The history of a lump of chalk |
Common terms and phrases
abundance alumina ammonia animals argillaceous basalt beautiful beds black marble bleaching calcareous calcareous matter calcined called carbonate of lime carbonic acid cement cent chalk formation chemical chloride of calcium clay coast colour compact contains Coprolites coral cretaceous cretaceous age cretaceous formation crust crystalline mineral crystals deposit Derbyshire earth England feet flints flustra foraminifera fossil geological geologists globe green sand gypsum heat Iguanodon interesting Isle of Thanet joins the Thames kiln limestone little book London Lump of Coal Lyell magnesia Mantell manufacture marine marl masses miles numerous observes obtained occurs ocean oolite oxide of iron particles period phosphate of lime plants portion potash powder produced proportion quantity quicklime reader reefs remarkable reptiles resembling rocks salt sandstone shell-fish shells silica soda solution sometimes spar species sponges springs stone strata substance sulphate of lime sulphuric acid tertiary testacea travertine upper varieties vegetable white chalk zoophytes دو
Popular passages
Page 79 - ... which appear to have belonged to a period when the whole globe possessed a much higher temperature. I have likewise often been led from the remarkable phenomena surrounding me in that spot, to compare the works of man with those of nature. The baths, erected there nearly twenty centuries ago, present only heaps of ruins, and even the bricks of which they were built, though hardened by fire...
Page 3 - It is a difficult problem to account for the source of the enormous masses of carbonate of lime that compose nearly one-eighth part of the superficial crust of the globe. Some have referred it entirely to the secretions of marine animals ; an origin to which we must obviously assign those portions of calcareous strata which...
Page 80 - ... the churchyards have been overwhelmed, a great number of human bones may be found. The sand is supposed to have been originally brought from the sea by hurricanes, probably at a remote period.
Page 79 - I have sometimes reasoned from the forms of plants and animals preserved in marble in this warm source, to the grander depositions in the secondary rocks, where the zoophytes or coral insects have worked upon a grand scale, and where palms and vegetables now unknown, are preserved with the remains of crocodiles, turtles and gigantic extinct...
Page 75 - Scandinavia, and certain archipelagos in the Pacific, are slowly and insensibly rising ; while other regions, such as Greenland, and parts of the Pacific and Indian oceans, in which atolls or circular coral islands abound, are as gradually sinking.
Page 3 - ... that these animals have the power of forming lime from other elements, we must suppose that they derived it from the sea, either directly, or through the medium of its plants. In either case, it remains to find the source whence the sea obtained, not only these supplies of carbonate of lime for its animal inhabitants, but also the still larger quantities of the same substance that have been precipitated in the form of calcareous strata.
Page 29 - Bournon has described 680 modifications of carbonate of lime,. while other authorities state the number to be 750. of secondary forms, presented by the crystals of this abundant earthy mineral. In each of these we trace a fivefold series of subordinate relations of one system of combinations to another system, under which every individual crystal has been adjusted by laws, acting correlatively, to produce harmonious results.
Page 76 - London, 1846. undeniable, for marine remains are found in rocks at almost all elevations above the sea, and the denudation which the dry land appears to have suffered, favours the idea that it was raised from the deep by a succession of upward movements, prolonged throughout indefinite periods. Rain and rivers, aided sometimes by slow and sometimes by sudden and violent movements...
Page 79 - ... in that spot, to compare the works of man with those of nature. The baths, erected there nearly twenty centuries ago, present only heaps of ruins, and even the bricks of which they were built, though hardened by fire, are crumbled into dust, whilst the masses of travertine around it, though formed by a variable source from the most perishable materials...
Page 41 - the interesting remains of Spongiae are nowhere so well developed as in England, and perhaps nowhere in England, so well as in Yorkshire. On the shore near Bridlington, they lie exposed in the cliffs and scars, and being seldom enclosed in flint, allow their organization to be studied with the greatest advantage.