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IV.—Some Considerations on the Probable Conditions under which the Paleozoic Rocks were Deposited over the Northern Hemisphere

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Extract

Upper Silurian.—At the close of the Lower Silurian, as already stated, changes of considerable importance took place in some of the areas which had undergone depression. The sea-bottom was now raised in parts of Western Europe, and in North America, and islands of some extent formed. In Europe the most important were those in North Wales, Shropshire, Cumberland, the South of Scotland, and in Nassau. It is probable also that one or more extended along Southern Europe, from Portugal into Spain, etc., but the evidence concerning this is as yet imperfect. In America, according to Logan, Dana, etc., the principal parts raised at this time were the Green Mountain regions, and the ridge extending from Lake Erie over Cincinnati into Tennessee. These American ridges appear to have been raised to a great height, and to have remained afterwards in part dry land, even to the close of the Palœozoic. The islands in Europe were raised only to a small height above water-level, and were probably all again submerged by the close of the Upper Silurian.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1876

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References

1 The following facts concerning the fossils, kindly communicated to me by Mr. Etheridge, F.R.S., strongly support this view of rapid deposition for the Llandovery rocks. Of the 143 species which occur in the Lower Llandovery in Britain, 17 only can be said to be restricted to that formation; and of the 236 species which have been found in the Upper Llandovery, 47 only are peculiar to that series.