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Indiana University Studies 



was regarded, to a certain extent, as self-evident) , it is found 

 that stylolites are not confined to stratification planes, but 

 are nothing more than a ''highly modified form of crevice". 

 Fuchs came to this conclusion after having observed stylo- 

 lites which ran obliquely, and even horizontally, and stylolite- 

 lines which even crossed one another at right angles. 



3. Stylolites are not formed in soft, plastic sediment, but 

 in already hardened stone. 



4. The so-called ''Drucksuturen", described by Rothpletz, 

 are similar in all fundamental points to stylolite-seams and 

 are only a special form of them. 



5. If the limestone is fossiliferous, one can notice that 

 fossils which border on to ''Drucksuturen" appear broken off 

 from them; and on the other side of the suture one will find 

 no continuation. These missing portions of fossils have been 

 actually removed by solution. 



6. The clay coverings of the columns consist of the resi- 

 due of the dissolved substance. The formation of the striated 

 surfaces has resulted from the movement which has taken 

 place. 



7. From the study of the analogous phenomenon of ''Ge- 

 rolleindriicke", it appears that a 



chemical solution process, which wears away the contact surfaces of 

 certain substances, attacks only the one side and leaves the other 

 apparently untouched. 



8. In explaining the changing of a straight, smooth 

 crevice into a jagged, intertoothed suture, by chemical solu- 

 tion, one should picture a crevice in a rock stratum, with the 

 rock substance on each side divided into a number of parts; 

 and assume that along this line one part above will be at- 

 tacked at one place, and at another place, a part below will 

 be attacked. Noticeable interteething must then take place, 

 and a stylolite-band will result. 



Investigations of Reis. In addition to corroborating the 

 evidence given by Fuchs, Reis (1901, p. 62; 1902, p. 157), 

 after an investigation of the stylolites of the Muschelkalk, 

 contributed the following additional evidence in support of 

 the solution theory: 



1. The actual removal of the hard stone, into which the 

 columns of the opposite side have penetrated, is evidenced 

 especially by a study of the fossils and oolites associated with 



