PERMO-CARBONIC CONGLOMERATES OF SOUTH BRAZIL 779 



sea, cool waters in which life existed, and in general climates and conditions 

 like the present. As these are the oldest known rocks, there is no geological 

 evidence that the surface of the earth was ever too hot to allow water and life 

 to exist Geologists and astronomers should bear this in mind in their theories. 



PERMO-CARBONIC CONGLOMERATES OF SOUTH BRAZIL 

 BY J. B. WOODWOBTH 



iAl)8tract) 



The boulder-bearing Permian beds of South Brazil for which Derby pro- 

 posed a glacial origin in 1888, sagaciously likening them to the deposits of 

 India, were searched in 1908 for evidences of glaciation not previously found. 

 Striated stones, including probable fragments of "fl^isrupted glaciated floors, were 

 found in tillite beds on the Rio Jaguaricatu in northern Parand., and similar 

 phenomena, especially striated stones, in the states of Sao Paulo and Santa 

 Catharina. Much of the boulder-bearing group demands floating ice at sea- 

 level, as shown by a depauperated marine fauna between boulder beds in the 

 valley of the Rio Negro. Certain tillite beds seem best explained as ice-laid 

 deposits derived from an easterly source through ice action capable of disrupt- 

 ing and transporting seaward certain readily recognized rocks of the series 

 inferior to the glacial beds. The paper (a part of the results of the First 

 Shaler Memorial Expedition) was illustrated by stereopticon views showing 

 the geology and topography of the area. 



Discussion 



Dr. I. C. White: It is needless to say that it gives me extreme pleasure to 

 learn that Professor Woodworth has found the missing link, namely, ice- 

 scratched boulders, in the Permian conglomerates of South Brazil, which 

 demonstrates fully their glacial origin. 



When I discovered these deposits in 1905, and announced their glacial origin 

 in a paper read before this Society at the Philadelphia meeting in December, 

 1906, I was certain that they were true glacial deposits, although I failed to 

 find the old glacial striated floor, or striated boulders. However, the struc- 

 tureless tillite filled with enormous granite blocks, 40 miles distant from any 

 outcrop of granite, left no doubt in my mind of the existence of a glacial 

 epoch during Permian time in South Brazil, corresponding perfectly with that 

 which has been proven for South Africa. Many details of boulder deposits, 

 etcetera, are given in my final report on the coal fields of South Brazil pub- 

 lished last year. 



As confirmatory of the existence of a glacial epoch in Brazil during Permian 

 time, it is of great interest to know that Dr. David White arrived at this same 

 conclusion independently from a study of the collection of fossil plants which 

 I made and sent him before I had communicated to him my own conclusions 

 as to the existence of glacial deposits in that region. 



Concerning the name "Orleans," to which Professor Woodworth has made 

 reference, I would say that it was never entirely satisfactory to me, and Pro- 

 fessor Woodworth has my willing consent to change it to a more suitable 

 term. Since these deposits are very conspicuous along the waters of Rio 

 Negro, that or some other name could be given. 



