The Cambridge manuals of science and literature

Rocks and Their Origins

This little book is intended for those who are not specialists in geology, and it may perhaps be accepted as a contribution for the general reader. To all who are interested in the earth, the study of rocks is an important branch of natural history. If detailed works on petrology are to be consulted later, F. W. Clarke's Data of Geochemistry (Bulletin, U.S. Geological Survey, ed. 2, 1911) must on no account be overlooked. Its numerous references to published papers, and the attention given to rock-origins, make it a worthy companion to C. Doelter's Petrogenesis. Many things have perforce been omitted from the present essay. It seemed unnecessary to review the Carbonaceous rocks, since the most important of these have been admirably dealt with in E. A. N. Arber's Natural History of Coal, published as a volume in this series. I should like to have described occurrences of rock-salt, of massive gypsum, and other products of arid lands, where "black alkali" poisons the surface, and the casual pools are - vi - fringed with white and crumbling crusts. Rock-taluses, and all the varied alluvium carried seaward as the outwash of continental land, well deserve a chapter to themselves. But there is really no end to the subject, which embraces all the accumulative processes of the earth. A few vacation-journeys, judiciously planned out, teach us that text-books are merely signposts to set us on what is believed to be the way. When the path enters the great forest, or rises above green lakelets to the crags, we find there those who went before us, pointing to unconquered lands. G. A. J. C. Royal College of Science for Ireland, Dublin. February 1912. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 67685
Author: Cole, Grenville A. J. (Grenville Arthur James)
Release Date: Mar 22, 2022
Format: eBook
Language: English
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Date: 1912
Publisher Country: United Kingdom