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VII.—A Reply to Sir H. Howorth's Paper on “Recent Changes of Level.”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Extract

In a paper published in the Geological Magazine, September, 1894, Sir Henry Howorth expatiates on recent changes of the relative level of land and sea in support of his views on the Mammoth age and his diluvial catastrophe,inwhich there seems to me some very extraordinary confusion in the matter of geological chronology and sequence of events. The first paragraph reads as follows:—“In some recent papers published in the Geological Magazine, I have endeavoured to show that at the close of the Mammoth age there was a very considerable dislocation of the Earth's crust, and that a consequence of it was the upheaval of Some of the highest masses of land on the earth, including the massive mountains of Asia and the American Cordillera. I now propose to show that (as is a priori probable) there was a concurrent collapse or sinking of the ground over large areas, which, as in the corresponding upheaval, was very rapid, if not sudden” (the italics are mine). The suggested relationship of these various events and their alleged catastrophic character, induces me to again enter this ever-expanding field of controversy.

In support of his thesis Sir Henry first refers to the subsidences which resulted in the separation of England from the Continent, and consequent extinction of the Mammoth. Assuming that the course of things was as stated, when it is further suggested that this event was contemporaneous with great dislocation of the Earth's crust, resultinginstupendous upheavals of mountain ranges in Asia and America, he attempts more than can well be proved.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1894

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