EPOCHS OF EUROPEAN FORMATIONS. 19l 



The several systems of upheaval have been classed according to their 

 direction, and the epochs in which they occurred. The following table 

 exhibits the supposed epochs of the European upheavals. 

 1st, Upheaval, or system of Fiiindsruck. between the cambrian and silurian formations. 



'2,1, 

 3d, 

 4th, 

 5th, 



titli, 



or system of Ballons, between the silurian and coal formations. 



or system of the North of England, between the coal and penine formations. 



or system of Hainault, between the penine and vosjjean formations. 



or system of the Rhine, between the vosirean and trias formations. 



or system of Thiiringerwald, between the trias and jura'ssic formations. 



7th, or system of Cote-d'Or, between the jura'ssic and greensand formations. 



or system of Mont-Viso, between the two creta'ceous formations, 

 or system of the Pyrenees, between the upper chalk and Parisian limestone " 

 or system of Corsica, between the Parisian limestone and molasse formations, 

 or system of the Western Alps, bet. the molasse and subapennine formations, 

 or systi-m of the principal Alps, bet. the snbapennine and diluvium. 



feth, 



9th, 

 10th, 

 llth, 

 12th, 

 13th, " or system of Tenure, between the diluvium and perhaps some modern alluvions. 



Since in Europe the different great chains of the same direction, which 

 are found on the same line or on parallel lines, belong to the same epoch of 

 upheaval, there is room to suppose, as nothing indicates limits to the phe- 

 nomena which gave rise to them, that the same effects were continued far 

 beyond the countries whose geological structure is known ; hence it follows, 

 that wherever we find parallelism in the chains, we should be led to believe 

 also that the. formations were contemporaneous. It is at least interesting to 

 examine, under this point of view, the principal chains we are acquainted 

 with. 



The direction of the Pyrenees extends from the Alleghanies, in North 

 America, to the peninsula of India, through the Carpathian mountains, a 

 part of Caucasus, the mountains of Persia, from Erivan to the Persian Gulf, 

 and through the Ghauts, which determine the position of the coast of Mala- 

 bar. To the south of this line of direction several parallel ridges are also 

 represented : those which go from Cape Ortegal, in Asturias, to Cape Creux, 

 in Catalonia ; the small chain of Granada, which ends in Cape de Ijratte ; 

 the mountains which bound the desert of Sahara on the north, cutting the 

 direction of Atlas; finally, the Apennines, the Julian Alps, the mountain? 

 of Croatia, of Romelia, arid those of the Morea. 



The system of Ballons, so near to that of the Pyrenees, appears to be 

 represented also in the Alleghanies : it is to be observed on the coast of 

 Brittany, and will no doubt be found in several of the groups just mentioned, 

 when careful study enables us to distinguish it from the neighbouring 

 system. 



The direction of the Western Alps is remarked from the empire of Mo- 

 rocro to Nova Zembla, passing through the eastern coast of Spain, the south 

 of France, and a great part of the peninsula of Scandinavia. It is recognised 

 in the Cordillera of Brazil, from Cape St. Roque to Montevideo. Parallel to 

 this direction the same system is seen in the kingdom of Tunis, in Sicily, 

 the point of Italy, and in Asia Minor. All the shore of the ancient conti- 

 nent, from North Cape, in Lapland, to Cape Blanco, in Africa, is parallel to 

 the direction of this system. 



The principal Alps form part of a system of direction of great extent 

 From the chains of Spain and those of Atlas, in the northern part of Africa, 

 we find parallel chains which extend to the China sea. On this line of direction 

 we find, starting from Sicily and Italy, the chains of Olympus, in Greece, 

 the Balkan, Taurus, the central chain of Caucasus, crowned by Elbrouz, 

 between the Black and Caspian seas, the long series of mountains vvhi :h 

 extend through Persia and Cabool, comprehending Paropamisus, Ilindou 

 koh, &,c. ; finally, Himalaya, the highest mountain in the world. 



STATE OF EUROPE AT DIFFERENT EPDCHS OF FORMATION. 



From what has been stated, we are led to infer that the surface 



37* 



