Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- CHAPTER I ST. JAGO, IN THE CAPE DE VERDE ARCHIPELAGO
- CHAPTER II
- CHAPTER III ASCENSION
- CHAPTER IV ST. HELENA
- CHAPTER V GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO
- CHAPTER VI TRACHYTE AND BASALT.—DISTRIBUTION OF VOLCANIC ISLES
- CHAPTER VII
- APPENDIX: DESCRIPTION OF FOSSIL SHELLS, BY G. B. SOWERBY, ESQ., F.L.S.
- INDEX
- Plate section
CHAPTER IV - ST. HELENA
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- CHAPTER I ST. JAGO, IN THE CAPE DE VERDE ARCHIPELAGO
- CHAPTER II
- CHAPTER III ASCENSION
- CHAPTER IV ST. HELENA
- CHAPTER V GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO
- CHAPTER VI TRACHYTE AND BASALT.—DISTRIBUTION OF VOLCANIC ISLES
- CHAPTER VII
- APPENDIX: DESCRIPTION OF FOSSIL SHELLS, BY G. B. SOWERBY, ESQ., F.L.S.
- INDEX
- Plate section
Summary
The whole island is of volcanic origin; its circumference, according to Beatson, is about twenty-eight miles. The central and largest part consists of rocks of a feldspathic nature, generally decomposed to an extraordinary degree; and when in this state, presenting a singular assemblage of alternating, red, purple, brown, yellow, and white, soft, argillaceous beds. From the shortness of our visit, I did not examine these beds with care; some of them, especially those of the white, yellow, and brown shades, originally existed as streams of lava, but the greater number were probably ejected in the form of scoriæ and ashes: other beds of a purple tint, porphyritic with crystal-shaped patches of a white, soft substance, which are now unctuous, and yield, like wax, a polished streak to the nail, seem once to have existed as solid claystone-porphyryes: the red argillaceous beds generally have a brecciated structure, and no doubt have been formed by the decomposition of scoriæ. Several extensive streams, however, belonging to this series, retain their stony character these are either of a blackish-green colour, with minute acicular crystals of feldspar, or of a very pale tint, and almost composed of minute, often scaly, crystals of feldspar, abounding with microscopical black specks; they are generally compact and laminated; others, however, of similar composition, are cellular and somewhat decomposed.
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- Information
- Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands, Visited During the Voyage of HMS BeagleTogether with Some Brief Notices on the Geology of Australia and the Cape of Good Hope, pp. 73 - 96Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011First published in: 1844