AGES OF MOUNTAIN SYSTEMS. 



dates of mountain ranges were less understood, being regarded 

 as dating from the earliest geological periods, received the name 

 of Protogyne. It is now known, however, that they did not 

 break through the terrestrial crust until after the deposition of 

 the middle tertiary system, seen in the strata around the Paris 

 basin. 



The relative position of the strata, determined by the elevation 

 of the Western Alps, is illustrated in fig. 131, where the same 

 letters are Used to indicate 



the several strata, as in rig. 131. js 



the former figures. The 

 sea, which subsequently 

 deposited in horizontal 

 strata the upper tertiary 

 system, is indicated in the 

 figure. 



mL . .. i v aponmihgfdcba, 



This catastrophe pro- 

 duced not only the lofty chains of Savoy and Dauphine, but 

 extended its influence over Europe north and south. On the one 

 side Nova Zembla and the whole Scandinavian Peninsula were 

 affected by it, and on the other it produced a series of disloca- 

 tions which are seen from Narbonne to Catalonia, determining 

 the position of the whole Mediterranean coast of Spain. Its 

 influence was felt south of the Mediterranean, producing the 

 mountains of Morocco as well as those of the regency of Tunis. 



220. XVI. SYSTEM OF PKIXCIPAL ALPS. This catastrophe 

 has produced the grandest features of relief upon the European 

 continent. The lacustrine deposits, formed after the elevation of 

 the Western Alps, were themselves dislocated by it, and along 

 the foot of the chain there are no other horizontal strata than 

 the diluvial deposits of the present epoch. The matter pressed up 

 from the inner regions of the globe by this catastrophe were the 

 different varieties of melaphyres, the sienites, the euphotides and 

 serpentines, which forced up all the tertiary deposits of Piedmont 

 and Provence, as well as the granitic rocks which constitute the 

 most elevated summits of the principal chains of the Alps. 



Not only were all the mountains which extend from the Yalais 

 and St. Gothard into Austria raised on this occasion, but the 

 greater part of the surface of Europe shared in the movement. 

 In fact the surface of the continent was lifted into a gentle 

 acclivity, directed towards the line of summit of this great chain. 

 It is thus for example that the plains of Bavaria rise slowly in a 

 direction a little east of south, and those of Lombardy in an 

 opposite direction. In the south of France, in like manner, the 

 tertiary formation rises from the south towards the north, from 



21 



