Abstract
On the Cause of Elevation and Subsidence of Land, by J. S. Gardner, F.G.S.—The paper claims that the evidence of the permanence of continents is inconclusive as regards eocene and pre-eocene periods, and inquires what the shallower regions of the Atlantic mean, if they, do not mean a change of level at the sea-bottom. Assuming with Sir C. Lyell, that at a given depth rocks are molten, and that under further pressure they are reconverted into solids of high specific gravity, the paper demonstrates that the outer envelope is susceptible to and gives way under any increased weight, and recovers when this is removed. The evidence relied upon is that of coral isles, lava-flows, accumulations of ice, and of sediment in deltas, estuaries, and along sea-coasts. In these cases, unless there are counteracting agents, subsidence invariably follows, and littoral seas are thus areas of depression. The increasing pressure in deep oceanic basins acting on the fluid layer leads to the elevation of lines of least resistance into ridges or dry-land, these lines generally coinciding with coast-lines, and to volcanic outbursts. Geology demands pre-eocene communication between many lands. The elevation of land continuous between Europe and America in the north, during the Middle Eocene, was coincident with a cessation in the great formation of basalt, and its subsidence with a renewal of this. The conclusion is drawn that irregularities of surface have and will continue to become more and more accentuated.
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The British Association: Section C—Geology. Nature 26, 468–470 (1882). https://doi.org/10.1038/026468a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/026468a0