Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- THE BODIES OF SPACE—THEIR ARRANGEMENTS AND FORMATION
- CONSTITUENT MATERIALS OF THE EARTH, AND OF THE OTHER BODIES OF SPACE
- THE EARTH FORMED—ERA OF THE PRIMARY ROCKS
- COMMENCEMENT OF ORGANIC LIFE—SEA PLANTS, CORALS, ETC
- ERA OF THE OLD RED SANDSTONE—FISHES ABUNDANT
- SECONDARY ROCKS—ERA OF THE CARBONIFEROUS FORMATION—COMMENCEMENT OF LAND PLANTS
- ERA OF THE NEW RED SANDSTONE—TERRESTRIAL ZOOLOGY COMMENCES WITH REPTILES—FIRST TRACES OF BIRDS
- ERA OF THE OOLITE—COMMENCEMENT OF MAMMALIA
- ERA OF THE CRETACEOUS FORMATION
- ERA OF THE TERTIARY FORMATION — MAMMALIA ABUNDANT
- ERA OF THE SUPERFICIAL FORMATIONS—COMMENCEMENT OF PRESENT SPECIES
- GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS RESPECTING THE ORIGIN OF THE ANIMATED TRIBES
- PARTICULAR CONSIDERATIONS RESPECTING THE ORIGIN OF THE ANIMATED TRIBES
- HYPOTHESIS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL KINGDOMS
- AFFINITIES AND GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANISMS
- EARLY HISTORY OF MANKIND
- MENTAL CONSTITUTION OF ANIMALS
- PURPOSE AND GENERAL CONDITION OF THE ANIMATED CREATION
- NOTE CONCLUSORY
- APPENDIX
ERA OF THE OOLITE—COMMENCEMENT OF MAMMALIA
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- THE BODIES OF SPACE—THEIR ARRANGEMENTS AND FORMATION
- CONSTITUENT MATERIALS OF THE EARTH, AND OF THE OTHER BODIES OF SPACE
- THE EARTH FORMED—ERA OF THE PRIMARY ROCKS
- COMMENCEMENT OF ORGANIC LIFE—SEA PLANTS, CORALS, ETC
- ERA OF THE OLD RED SANDSTONE—FISHES ABUNDANT
- SECONDARY ROCKS—ERA OF THE CARBONIFEROUS FORMATION—COMMENCEMENT OF LAND PLANTS
- ERA OF THE NEW RED SANDSTONE—TERRESTRIAL ZOOLOGY COMMENCES WITH REPTILES—FIRST TRACES OF BIRDS
- ERA OF THE OOLITE—COMMENCEMENT OF MAMMALIA
- ERA OF THE CRETACEOUS FORMATION
- ERA OF THE TERTIARY FORMATION — MAMMALIA ABUNDANT
- ERA OF THE SUPERFICIAL FORMATIONS—COMMENCEMENT OF PRESENT SPECIES
- GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS RESPECTING THE ORIGIN OF THE ANIMATED TRIBES
- PARTICULAR CONSIDERATIONS RESPECTING THE ORIGIN OF THE ANIMATED TRIBES
- HYPOTHESIS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL KINGDOMS
- AFFINITIES AND GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANISMS
- EARLY HISTORY OF MANKIND
- MENTAL CONSTITUTION OF ANIMALS
- PURPOSE AND GENERAL CONDITION OF THE ANIMATED CREATION
- NOTE CONCLUSORY
- APPENDIX
Summary
The chronicles of this period consist of a series of beds, mostly calcareous, taking their general name (Oolite system) from a conspicuous member of them—the oolite—a limestone composed of an aggregation of small round grains or spherules, and so called from its fancied resemblance to a cluster of eggs, or the roe of a fish. This texture of stone is novel and striking. It is supposed to be of chemical origin, each spherule being an aggregation of particles round a central nucleus. The oolite system is largely developed in England, France, Westphalia, and Northern Italy; it appears in Northern India and Africa, and patches of it exist in Scotland, and in the vale of the Mississippi. It may of course be yet discovered in many other parts of the world.
The series, as shown in the neighbourhood of Bath, is (beginning with the lowest) as follows: 1. Lias, a set of strata variously composed of limestone, clay, marl, and shale, clay being predominant; 2. Lower oolitic formation, including, besides the great oolite bed of central England, fullers'-earth beds, forest marble, and cornbrash; 3. Middle oolitic formation, composed of two subgroups, the Oxford clay and coral rag, the latter being a mere layer of the works of the coral polype; 4. Upper oolitic formation, including what are called Kimmeridge clay and Portland oolite. In Yorkshire there is an additional group above the lias, and in Sutherlandshire there is another group above that again.
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- Vestiges of the Natural History of CreationTogether with Explanations: A Sequel, pp. 110 - 122Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009