OSCILLATIONS OF THE SEABOARD. 



•25 



Vteen clearly established between the two types of terraces, which otherwise some- 

 what closely resemble each other in their general asjDect. 



In many places the beaches left high and dry by the retreating waters or by 

 the upraised coast take the form of flights of steps, the highest of which stands 

 over 1,000 feet above the present sea-level. Under the tropic of Capricorn the 

 mountain range projecting beyond the normal shore-line, between the bays of 

 Mejillones and Antofagasta, has been subjected to a still more violent thrust. At 

 a height of 1,450 feet on the slopes of the Cerro Gordo are seen shell-mounds 



Fig. 8. — Eegion of Oceanic Enckoachments about the Amazons Estuaby. 



Scale 1 : 11,400,000. 



West oF G 



Depths. 



to 100 

 Fathoms. 



100 to 1,000 

 Fa'homs. 



1,000 to 2,000 

 Fathoms. 



125 Miles. 



2,000 Fathoms 

 and upwards. 



consisting of quite contemporary species, but in certain places associated with a 

 cardium which is now found no longer in the Pacific, but only on the coasts of 

 Africa. This extraordinary fact shows that at the epoch when the Cerro Gordo 

 was submerged the distinctive Atlantic fauna was still represented on the Boli- 

 vian seaboard, thanks to one or more now obliterated marine channels.* 



The depressions noticed on the Brazilian coasts extend over a vast space, com- 

 prising the entire margin of the Amazons estuary, and reaching eastwards as far as 

 the Itapicuru and the Parnahyba. No other river brings down an equal quantity 



* E. A. Philippi, Die terlidren und quartdren Versteinerungen Chik''s. 



