219 



ALPS. 



ALPS. 



250 



In certain schists, sandstones, and limestones, which constitute the 

 inferior beds of the calcareous mass, there is a somewhat unusual 

 mixture of organic remains, particularly in the Western Alps. At the 

 Col-du-Chardonnet (Hautes-Alpes), Petit-Cceur near Moutiers in the 

 Tareutaise, Puy-Ricord near Briancon, the Buet, the Col-de-Balme, and 

 other places, a variety of vegetable remains, many of which are also 

 detected in the coal-measures of Europe and North America, are 

 associated with belemnites, inasmuch as the latter are discovered in 

 beds both above and beneath those containing the vegetables. Now, 

 according to our present knowledge of other parts of Europe, the 

 organic remains named belemnites are found only in two great groups 

 of rocks, namely, the cretaceous and the oolitic. It has been considered 

 that, in the cases here enumerated, the series of beds containing this 

 curious mixture of exuviae should be referred to the oolitic group, as 

 its prolongation, more particularly in the direction of Digne and 

 Sisteron (Basses-Alpes), is stated to contain the abundant remains of 

 shells which are commonly detected in the lowest part of the oolitic 

 group, named the lias. Considerable masses of granular limestone and 

 micaceous quartz rock sometimes occur in the lower part of this 

 system. 



Many attempts have been made to establish divisions in the 

 calcareous deposits of the Alps, which should correspond with the 

 subdivisions formed in the oolitic and cretaceous groups of Western 

 Europe ; but such attempts cannot be considered as having been 

 successful. There can be little doubt that the great oolitic and 

 cretaceous groups constitute a large portion of the mass ; but the 

 exact line of separation between these groups, as they exist in the Alps, 

 is far from clear, though as great accumulations of strata they may 

 be readily distinguished. When the mineralogical structure of rocks 

 was considered by some a safe guide in geological investigations, the 

 whole 'jf the mass here noticed was referred to what was termed the 

 transition series, as this series was supposed to form a transition or 

 passage between the so-called primary and secondary rocks. 



It becomes a point of no small interest to ascertain the reason why 

 the same series of rocks which, even so near as the Jura, is principally 

 light-coloured and often loosely aggregated, should in the Alps be 

 dark-coloured and very compact. On the Montagne-des-Fis, and other 

 parts of a system of mountains which ranges up to the Buet (Savoy), 

 hard, dark, and calcareous rocks represent certain beds of England and 

 northern France associated with the chalk, and probably are also 

 equivalent to a part of the white chalk itself. This is proved both by 

 the geological position of the beds in question, and by the very close 

 resemblance of the organic remains detected in each. This difference 

 in the mineralogical structure of contemporaneous rocks may be due 

 either to a change in the nature of the original deposit, to the mode 

 in which it was effected, or to alterations produced after deposition. 

 Probably much may be ascribed to the first two ; indeed such is 

 evidently the case : but admitting this, we can scarcely consider that 

 these rocks should not have suffered some change from the action of 

 the great disturbing forces to which they have been subjected, and 

 which have often contorted them in such a remarkable manner. 



In many parts of this calcareous system, dolomite (a compound of 

 carbonate of lime and carbonate of magnesia, more or less crystalline) 

 constitutes masses of considerable extent and thickness ; the stratifi- 

 cation often becoming indistinct, and even lost, when the rock 

 becomes highly crystalline. In many cases, this rock seems the result 

 of original deposition, while in others it has the appearance of an 

 altered substance. These dolomites are by no means constant to a 

 particular part of the great calcareous series ; sometimes they are 

 associated with the upper, sometimes with the lower part, and conse- 

 quently occupy parallels equivalent to the oolitic and cretaceous 

 groups, if not to the group beneath these. Gypsum frequently 

 accompanies them ; indeed, the association of gypsum and dolomite 

 is common. In the Tyrol and the Maritime Alps the two are so 

 intimately mixed, that crystals of dolomite have been found dissemi- 

 nated through gypsum. The salt of Hallstadt, Hall, Hallein, and 

 Inch!, is subordinate to the lower part of the Calcareous Alps, and is 

 liiently on a parallel with some part of the oolitic series of 

 We.stern Europe. 



To present even a sketch of the organic contents of the great Alpine 

 calcareous series would far exceed our limits ; but we may remark 

 that a particular genus of fossil shells, named nummulites, once con- 

 siiliTrd as characteristic of those stratified rocks which have been 

 formed since the chalk, descend into the equivalents of the chalk, and 

 probably still deeper in the series. It should also be observed that a 

 <ea-weed, named fttcoidts, abounds so much in a particular 

 sandstone, that it has received the name of fucoid sandstone. It is 

 associated with the Alpine cretaceous rocks, and probably also with 

 others immediately beneath, and equivalent to the upper portion of 

 the oolitic group. This rock is more particularly observable in the 

 Eastern Alps. 



Above the great calcareous mass of the Alps, a series of beds has 

 been discovered, consisting principally of micaceous sandstones and 

 blue marls ; the latter alternate with limestones and calcareous grits ; 

 anil the whole possess much interest from the nature of the inferences 

 which have been deduced from them. The strata in question are well 

 seen in the valley of Oossau, amid the Alps, south-east from Salzburg, 

 and have hence received the name of Qossau beds. There has been 



much discussion among geological writers, whether chese deposits 

 should be referred to the chalk series, or to the supracretaceous or 

 tertiary rocks above it. The point of difference is, therefore, simply, 

 whether the Gossau beds should be considered as the upper part of 

 one series of deposits, or the lower part of another resting imme- 

 diately upon it ? Less difficulty would probably have attended the 

 consideration of this question, if, during the progress of geological 

 discoveries, it had not happened that a break was observed between 

 the chalk and rocks above it, over a considerable part of the European 

 area, at the time that the chalk was termed the highest part of the 

 so-called secondary rocks. The then newly-discovered rocks were 

 termed tertiary, to distinguish them from those beneath ; and it was 

 assumed that the observed break was constant to rocks generally, 

 though upon what solid ground, or even plausible hypothesis, it is 

 difficult to conceive. In the valley of Gossau itself, the beds under 

 consideration are stated to rest uncouformably on the older rocks 

 beneath, that is, the. older rocks have suffered disturbance before 

 these beds were deposited. 



From the catalogue of the organic remains found in the Gossau and 

 other equivalent beds in the Alps, by Professor Sedgwick and Sir R. 

 Murchison, it appears that out of 89 species enumerated, 20 are con- 

 sidered to resemble certain of the organic remains discovered in the 

 supracretaceous or tertiary rocks, while 6 are referred to other exuviae 

 detected in the cretaceous series. Assuming these determinations to 

 be correct, we have evidence that when the Gossau and other Alpine 

 beds of the same date were formed, there was a mixture, in the 

 proportions above noticed, of creatures previously considered to have 

 existed unmixed, the one set living only during the deposit of the 

 chalk series, the other during that of the beds resting upon it. It 

 hence follows that there is at least a zoological passage between the 

 supposed great classes of secondary and tertiary rocks. In the 

 Pyrenees, there are also beds considered to exhibit evidence of the 

 same fact ; and at Maestricht, the well-known strata there, so exten- 

 sively and curiously quarried, are stated to contain organic remains 

 leaSing to the same conclusions, which are strengthened by facts 

 observable at the contact of the chalk with superior beds in Normandy 

 and elsewhere. 



Next, in the order of superposition, we find strata of great collective 

 thickness, known under the name of Nagelnuh and Molasge, the former 

 being conglomerates and the latter sandstones. The various beds are 

 entirely composed of fragments of Alpine rock, ground down by attrition, 

 and varying in size from a man's head to sand. This variation in size 

 shows that the waters, which have transported the fragments into their 

 present relative situations, must have possessed different degrees of 

 velocity, and that this velocity must often have been considerable, as 

 the fragments moved are large. Beds of lignites are here and there 

 interstratified with the molasse and nagelfluh, and are worked in 

 various places for economical purposes. In them, or in the strata 

 associated with them, the remains of the mastodon, rhinoceros, 

 palacotherium, and anthracotherium have been detected. The lignites 

 of the canton of Zurich have furnished a large proportion of these exuviae. 

 Whether we regard this great accumulation of Alpine detritus as result- 

 ing from a series of minor catastrophes, or from the continued action 

 of such causes only as now bear down detritus from the Alps, we still 

 seem to require a great length of time for its production. It is clear, 

 from the organic remains detected in it, that at least a large portion 

 of the mass must have been deposited after great mammiferous animals 

 were called into existence, as it rests upon those beds in which their 

 exuviae are found. Judging also from the character of the organic 

 remains, some of the strata were formed in fresh waters, while others 

 were accumulated beneath those of a sea. 



Such are the stratified rocks which compose the mass of the Alps. 

 It has already been remarked that the crystalline rocks occupy the 

 central part of the chain, though they do not extend continuously 

 through it. In the Eastern Alps, beds that have been referred to the 

 grauwacke series repose on each side, becoming of less importance and 

 gradually disappearing to the westward. Flanking these last, and the 

 crystalline rocks of the central axis, when the others are not present, 

 are bands of sandstones and conglomerates, for the most part red. These 

 beds a-e not continuous, at least on the surface, so that the great lime- 

 stone zones, constituting the two great ranges of the Calcareous Alps, 

 one on each side of the central chain, are not always separated by them 

 from the inferior rocks. These two limestone zones are remarkable 

 for the enormous flexures and contortions with which they abound, 

 presenting the appearance of having been doubled back from the central 

 range in consequence of the latter having been upheaved through them. 

 Indeed one is sometimes tempted to believe that, if they could bo 

 pulled out like crumpled sheets, and the central axis lowered, the 

 two zones would often approach somewhat closely to each other. 

 The Gossau beds are probably far from being known in all their 

 extent. While they are here and there found to intervene between 

 the Calcareous Alps and the conglomerate and sandstone, constituting 

 the lower and external ranges, as well as the high country bordering 

 them, they also extend in among the High Alps, as at Gossau itself, 

 filling up pre-existing cavities and valleys. The conglomerate and 

 sandstone, skirting all, are evidently derived from causes acting from 

 the central ranges outwards. The mountains composed of these beds, 

 though low when compared with the central Alps, are still lofty. The 



