Physical Geography (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Pleiocene strata. It appears that the Atlas, the Sierra Morena and most of the Spanish mountains, the central chain of the Caucasus, and the Balkan, were raised before the period of the erratic blocks. From numerous dislocations in the strata, the Alps appear to have been heaved up by many violent and repeated convulsions, separated by intervals of repose, and different parts of the chain have been raised at different times; for example, the Maritime Alps and the south-western part of the Jura mountains were raised previously to the formation of the chalk: but the tertiary period appears to have been that of the greatest commotions; for nearly two-thirds of the lands of Europe have risen since the beginning of that epoch, and those that existed then acquired additional height, though some sank below their original level. During that time the Alps acquired an additional elevation of between 2000 and 3000 feet; Mont Blanc then attained its present altitude; the Apennines rose 1000 or 2000 feet higher; and the Carpathians seem to have gained an accession of height since the seas were inhabited by the existing species of animals.23 - iu.:: : .:: : . ..' ... - '..: ..': The High Lands of tlie preat Continent (continued)? The Caucasus ? The Wes-tesh'-Aiilifitirable-Ijituilnd its'Jklau'rUains. ': . .'.'. The Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmora form but a small break in the mighty girdle of the old continent, which again appears in immense table-lands, passing through the centre of Asia, of such magnitude that they occupy nearly two-fifths of the continent. Here everything is on a much grander scale than in Europe: the table-lands rise above the mean height of the European mountains, and the mountains themselves that gird and traverse them surpass those of every other ...