GEOLOGY. 



123 



in a fossil stale, and that all the species, of the epochs anterior to the 

 present, are different from those which now inhabit tlie globe. He went 

 even farther, and showed that the species of the different formations dif- 

 fer among themselves as distinctly as they are distinguished from those 

 of the modern epoch. From this we see how intimately paheontology 

 is connected with geology, and the aid it affords the latter science in de- 

 termining different formations, J. G. M. 



GEOLOGY. NO. II. 



.3. A third circumstance, whicli, in the progress of Geological inves- 

 tigations cannot fail to arrest our attention, is not only that the loose 

 materials, which form soils, have been transported from one place and 

 deposited in another, sometimes to a vast depth and extent, but that the 

 rocks, which form the solid frame-work of the Earth, have been broken 

 up and variously contorted, sometimes being lilted up so as to stand on 

 their edges, at others lying highlv inclined to the horizon, and at others 

 ^bcnt in arches and irregukir curves. 



These facts, which any one can easily verify by personal examina- 

 tion, we have endeavored to present in the following figure, which is de- 

 signed to represent an ideal section of the rocks of tlic United Slates, 

 beginning on the Atlantic slope and terminating west of the Alh'ghcny 

 mountains. 



A G B 



On the east, at A, are G7jeiss rocks, the same as Granite in composition 

 and associated with it, only that they are stratified, standing ahuost per- 

 pendicularly or highly inclined to tlie horizon \ farther west towards B, 

 are Sienite and Greenstone, of whicii a dyke at G is represented as pro- 

 truding through all the super-incumbent rocks up to the surlace. Above 

 these, at E, are found strata of red shale and sandstone (New lied Sand- 

 stone of geologists,) inclined about 20° to tlie horizon and dipping west- 

 ward. This forination or series of rocks occupies a large extent of sur- 

 face, lying mostly east of, and stretching parallel to the Blue Ridge, the 

 most eastern ridge of the Appalachian chain. From F> westward to- 

 wards D, we find the limestone, sandstone, and shale or slate strata, 

 which form the mountain ranges and surface rocks, and which lie open 



