368 Chile. 



Chile. By the President, Professor G. F. Scott-Elliot. 



In the earliest times of which we have geological evidence 

 Chile consisted only of a western range of mountains. There 

 was no Andes, and to the east, where is now the Argentine 

 Republic, rolled the waves of the Atlantic, only interrupted here 

 and there by island mountain ridges, such as the Sierra Roca, 

 which have since been almost worn away. On the floor of the 

 wide valley between the western mountains and the Roca chain 

 submarine volcanoes poured forth lava flows sometimes a mile in 

 thickness. There were islands in the valley, and carboniferous 

 period trees grew on them. Then great rivers scattered shingle 

 and sand over these lava flows, which are now beds of sandstone 

 and conglomerate : these last of the same age as our Locharbriggs 

 sandstone. 



After this the earth's crust began to shrink and cracks 

 appeared running east and west, through which again molten 

 rock poured forth, forming transverse ridges in the great valley. 

 Copper is found along these ridges, and in 1901 the mines yielded 

 about ^1,5^^,246 export. 



There followed a second period of shrinking and contraction, 

 and the whole of Chile sank deep in the water. Whilst this went 

 on deposits of shingle and of sand containing much gypsum 

 were distributed over the valley bottom during a period of time 

 corresponding to the Tiras. This sinking of the land continued, 

 and in the great gulph so formed ammonites and sea-urchins 

 disported themselves many thousand feet below the level of the 

 sea. 



The earth crust broke and yielded. There was a prodigious 

 upheaval accompanied by volcanic disturbances. Limestones 

 with remains of marine fossils were carried up to a height of 15 

 to 16,000 feet, and the Andes chain, adorned with volcanoes 

 at the weaker spots, was definitely formed. 



As a minor detail of this eruption, silver was deposited, with 

 unfortunate results for the poor Indians, of whom 20,000 were 

 ■employed by Valdivia in the very earliest days of settlement. 

 These gigantic earth movements have by no means finished since 

 the formation of the Andes, which seems to have occurred about 

 the cretaceous period ; earthquakes and upheavals and subsidences 

 have continued to our own times. 



