:representation. Either this part of the continent was largely land at this time, or the Silurian formations here have been worn away or remain undifferentiated. Rocks of Silurian age, however, are known at some points in Arizona, Nevada and southern California. Corals, echinoderms, brachiopods and all groups of molluscs abounded. Graptolites had declined notably as compared with the Ordovician, and the trilobites passed their See also:climax before the end of the period. Certain other remarkable crustacea, however, had made their appearance, especially in connexion with the Salina series of the east. There are numerous outliers of the Silurian north of the United States, even up to the See also:Arctic regions. These outliers have a See also:common fauna, which is closely related to that of the interior of the United States. They give some See also:clue to the amount of erosion which the system has suffered, and also afford a clue to the route by which the animals whose fossils are found in the United States entered this country. Thus, the Niagara fauna of the interior of the United States has striking resemblances to the See also:mid-Silurian faunas of See also:Sweden and Great See also:Britain. It seems probable, therefore, that marine animals found migratory conditions between these regions, probably by way of northern islands. The fauna of the Appalachian region is far less like that of Europe, and indicates but slight connexion with the fauna of the interior. Both the earlier and the later parts of the Silurian period seem to have been times when physical conditions were such as to favour the development of provincial faunas,, Upper { See also:Portage beds.
Devonian Senecan Genesee shale. Tully limestone.
Erian. . . {See also: Middle See also:Onondaga (Corniferous
Devonian Ulsterian. limestone)
1 Schoharie grit.
Esopus grit.
Oriskanian See also:Oriskany beds. See also:Kingston beds.
Lower Helderbergian Becraft limestone.
Devonian I 1 New See also:Scotland beds.
Coeymans limestone.
The formations most widely recognized are the Helderberg See also:lime-See also: The faunas of the early Devonian seem to have entered what is now the interior of the United States from the mid-See also:Atlantic coast. The Onondaga fauna which succeeded appears to have resulted from the commingling of the See also:resident lower Devonian fauna with new emigrants from Europe by way of the Arctic regions. The Hamilton fauna which followed represents the admixture of the resident Onondaga fauna with new types which are thought to have come from South See also:America, showing that faunal connexions for marine life had been made between the interior of the United States and the lands south of the Caribbean Sea, a connexion of which, before this time, there was no evidence. The See also:late Devonian fauna of the interior represents the commingling of the Hamilton fauna of the eastern interior with new emigrants from the north-west, a See also:union which was not effected until toward the close of the period. Like the earlier Palaeozoic systems, the Devonian attains its greatest known thickness in the Appalachian Mountains, where sediments from the lands of pre-Cambrian rock to the east accumulated in quantity. Here clastic rocks predominate, while limestone is more abundant in the interior. If the maximum thicknesses of all Devonian formations be added together, the See also:total for the system is as much as 15,000 ft.; but such a thickness is not found in any one See also:place. The Devonian system yields much oil and gas in western Pennsylvania, south-western New York, West See also:Virginia and Ontario; and some of the Devonian beds in Tennessee yield See also:phosphates of commercial value. The Hamilton formation yields much flagstone. Among the more important features of the marine life of the period were (1) the great development of the molluscs, especially of cephalopods; (2) the abundance of large brachiopods ; (3) the aberrant tendencies of the trilobites; (4) the profusion of corals; and (5) the abundance, size and peculiar forms of the fishes. The life of the land waters was also noteworthy, especially for the great deployment of what may be called the crustacean-ostracodermo-vertebrate group. The crustacea were represented by eurypterids, the See also:ostracoderms by numerous See also:strange, vertebrate-like forms (Cephalaspis, Cyathaspis, Trematopsis, Bothriolepis, &c.), and the vertebrates by a great variety of fishes. The land life of the period is represented more fully among the fossils than that of any preceding period. See also:Gymnosperms were the highest types of See also:plants. The Devonian system is not set off from the Mississippian by any marked break. On the other hand, the one system merges into the other, so that the See also:plane of separation is often indistinct. Mississippian System.—The Mississippian system was formerly regarded as a part of the Carboniferous, and was described under the name of Lower Carboniferous, or Subcarboniferous, without the rank of a system. This older classification, which has little support except that which is traditional, is still adhered to by many geologists; but the fact seems to be that the system is set off from the Pennsylvanian (Upper Carboniferous) more sharply than the Cambrian is from the Ordovician, the Silurian from the Devonian, or the Devonian from the Mississippian. Oswegan (Palaeo-or Lower Silurian) while during the more widespread submergence of the middle Silurian the fauna was more cosmopolitan. Devonian System.—The Devonian system appears in some parts of New England, throughout most of the Appalachian region, over much of the eastern interior from New York to the Missouri River, in Oklahoma, and perhaps in See also:Texas. It is absent from the Great Plains, so far as now known, and is not generally present in the Rocky Mountains, though somewhat widespread between them and the western coast. As a whole, the system is more-widespread than the Silurian, though not so widespread as the Ordovician. As in the case of the Ordovician and the Silurian, the New York See also:section has become a standard with which the system in other parts of the country is commonly compared. This section is as follows: Chautauquan-Chemung (including See also:Cat- Devonian . Mississippi River States.
Ohio.
Pennsylvania.
See also:Maryland.
4. Kaskaskia or See also:Chester
3. St See also: Cuyahoga 3. See also:Sunbury 2. See also:Berea grit 1. See also:Bedford 2. Mauch Chunk T. Pocono 3. Mauch Chunk 2. Greenbrier I. Pocono The system is well developed in the Mississippi Basin, whence its The See also:Pottsville formation is chiefly clastic, and corresponds roughly name. Its formations are much more widespread than those of any I to the Millstone Grit of England. The See also:Allegheny and Monongaother system since the Ordovician. They appear at the surface hela series contain most of the coal, though it is not wanting in the in great areas in the interior, in the south-west and about many of other subdivisions of the system. Productive coal beds are found the western mountains. In many places in the west they See also:rest on in five See also:principal See also:fields. These are (1) the See also:Anthracite See also: One of the great changes of this time was the beginning of the development of the Appalachian Mountain system. The site of these mountains had been, for the most part, an area of deposition throughout the Palaeozoic era, and the See also:body of sediments which had gathered here at the western base of Appalachia, by the close of the Pennsylvanian period, was very great. At this time these sediments, together with some of Appa- Kaskaskia or Chester, is more restricted, and points to the coming I lachia itself, began to be folded up into the Appalachian Mountains. emergence of a large part of the United States. In the Mississippi These mountains have since been worn down, so that, in spite of Basin the larger part of the system is of limestone, though there is their subsequent periods of growth, their height is not great. some clastic material in both its basal and its upper parts. In The chief See also:interest of the palaeontology of this system is in the Ohio the system contains much clastic rock, and in Pennsylvania plants, which were very like those of the Coal Measures of other parts little else. The Mauch Chunk series (shale and sandstone) is now of the earth and showed a high development of forms that are now believed to be largely of terrestrial origin. degenerate. Among land animals the See also:amphibia had great develop- The system ranges in thickness from nearly 5000 ft. maximum in ment at this time. So also had insects and some other forms of Pennsylvania to 1500 ft. in the vicinity of the Mississippi river. land life. In West Virginia some 2000 ft. of limestone are assigned to this Permian Period.—The Permian system appears in smaller areas system. The zinc and lead of the See also:Joplin district of Missouri are in in the United States than any other Palaeozoic system. The the limestone of this system, and the corresponding limestone in " Upper Barren Coal Measures " of some parts of the east (Ohio, some parts of Colorado, as at See also:Leadville, is one of the horizons of Pennsylvania, &c.) are now classed as Permian on the basis of See also:rich ore. their fossil plants. They represent but a part of the Permian The end of the period was marked by the widespread emergence period, and are commonly described under the name of the Dunkard of the continent, and parts of it were never again submerged, so far series. as is known. Certainly there is no younger marine formation of The system has much more considerable development west of the comparable extent in the continent. When deposition was renewed Mississippi than east of it, especially in Texas, See also:Kansas, See also:Nebraska and in the interior of the continent, the formations laid down were largely beyond. Some of the Permian beds of this region are marine, while non-marine, and, over great areas, they rest upon the Mississippian others are of terrestrial origin. In this part of the country the unconformably. Permian beds are largely red sandstone, often saliferous and gypsi- From the conditions outlined it is readily inferred that the faunas ferous. They are distinguished with difficulty from the succeeding of the system were cosmopolitan. All types of life to which shallow, Triassic, for the beds have very few fossils. The system has its clear sea-water was congenial appear to have abounded in the maximum known thickness in Texas, where it is said to be 7000 ft. in interior. It was perhaps at this time that the crinoids, as a class, maximum thickness. West of the Rocky Mountains the Permian has reached their climax, and most forms of lime-carbonate-secreting not been very generally separated from overlying and underlying life seem to have thriven. Where the seas were less clear, as in formations, though it has been differentiated in a few places, as in Ohio, the conditions are reflected in the character of the fossils. south-western Colorado and in some parts of Arizona. Perhaps the Marine fishes had made great progress before the close of the period. most remarkable feature of the palaeontology of the system is its Amphibia appeared before its close, and plant life was abundant paucity of fossils, especially in those parts of the system, such as and varied, though the types were not greatly in advance of those of the Red Beds, which are of terrestrial origin. the Devonian. The time of such widespread submergence was In the United States no See also:direct evidence has been found of the low hardly the time for the great development of land vegetation. temperature which brought about glaciation in many other parts of Pennsylvanian System.—The Pennsylvanian or Upper Carboni- the earth during this period. Salt and See also:gypsum deposits, and other ferous system overlies the Mississippian unconformably over a large features of the Permian beds, together with the fewness of fossils, part of the United States. In the eastern half of the country the indicate that the climate of the Permian was notably arid in many system consists of shales and sandstones chiefly, but there is some regions. limestone, and coal enough to be of great importance economically, Triassic System.—This system has but limited representation in the though it makes but a small part of the system quantitatively. The eastern part of the United States, being known only east of the larger part of the system in this part of the country is not of marine Appalachian Mountains in an area which was land throughout most origin; yet the sea had See also:access to parts of the interior more than once, of the Palaeozoic era, but which was deformed when the eastern as shown by the marine fossils in some of the beds. The dominantly mountains were developed at the close of the Palaeozoic. In the terrestrial formations of the eastern half of the country are in See also:con- troughs formed in its surface during this time of deformation, seditrast with the marine formations of the west. The line separating mcnts of great thickness accumulated during the Triassic period. the two phases of the system is a little east of the tooth See also:meridian. These sediments are now mostly in the form of red sandstone and West of the Mississippi the Coal Measures are subdivided into two shale, with conglomerate, black shale and coal in some places. series, the See also:Des Moines below and the Missouri above. In the eastern These rocks do not represent the whole of the period. They are part of the country (Pennsylvania, Ohio, &c.) the system is divided often known as the See also:Newark series, and seem to be chiefly, if not into four principal parts:— wholly, of terrestrial origin. The sedimentary rocks are affected 4. See also:Monongahela formation (or series)—Upper by many dikes and sheets of igneous rock, some of the latter being Productive Coal Measures. extrusive and some intrusive. The strata are now tilted and much 3 Conemaugh formation (or series)—Lower faulted, though but little folded. In the western plains and in the Pennsylvanian. Barren Coal Measures. western mountains the Triassic is not clearly separated from the l 2. Allegheny formation (or series)—Lower Permian in most places. So far as the system is differentiated, it is Productive Coal Measures. I a part of the Red Beds of that region. The tendency of recent years l 1. Pottsville formation (or series). has been to refer more and more of these beds to the Permian. The In the interior the Kinderhook series has a distribution similar to that of the Devonian; the Osage series is more widespread, pointing to progressive submergence; and the St Louis is still more extensive. This See also:epoch, indeed, is the epoch of maximum submergence during the period, and the maximum since the Ordovician. Before its close the sea of the Great Basin which had persisted since the Devonian was connected with the shallow sea which covered much of the interior of the United States. The See also:fourth series, the Triassic system is well developed on the Pacific coast, where its strata are of marine origin, and they extend inland to the Great Basin region. The climate of the period, at least in its earlier part, seems to have been arid like that of the Permian, as indicated both by the paucity of fossils and by the character of the sediments. The salt and gypsum constitute a See also:positive See also:argument for aridity. The character of some of the conglomerate of the Newark series of the east, and the wide-spread redness of the beds, so far as it is original, also point to aridity. As in other parts of the earth, the Triassic was the age of gymnosperms, which were represented by diverse types. See also:Reptiles were the dominant form of animals, and land reptiles (dinosaurs) gained over their aquatic See also:allies. Jurassic System.—This system is not known with certainty in the eastern half of the United States, though there are some beds on the mid-Atlantic coast, along the inland border of the coastal plain, which have been thought by some, on the basis of their reptilian fossils, to be Jurassic. The lower and middle parts of the system are but doubtfully represented in the western interior. If present, they form a part of the Red Beds of that region. On the Pacific coast marine Jurassic beds reach in from the Pacific to about the same distance as the Triassic system. The Upper Jurassic formations are much more widely distributed. During the later part of the period the sea found entrance at some point north of the United States to a great area in the western part of the continent, developing a bay which extended far down into the United States from Canada. In this great bay formations of marine origin were laid down. At the same time marine sedimentation was continued on the Pacific coast, but the faunas of the west coast and the interior bay are notably unlike, the latter being more like that of the coast north of the United States. This is the See also:reason for the belief that the bay which extended into the United States had its connexion with the sea north of the United States. The Jurassic faunas of the United States were akin to those of other continents. The great development of reptiles and cephalopods was among the notable features. At the close of the period there were considerable deformations in the west. The first notable folding of the Sierras that has been definitely determined See also:dates from this time, and many other mountains of the west were begun or rejuvenated. The close of the period, too, saw the exclusion of the sea from the Pacific coast east of the Sierras, and the disappearance, so far as the United States is concerned, of the great north-western bay of the late Jurassic. Before the close of the period, the aridity which had obtained during the Permian, and at least a part of the Triassic, seems to have disappeared. Comanchean System.—This system was formerly classed as the lower part of the Cretaceous, but there are strong reasons for regarding it as a See also:separate system. Its distribution is very different from that of the Upper Cretaceous, and there is a great and widespread unconformity between them. The faunas, too, are very unlike. The Comanchean formations are found (I) on the inland border of the coastal plain of the Atlantic (See also:Potomac series) and Gulf coasts (See also:Tuscaloosa series at the east and Comanchean at the west) ; (2) along the western margin of the Great Plains and in the adjacent mountains; and (3) along the Pacific coast west of the Sierras. In the first two of these positions, the formations show by their fossils that they are of terrestrial origin in some places, and partly of terrestrial and partly of marine origin in others. In the coastal plain the Comanchean beds are generally not cemented, but consist of See also:gravel, See also:sand and See also:clay, occupying the nearly horizontal position in which they were originally deposited. Much plastic clay and sand are derived from them. In Texas, whence the name " Comanchean " comes, and where different parts of the system are of diverse origins, there is some limestone. This sort of rock increases in importance southward and has great development in See also:Mexico. In the western interior there is difference of See also:opinion as to whether certain beds rich in reptilian remains (the See also:Morrison, Atlantosaurus, See also:Como, &c.) should be regarded as Jurassic or Comanchean. On the western coast the term Shastan is sometimes applied to Lower Cretaceous. In the United States, marine Shastan beds are restricted to the area west of the Sierras, but they here have great thickness. Widespread' changes at the end of the period exposed the areas where deposition has been in progress during the period to erosion, and the (Upper) Cretaceous formations rest upon the Comanchean unconformably in most parts of the country. The Comanchean system contains the oldest known remains of netted-veined leaved plants, which mark a great advance in the See also:vegetable world. Reptiles were numerous and of great size. They were the largest type of life, both on land and in the sea. Cretaceous System.—This system is much more extensively developed in the United States than any other Mesozoic system. It is found (1) on the Atlantic coastal plain, where it laps up on the Comanchean, or over it to older formations beyond its inland margin ; (2) on the coastal plain of the Gulf region in similar relations; (3) over the western plains; (4) in the western mountains; and (5) along the Pacific coast. Unlike the Comanchean, the larger part of the Cretaceous system is of marine origin. The distribution of he beds of marine origin shows that the sea crept upon the eastern and southern borders of the continent auring the period, covered the western plains, and formed a great mediterranean sea between the eastern and western lands of the continent, connecting the Gulf of Mexico on the south and the Arctic Ocean on the north. This widespread submergence, followed by the deposition of marine sediments on the eroded surface of Comanchean and older rocks, is the physical reason for the separation of the system from the Comanchean. This reason is reinforced by palaeontological considerations. Both on the Atlantic and over the western plains. the system is divided into four principal subdivisions: Atlantic Coast. Western Plains. 4. Manasquan formation. 4. See also:Laramie. 3. Rancocas formation. 3. Montana: See also:Fox Hills; Fort 2. See also:Monmouth formation. See also:Pierre. 1. Matawan formation. 2. Colorado: Niobrara; See also:Benton. 1. Dakota. The most distinctive feature of the Cretaceous of the Atlantic coastal plain is its large content of See also:greensand See also:marl (See also:glauconite). The formations are mostly incoherent, and have nearly their original position. In the eastern Gulf states there is more calcareous material, represented by limestone or See also:chalk. In the Texan region and farther north the limestone becomes still more important. In the western plains, the first and last principal subdivisions of the system (Dakota and Laramie) are almost wholly non-marine. The Dakota formation is largely sandstone, which gives rise to " hog-backs " where it has been tilted, indurated and exposed to erosion along the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. The Colorado series contains much limestone, some of which is in the form of chalk. This is See also:par excellence the chalk formation of the United States. That the chalk was deposited in shallow, clear seas is indicated both by the character of the fossils other than See also:foraminifera and by the relation of the chalk to the clastic portions of the series. The Montana series, most of which is marine, was deposited in water deeper than that of the Colorado epoch, though the series is less widespread than the preceding. The Laramie is the great coal-bearing series of the west, and corresponds in its general physical make-up and in its mode of origin to the Coal Measures of the east. The coal-bearing lands of the Laramie have been estimated at not less than 100,000 sq. m. On the Pacific coast the Cretaceous formations are sometimes grouped together under the name of Chico. The distribution of the Chico formations is similar to that of the Comanchean system in this region. The Cretaceous system is thick. If maximum thicknesses of its several parts in different localities, as usually measured, are added together, the total would approach or reach 25,000 ft. ; but the strata of any one region have scarcely more than half this thickness, and the average is much less. The close of the period was marked by very profound changes which may be classed under three general headings: (I) the emergence of great areas which had been submerged until the closing stages of the period; (2) the beginning of the development of most of the great mountains of the west ; (3) the inauguration of a protracted period of igneous activity, stimulated, no doubt, by the crustal and deeper-seated movements of the time. These great changes in the relation of land and water, and in See also:topography, led to correspondingly great changes in life, and the See also:combination marks the transition from the Mesozoic to the Cainozoic era. Tertiary Systems.—The formations of the several Tertiary peripds have many points of similarity, but in some respects they are sharply differentiated one from another. They consist, in most parts of the country, of unconsolidated sediments, consisting of gravel, sand, clay, &c., together with large quantities of See also:tuff, volcanic See also:agglomerate, &c. Some of the sedimentary formations are of marine, some of brackish water, and some of terrestrial origin. In the western part of the country there are, in addition, very extensive flows of lava covering in the aggregate some 200,000 sq. m. Terrestrial sedimentation was, indeed, a great feature of the Tertiary. This was the result of several conditions, among them the recent development, through warping and faulting and volcanic extrusion, of high lands with more or less considerable slopes. From these high lands sediments were See also:borne down to See also:lodge on the low lands adjacent. The sites of deposition varied as the _period progressed, for the warping and faulting of the surface, the igneous extrusions, and the deposition of sediments obliterated old basins and brought new ones into existence. The marine Tertiary formations are confined to the borders of the continent, appearing along the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts. The brackish water formations occur in some parts of the same general areas, while the terrestrial formations are found in and about the western mountains. As in other parts of the world, the chiefest palaeontological interest of the Tertiary attaches to the mammalian fossils. The Eocene beds are unconformable, generally, upon the Cretaceous, and unconformable beneath the Miocene. On the Atlantic coast they are nearly horizontal, but See also:dip gently seaward. Eocene On this coast they are nowhere more than a few system. See also:hundred feet thick. In the Gulf region the system is more fully represented; and attains a greater thickness—1700 ft. at least. In the Gulf region the Eocene system contains not a little lines of the topography of the present were probably marked out by the close of that period. Volcanic activity and faulting on a large See also:scale attended the deformation of the closing stages of the Miocene. The Pliocene system stands in much the same stratigraphic relation to the Miocene as the Miocene does to the Eocene. The marine Pliocene has but trifling development on the Atlantic ptiocene coast north of See also:Florida, and somewhat more extensive system. development in the Gulf region. The marine Pliocene of the continent has its greatest development in California (the Merced series, See also:peninsula of San Francisco), where it is assigned a maximum thickness of nearly 6000 ft., and possibly as much as 13,000 ft. This wide range is open to doubt as to the correlation of some of the beds involved. Thicknesses of several thousand feet are recorded at other points in California and elsewhere along the coast farther north. Marine Pliocene beds are reported to have an altitude of as much as 5000 ft. in Alaska. The position of these beds is significant of the amount of See also:change which has taken place in the west since the Pliocene period. The non-marine formations of the Pliocene are its most characteristic feature. They are widely distributed in the western mountains and on the Great Plains. In origin and character, and to some extent in distribution, they are comparable with the Eocene and Miocene formations of the same region, and still more closely comparable with deposits now making. In addition to these non-marine formations of the west, there is the widespread See also:Lafayette formation, which covers much of the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plain, reaching far to the north from the western Gulf regio.l, and having uncertain limits, so far as now worked out, in various directions. The Lafayette formation has been the occasion of much difference of opinion, but is by many held to be a non-marine formation, made up of gravels, sands and See also:clays, accumulated on land, chiefly through the agency of See also:rain and rivers. Its deposition seems to have followed a time of deformation which resulted in an increase of altitude in the Appalachian Mountains, and in an accentuation of the contrast between the highlands and the adjacent plains. Under these conditions sediments from the high lands were washed out and distributed widely over the plains, giving rise to a thin but widespread formation of See also:ill-assorted sediment, without marine fossils, and, for the most part, without fossils of any kind, and resting unconformably on Cretaceous, Eocene and Miocene formations. To the seaward the non-marine phase of the formation doubtless grades into a marine phase along the shore of that time, but the position of this shore has not been defined. The marine‘ part of the Lafayette is probably covered by sediments of later age. In earlier literature the Lafayette formation was described under the name of See also:Orange Sand, and was at one time thought to be the southern equivalent of the glacial See also:drift. This, however, is now known not to be the case, as remnants of the formation, isolated by erosion, lie under the old glacial drift in Illinois, and perhaps else-where. It seems probable that the Lafayette formation of the Gulf coastal plain is continuous northward and westward with gravel deposits on the Great Plains, washed out from the Rocky Mountains to the west. The careful study of these fluvial formations is likely to throw much light on the See also:history of the deformative movements in the west is great, the formations of each of the several stages and changes in topography in the United States during the late mentioned above See also:running into thousands of feet, as thicknesses are stages of geological history. commonly measured. Deformative movements of the See also:minor sort seem to have been in The Miocene system, generally speaking, has a distribution similar to that of the Eocene. The principal formation of the Miocene Atlantic coastal plain is the Chesapeake formation, System. largely of sand. In Florida the system contains calcium phosphate of commercial value. The Miocene of the Atlantic and Gulf regions nowhere attains great thickness. active erosion is sometimes called the Sierran or Ozarkian epoch. The oil of Texas and See also:Louisiana is from the Miocene (or possibly The details of the topography of the western mountains are largely Oligocene) dolomite. On the Pacific coast the system has greater of See also:post-Pliocene development. The summits of some of the high development. It contains much volcanic material, and great bodies mountains, such as the Cascades, appear to be remnants of a of siliceous shale, locally estimated at 4000 ft. thick and said to be made up largely of the secretions of organisms. Such thicknesses of such material go far to modify the former opinion that the Tertiary periods were short. The Miocene of California is oil-producing. The terrestrial Miocene formations of the western part of the country are similar in kind, and, in a general way, in distribution, to the Eocene of the same region. The amount of volcanic material, consisting of both pyr0clastic material and lava flows, is great. At the close of the Miocene, deformative movements were very widespread in the Rocky Mountains and between the principal development of the -Coast ranges of California and Oregon, and mountain-making movements, new or renewed, were somewhat general in the west. At the close of the period the topography of the western part of the country must have been comparable to that of the present time. This, however, is not to be interpreted to mean that it has remained unmodified, or but slightly modified since that time. Subsequent erosion has changed the details of topography on an extensive scale, and subsequent deformative movements have renewed large topographic features where erosion had destroyed those developed by the close of the Miocene. But non-marine material. Thus the lower Eocene has some See also:lignite in in spite of these great See also:chap es since the Miocene, the great out-the eastern Gulf region, while in Texas lignite and saliferous and gypsiferous sediments are found, though most of the system is marine and of shallow water origin. The Eocene of the western Gulf region is continued north as far as Arkansas. The classification of the Eocene (and Oligocene) formations in the Gulf region, especially east of the Mississippi, is as follows: 4. Jacksonian Upper Eocene. 3. Claibornian Middle Eocene. 2. Chickasawan ? Lower Eocene. 1. blidwayan The Jacksonian is sometimes regarded as Oligocene. This classification is based almost wholly on the fossils, for there seems to be little physical reason for the differentiation of the Oligocene anywhere on the continent. On the Pacific coast the marine Eocene lies west of the Sierras, and between it and the Cretaceous there is a general, and often a great, unconformity. The system has been reported to have a thickness of more than 7000 ft. in some places, and locally (e.g. the Pescadero formation) it is highly metamorphic. The Eocene of southern California carries gypsum enough to be of commercial value. It is also the source of much oil. The system is wanting in northern California and southern Oregon, but appears again farther north, and has great development in Oregon, where its thickness has been estimated at more than 10,000 ft. As in other comparable cases, this figure does not make See also:allowance for the oblique attitude in which the sediments were deposited, and should not be construed to mean the See also:vertical thickness of the system. In Washington the Eocene is represented by the Puget series of brackish water beds, with an estimated thickness exceeding that of the marine formations of Oregon. Workable coal beds are distributed through 3000 ft. of this series. The amount of the coal is very great, though the coal is soft. Terrestrial Eocene formations—eolian, fluvial, pluvial and lacustrine—are widespread in the western part of the United States, both in and about the mountains. By means of the fossils, several more or less distinct stages of deposition have been recognized. Named in See also:chronological See also:order, these are: The Fort Union See also:stage, when the deposition was widespread about the eastern base of the northern part of the Rocky Mountains, and at some points in Colorado (Telluride formation) and New Mexico (Puerco beds), where volcanic ejecta entered largely into the formation. The Fort Union stage is closely associated with the Laramie, and their separation has not been fully effected. 2. The Wasatch stage, when deposition was in progress over much of See also:Utah and western Colorado, parts of See also:Wyoming, and elsewhere. 3. The Bridger stage, when deposition was in progress in the -See also:Wind River basin, north of the mountain of that name, and in the basin of See also:Green river. 4. The Uinta stage, when the region south of the mountains of that name, in Utah and Colorado, was the site of great deposition. More or less isolated deposits of some or all of these stages are found at numerous points in the western mountain region. The present height of the deposits, in some places as much as lo,000 ft., gives some See also:suggestion of the changes in topography which have taken place since the early Tertiary. The thickness of the system progress somewhat generally during the Tertiary periods, especially in the western part of the country, but those at the close of the Pliocene seem to have exceeded greatly those of the earlier stages. They resulted in increased height of land, especially in the west, and therefore in increased erosion. This epoch of relative uplift and peneplain developed in post-Miocene time. If so, the mountains themselves must be looked upon as essentially post-Pliocene. De-formative movements resulting in close folding were not common at this time, but such movements affected some of the coast ranges of California. This epoch of great deformation and warping marks the transition from the Tertiary to the See also:Quaternary. Quaternary Formations.—The best-known formations of the Quaternary period are those deposited by the See also:continental glaciers which were the distinguishing feature of the period ~lact~ and by the waters derived from them. The glacial drift covers something like half of the continent, though much less than half of the United States. Besides the drift of the See also:ice-sheets, there is much drift in the western mountains, deposited by local glaciers. Such glaciers existed in all the high mountains of the west, even down to New Mexico and Arizona. The number of glacial epochs now recognized is five, trot counting minor episodes. Four defined zones of interglacial deposits are detected, all of which are thought to represent great recessions of the ice, or perhaps its entire disappearance. The climate of some of the interglacial epochs was at least as warm as that of the present time in the same regions. The glacial epochs which have been differentiated are the following, numbered in chronological order: (5) Wisconsin, (4) Iowan, (3) Illinoian, (2) Kansan, (I) Sub-Aftonian, or Jerseyan. Of these, the Kansan ice-See also:sheet was the most extensive, and the later ones constitute a diminishing series. Essentially all phases of glacial and aqueo-glacial drift are represented. The principal terminal moraines are associated with the ice of the Wisconsin epoch. Terminal moraines at the border of the Illinoian drift are generally feeble, though widely recognizable, and such moraines at the margin of the Iowan and Kansan drift sheets are generally wanting. The edge of the oldest drift sheet is buried by younger sheets of drift in most places. See also:Loess is widespread in the Mississippi River basin, especially along the larger streams which flowed from the ice. Most of the loess is now generally believed to have been deposited by the wind. The larger part of it seems to date from the closing stages of the Iowan epoch, but loess appears to have come into existence after other glacial epochs as well. Most of the fossils of the loess are shells of terrestrial gastropods, but bones of land mammals are also found in not a few places. Some of the loess is thought to have been derived by the wind from the surface of the drift soon after the See also:retreat of the ice, before vegetation got a foothold upon the new-made See also:deposit; but a large part of the loess, especially that associated with the main valleys, appears to have been blown up on to the bluffs of the valleys from the See also:flood plains below. As might be expected under these conditions, it ranges from fine sand to silt which approaches clay in texture. Its coarser phases are closely associated with See also:dunes in many places, and locally the loess makes a considerable part of the dune material. Much interest attaches to estimates of time based on data afforded by the consequences of glaciation. These estimates are far apart, and must be regarded as very uncertain, so far as actual numbers are concerned. The most definite are connected with estimates of the time since the last glacial epoch, and are calculated from the amount and See also:rate of recession of certain falls, notably those of the Niagara and Mississippi (St See also:Anthony Falls) rivers. The estimate of the time between the first and last glacial epochs is based on changes which the earlier drift has undergone as compared with those which the younger drift has undergone. Some of the estimates make the See also:lapse of time since the first glacial epoch more than a million years, while others make it no more than one-third as long. The time since the last glacial epoch is but a fraction of the time since the first—probably no more than a fifteenth or a twentieth. Outside the region affected by glaciation, deposits by wind, rain, rivers, &c., have been See also:building up the land, and sedimentation has Noa- been in progress in lakes and about coasts. The non- glaclaL glacial deposits are much like the Tertiary in kind and distribution, except that marine beds have little representation on the land. On the coastal plain there is the Columbia series of gravels, sands and loans, made up of several members. Its distribution is similar to that of the Lafayette, though the Columbia series is, for the most part, confined to lower levels. Some of its several members are definitely correlated in time with some of the glacial epochs. The series is widespread over the lower part of the coastal plain. In the west the Quaternary deposits are not, in all cases, sharply separated from the late Tertiary, but the deposits of glacial drift, referable to two or more glacial epochs, are readily differentiated from the Tertiary; so, also, are certain lacustrine deposits, such as those of the See also:extinct lakes See also:Bonneville and Lahontan. On the Pacific coast marine Quaternary formations occur up to elevations of a few scores of feet, at least, above the sea. Igneous rocks, whether lava flows or pyroclastic ejections, are less important in the Quaternary than in the Tertiary, though volcanic activity is known to have continued into the Quaternary. The Quaternary beds of lakes Bonneville and Lahontan have been faulted in a small way since they were deposited, and the old shore lines of these lakes have been deformed to the extent of hundreds of feet. So also have the shorelines of the Great Lakes, which came into existence at the close of the glacial period. Much has been written and more said concerning the existence of man in the United States before the last glacial epoch. The present state of evidence, however, seems to afford no warrant for the conclusion that man existed in the United States before the end of the glacial period. Whatever theoretical reasons there may be for assuming his earlier existence, they must be held as warranting no more than a presumptive conclusion, which up to the present time lacks See also:confirmation by certain evidence. The following sections from selected parts of the country give some See also:idea of the succession of beds in various type regions. The thicknesses, especially where the formations are metamorphosed, are uncertain. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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