Abstract
LONDON
Geological Society, November 8.-Joseph Prestwich, F.R.S., president, in the chair. Mr. Henry Hicks was elected a Fellow, Dr. Franz Ritter von Hauer, of Vienna, a Foreign Member; and M. Henri Coquand, of Marseilles, a Foreign Correspondent of the Society. The following communications were read:-I. A letter from the Embassy at Copenhagen, transmitted by Earl Granville, mentioning that a Swedish scientific expedition, just returned from the coast of Greenland, had brought home a number of masses of meteoric iron found there upon the surface of the ground. These masses varied greatly in size; the largest was said to weigh 25 tons. Mr. David Forbes, having recently returned from Stockholm, where he had the opportunity of examining these remarkable masses of native iron, took the opportunity of stating that they had been first discovered last year by the Swedish Arctic expedition, which brought back several blocks of considerable size, which had been found on the coast of Greenland, The expedition of this year, however, has just succeeded in bringing back more than twenty additional specimens, amongst which were two of enormous size. The largest, weighing more than 49,000 Swedish pounds, or about 21 tons English, with a maximum sectional area of about 42 square feet, is now placed in the hall of the Royal Academy ot Stockholm; whilst, as a compliment to Denmark, on whose territory they were found, the second largest, weighing 20,000 lbs., or about 9 tons, has been presented to the Museum of Copenhagen. Several of these specimens have been submitted to chemical analysis, which proved them to contain nearly 5 per cent, of nickel, with from 1 to 2 per cent, of carbon, and to be quite identical, in chemical composition, with many aerolites of known meteoric origin. When polished and etched by acids, the surface of these masses of metallic iron shows the peculiar figures or markings usually considered characteristic of native iron of meteoric origin. The masses themselves were discovered lying loose on the shore, but immediately resting upon basaltic rocks (probably of Miocene age), in which they appeared to have been originally imbedded; and not only have fragments of similar iron been met with in the basalt, but the basalt itself, upon being examined, is found to contain minute particles of metallic iron, identical in chemical composition with that of the large masses themselves, whilst some of the masses of native iron are observed to enclose fragments of the basalt. As the chemical composition and mineralogical character of these masses of native iron are quite different from those of any iron of terrestrial origin, and altogether identical with those of undoubted meteoric iron, Prof. Nordensckjold regards them as aerolites, and accounts for their occurrence in the basalt by supposing that they proceeded from a shower of meteorites which had fallen down and buried themselves in the molten basalt during an eruption in the Miocene period. Notwithstanding that these masses of metallic iron were found lying on the shore between the ebb and flow of tide, it has been found, upon; their removal to Stockholm, that they perish with extraordinary rapidity, breaking up rapidly and falling to a fine powder. Attempts to preserve them by covering them with a coat of varnish have as yet proved unsuccessful; and it is actually proposed to preserve them from destruction by keeping them in a tank of alcohol. Mr. Maskelyne stated that the British Museum already possessed a specimen of this native iron, and accounted for its rapid destruction on exposure by the absorption of chlorine from terrestrial sources, which brought about the formation of ferrous chloride. This was particularly marked in the case of the great Melbourne meteorite in the British Museum; he had succeeded in protecting this, as well as the Greenland specimen, by coating them externally, after previously heating them gently, with a varnish made of shellac dissolved in nearly absolute alcohol. He considered it probable that a meteoric mass falling with immense velocity might so shatter itself as to cause some of its fragments to enclose fragments of basalt, and even to impregnate the neighbouring mass of basalt with minute particles of the metallic iron; but he considered the question of meteoric origin could only be decided by examining the same mass of basalc at some greater distance from the stones themselves, so as to prove whether the presence of such metallic iron was actually characteristic of the entire mass of the rock. Prof. Ramsay referred to the general nature of meteorites and to their mineral relationship to the planetary bodies, and remarked that, supposing the earth to have in part an elementary metallic core, eruptive igneous matter might occasionally bring native iron to the surface. Mr. Daintree mentioned that lie had been present at the exhumation of the Melbourne meteorite, and that at that time there was little or no trace of any exudation of ferrous chloride, the external crust on the meteorite being not above -iridi in thickness. 2. “On the Geology of the Diamond-fields of South Africa.“By Dr. J. Shaw, of Colesberg. Communicated by Dr. Hooker, F.R.S. The author described the general structure of the region in which diamonds have been found. He considered that the diamonds originally belonged to some metamorphic rock, probably a talcose slate, which occupied the heights during a late period of the "trappean upheaval,“to which he ascribed the origin of the chief physical features of the country. This upheaval was followed by a period of lakes, the traces of which still exist in the so-called "pans“of the region; the Vaal river probably connected a chain of these lakes; and it is in the valley of the Vaal and the soil of the dried up “pans “that the diamonds are found. The author referred also to the frequent disturbance and removal of the diamentiferous gravels by the floods which prevail in these districts after thunder-storms. 3. “On the Diamond-gravels of the Vaal River, South Africa.“By Mr. G. W. Stow, of Queenstown, Cape Colony. Communicated by Prof. T. Rupert Jones. The author described the general geographical features of the country in which diamonds have been found, from Mamusa on the south-west to the headwaters of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. He then indicated the mode of occurrence of the diamonds in the gravels, gravelly clays, and boulder-drifts of the Vaal Valley, near Pniel, including Hebron, Dia-mondia, Cawood's Hope, Gong Gong, Klip Drift, Du Toit's Pan, and other diggings. By means of sections he showed the successive deepenings of the Vaal Valley and the gradual accumulation of gravel-banks and terraces, and illustrated the enormous catchment area of the river-system, with indications of the geological structure of the mountains at the headwaters. The specimens sent by Mr. Stow, as interpreted by Prof. T. R, Jones showed that both igneous and metamorphic rocks had supplied the material of these gravels. The author concluded that a large proportion of these materials have travelled long distances, probably from the Draakensberg range; but whether the original matrix of the diamonds is to be found in the distant mountains or at intermediate spots in the valleys, the worn and crushed condition of some of the diamonds indicates long travel, probably with ice-action. Polished rock-surfaces and striated boulders, seen by Mr. Gilfillan, were quoted in corroboration of this view. Mr. Woodward mentioned that Mr. Griesbach and M. Hiibner had been over the country described in these papers and had communicated a map of it to Petermann's Journal. Mr. Griesbach stated that the rock described as metamorphic in the paper was by M. Hiibner regarded as melaphyre, and that in some parts of the Vaal Valley the beds of the Karoo formation might be seen in situ. He disputed the possibility of any of the gravels being of glacial origin. He was convinced that there were no metamorphic rocks on the western side of the Draakensberg; those regarded as such probably belonged to the Karoo formation. Prof. Tennant commented on the large size of the diamonds from the Cape, of which he had within the last few months seen at least??,???, many of them from 30 to 90 carats each. Some broken specimens must, when perfect, have been as large as the Koh-i-Noor. Mr. Tobin corroborated the information given by Mr. Stow, and stated that the source of the Vaal was in sandstone, and that it was not until it had traversed some distance that agates, peridot, and spinel were met with. The large diamonds, in his view, occurred principally in old high-o level gravels, at a considerable elevation above the river, which had much deepened its valley since the time of their deposit. At Du Toit's Pan, however, none of the diamonds, nor indeed any of the other stones, showed any signs of wear; and he considered that at that spot was one of the centres at which diamonds had been found in their original matrix. Mr.Daintree stated that in Australia there were agate-bearing beds of amygdaloid greenstone similar to those in South Africa, and that he had called attention to their existence in the neighbourhood of the Burnett River, where since then a diamond of the value of 80/. had been discovered. Mr. Maskelyne commented on the dissimilarity of the minerals found in the diamond-bearing beds of Brazil from those of Du Toit's Pan or of South Africa generally. He thought that possibly the minerals described as peridot and spinel might be bronzite and garnet, which, however, came from igneous rocks; and the remarkable fact was that with them occurred unrolled natrolite and diamonds in an equally unrolled condition, which was suggestive of their having been due to a common origin. Mr. Ward gave an account of an examination of some of the rock from Du Toit's Pan, with a view of discovering microscopic diamonds, none of which, however, had been found. Prof. Rupert Jones had been equally | unsuccessful in the search for minute diamonds, both in sand from Du Toit's and in the ochreous gravel from Klip drift.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Societies and Academies . Nature 5, 74–76 (1871). https://doi.org/10.1038/005074a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/005074a0