Stockdale: Stylolites 



23 



moulds in the sediments to be filled in by the succeeding layer. 

 In his 1842 report Vanuxem states 



As their origin is due to sulfate of magnesia, for the sake of brevity 

 they might be termed epsomites. The carbon which usually lines the 

 cavities shows that the liquid which held the salt in solution contained 

 bituminous matter. 



Emmons (1842, p. Ill) accepted the crystallization theory 

 of Bonnycastle and Vanuxem, but suggested that, in some in- 

 stances, strontium sulfate might have been the crystallizing 

 agent. Hall (1843, p. 96) accepted the theory with modifica- 

 tions and suggested that the crystallization might in some 

 cases have been due to carbonate of lime, Meyer (1862, p. 

 590), in support of the theory, proposed that gypsum might 

 have been the agent of crystallization. He had detected col- 

 umns coated with this substance. 



Rossmassler and Cotta (1846, p. 128) compared stylolites 

 with ice crystals (Eisstangeln) that form in the soil in winter 

 and suggested a similar origin for both. 



Hunt (1863, pp. 631-634), in describing the stylolites of 

 the Trenton and Niagaran rocks, spoke of them as ''crystal- 

 lites" and proposed that in many cases sulfate of soda might 

 have been crystallized instead of magnesium sulfate, as advo- 

 cated by Vanuxem. He described examples ''in which crystal- 

 lites penetrate a mass of chert imbedded in the limestone" 

 (Hunt, 1863, p. 633, Figs. 437 and 438). 



Erosion Theory. Plieninger (1852, p. 78) proposed an 

 elaborate explanation of stylolites which, for some time, had 

 quite a few followers. He suggested that the surface of the 

 soft limestone ooze was first raised above water and, upon 

 drying, was separated into blocks by shrinkage-cracks. Thru 

 the action of rain, columns, protected by shells and other 

 foreign substances, would result. After subsidence and fur- 

 ther deposition of lime ooze, the whole would gradually be- 

 come compact limestone with the enclosed stylolitic feature. 



The fact that rain, under certain circumstances, may produce col- 

 umns very similar in form to Stylolites had already been noticed, and 

 this was doubtless one reason why Plieninger's theory gained so many 

 adherents (Marsh, 1867, p. 137). 



Quenstedt (1853, p. 71), aided by Fallati, proposed a 

 theory similar to the one of Plieninger in which he likened 



