338 



ELEVATION OF MOUPSTAIN RANGES, 



ing of the older ridges, and to have been produced at a later periocL 

 Hence it follows, that the action of elevation was violent and of short 

 continuance, for the inclined strata are shattered and contorted, and 

 between them and the horizontal strata there is no intermediate gra- 

 dation of deposits : it farther proves, that the period of elevation was 

 followed by an immediate change in many of the forms of organic 

 life. 



" The next great system includes the whole chain of the Pyrenees^ 

 — the northern Apennines, — the calcareous chains to the north-east 

 of the Adriadc, — nearly the whole of the Carpathian chain, and it 

 extends thence through the Hartz mountains, to the plains of northern 

 Germany. Through the whole of these vast regions, the main bear- 

 ings of the beds range about west-north-west and east-south-east. 

 This system was elevated at a later period than the former, and not 

 till the chalk and green sand had been deposited, for the strata of 

 these formations are every wdiere ruptured and contorted, and oftert 

 lifted up to the very pinnacles of the mountains : whereas, when any 

 of the tertiary strata approach these ranges, they are stated to be m 

 a position nearly horizontal as the surface of the waters in which 

 they were deposited, unless disturbed by local causes. Hence, it is 

 inferred, that the great parallel ridges and chains of this second sys- 

 tem were suddenly and violently elevated, at a period between the- 

 deposition of the chalk, and the commencement of the tertiary 

 groups. The corresponding change in organic remains, is still more 

 striking than in the former system. 



" The third system embraces a great number of parallel ranges, 

 bearing about north-north-east, and west-south-west ; it includes the* 

 whole western Alps, from the neighbourhood of Marseilles, to the 

 volcanic ridges near the lake of Constance. It is attempted to be 

 proved, that all these parallel ranges in the western Alps, had their 

 origin after the tertiary molasse, a deposit partaking of all the eleva- 

 tions and contortions of the older strata ; that the elevatory move- 

 ments were sudden and violent, and commenced at a time when 

 tribes of mammalia flourished in many parts of Europe ; and that 

 these movements were immediately succeeded by great horizontal 

 deposits of old diluvial gravel at the base of the western Alps, and 

 probably, also, by that vast ofFshot of Scandinavian rocks, which lie 

 scattered over the plains of Germany. 



" The fourth system embraces several considerable chains in Pro- 

 vence, and nearly the whole chain of the eastern Alps, from the 

 great flexure, in the region of Mont Blanc, to the Alps of the states- 

 of Austria. The range extends E.N.E. and W.S.W. M. Elie de 

 Beaumont appears to have proved, that there are two distinct de- 

 posits of diluvial gravel, near a portion of the western Alps : that 

 the colossal mass of Mont Blanc, and at least a considerable portion- 

 of the eastern Alps, were elevated after the deposit of the older di- 

 luvium ; and that all the newer diluvium, including the granite blocks 



