NEOZOIC GEOLOGY IN EUROPE. 1 



TEKTONIC GEOLOGY. 



IN an article which appeared in " Science Progress" for 

 June, a short account was given of the views of 

 Bertrand on the structure of the French Alps. Since that 

 article was written M. Bertrand has published his results in 

 greater detail, and has plotted upon a map the anticlinal axes 

 of the principal folds in this region (i). In general, the axes 

 run from north-east to south-west, or from north to south, 

 but in detail they are very sinuous. Even without taking 

 into consideration the " amygdaloids " or "kernels" already 

 described (" Science Progress," vol. i., p. 323), there are a 

 series of bends visible at many points. The direction of the 

 river-valleys is closely related to the direction of the folds, 

 but instead of running, as we might expect, in the lines of 

 the folds, they run perpendicularly to those lines ; and this 

 is especially noticeable at the sinuosities. Bertrand attributes 

 this peculiarity to the presence of a transverse system of 

 folds, which is less important than the longitudinal, yet, on 

 account of the isoclinal character of the latter, has a greater 

 effect in determining the direction of flow. 



Of the sinuosities in the lines of folding, by far the 

 most striking are those around Petit Mont Cenis and 

 the Grand Paradis. The axis of symmetry of these 

 sinuosities corresponds with the valley of the Durance; and 

 Bertrand points out that if we prolong the line of this valley 

 above Guillestre we are led to the eruptive mass of Mount 

 Genevre, and thence to a series of similar sinuosities in the 



1 The term Neozoic is used in the sense in which it was originally 

 proposed by Forbes — to include Mesozoic and Kainozoic. The present 

 article is the direct continuation of the article on "Mesozoic and Kainozoic 

 Geology in Europe," which appeared in "Science Progress" for June, 

 1894. 



