Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-20
GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY.
Papers to Meteors and Processes Of
Mountain Building Read Today.

Papers - to Meteors and Processes of
Mountain Building Read Today.
number OF interesting papers were read
ply. Prof. A E. Foote Of Philadelphia read a
paper on "A New Locality for Meteoric Iron
(Arizona), With . Preliminary Notice Of the
Discovery Of Diamonds in the Iron"
The paper was especially important as being
the nrst discovery of the kind. An account
was given of the discovery OF q so-cailed vein
OF native iron;" said to be two miles long and
forty yards wide, by prospector who had "a
mine to SELL" Prof Foote, when called upon
by chicago capitalists to investigate the value
OF TINS native iron mine" at once said there
couio pe no VEN, Tor It was meteoric. simply
star aust On visiting the locality mass
weighing 2Ol pounds completely perforated in
three places, and near it one weighing l54
pounds, vas secured ON the open plains.
weary TWO miles away l3l other small pieces
OF metallic iron were secured
A mass sent 10 Prof koenig Of phiIadeinhia
was examined with the following results;
IN cutting the iron for study il had been
round OF extraordinary hardness the section
taxing day and a half. and number Of
cniseis having been destroyed in the process
Wnen the mass, which on the exterior was not
distinguished from other pieces OF meteoric
iron. was divided il was found that the cutting
apparatus bad fortunately gone through a
cavity In the attempt to polish the surface
SO as 70 bring out the characteristics, Wild
niannststtian ngures, DIR. koenig received
ruined. ~ wv"
On examination lie then found that the ex-
posed cavities contained diamonds which cut
through polished corundum as easily as a knife
wiu cut through gypsum. The diamonds ex-
posed were small black and of course. of but
Little commercial value, but, mineralogically.
tney are Oh the greatest interest. the presence
OF such In meteorItes having been unknown
until 1887, when two Russian mineralogists
discovered traces OF diamond in a meteoric
ulk.are Oh Divine and bronzite. Granules Of
anonymous carbon were also found in the
cavity, and a small quantity of this treated with
acid had revealed a minute white diamond Of
one-half a millemeter. or about l-5O Of an inch
In diameter. The proportion Of nickel in the
general mass Is per cent, and the speaker was
not as yet able to account for the extraordi-
nary hardness apart from the presence Of the
diamonds in the cavities.
The large number Of small fragments were
probably produced by the bursting Of a mass
weighing from 500 to 600 pounds.
The recent contract made by the government
for sl.000,0 600 worth of nickel steel for armor
plating ships has familiarized people with the
extraordinary hardness of nickel iron COM
pounds Nickel is invariabie constituent
OF all meteoric irons. The extraordinary hard
ness OF this meteoric iron from Arizona indicates
either that the nickel exists in exactly the right
proportions to produce the greatest hardness.
or that black diamonds, the hardest form
known, are disseminated through the mass.
PROCESSES OF MOUNTAIN BUILDING.
Processes of Mountain Building and Their
Relationship to the Earths Contraction was
the subject of q paper read by Warner Upham
OF Somerville. Mass, assistant geologist,
geological survey.
Six classes of mountains. he said, are dis
crlminated which, from predominant features
OF their structure, are named as % folded, Cd
arched, 90 domed, a. tilted, 90 erupted and
60 eroded.
L. Folded mountain ranges-1he most pro-
longed mountain belts consist of folded rock
formations. The strata forming the upper
part OF the earth's crust are bent up and down
III long, nearly straight or curving, wave-like
ridges and troughs and where their disturb
ance was greatest the successive ridged folds
are closely pressed together This strueture is
represented by the Appalachian, Atlantic and
Laurentian mountain systems OF eastern North
America. for which collectively the name Ap-
palachian-Laurentide belt is proposed. In the
old world it is more grandly exemplified BY the
Alp Hlmalayan belt reaching from the Atlas
and lyrenees mountains to the Himalayas and
the China sea. These mountain belts have
been folded and uplifted by pressure against
them from each side.
quent than the foregoing. and indeed known
only IN parts Of the Cordilleran belt of the
western United States, is the arched structure,
the most typical example being the Uinta
range in northeastern Utah. According to
Powelrs report on the geology of there noun
talns great thickness OF many rock forma-
lions has been here raised in an arch about $50
miles long from east to west and 20 TO 40 miles
wide. Tue upheaval took place during the
Tertiary era, mostly in its earlier portion, and
the whole extent of the upward arching was
about five and half miles Erosion, however.
was IN progress during the growth of the arch,
SO that the highest peaks Of the range have an
altitude of only about two and a half miles, or
IL, coo feet.
8. Domed mountains-The structural tyne
here designated is exemplified by the Henry
mountains in southern Utah. which have been
deliberately studied by Gilbert These noun
tains were formed as dome-shaped uplifts of
previously horizontal rock formations by the
volcanic injection of immense leuticular
masses OF lava between the strata Of the series
Inc injected lava mass is named by Gilbert
aiaccoilte (cistern stone).
4. Tilted mountain ranges-The Wahsatch
mountains aud the Sierra Nevada are examples
OF tilted mountain ranges. The Wahsatch
range has been elevated along fault lines
which form its western boundary, adjacent to
the area Of Lake Bonneville and the present
great Salt Lake. 1t is an immense mountain
mass. which has been tilted by upheaval Of its
border and sinking of its eastern portion. The
Sierra Nevada, on the other hand. has been up
heaved along fault lines bounding il on tho
east, and is concisely described as principally
single great block of the earths crust about
800 miles long and fifty to seventy wide,
tilted by elevation of its cast side and depres-
sion of its west side.
5. Erupted mountain ranges-volcanic ac-
ton has often been developed on a grand scale
along the deep assures and fault planes which
border and intersect tilted mountains and pla-
teaus as notably in the Andes and in Mexico,
where it has built up very conspicuous VOL
canic cones. Often, too. prolonged assures
reach down through the earth's crust to lavas
that well up and build mountain masses and
plateaus, while the crust segments have been
only slightly tilted and sometimes lie wholly
beneath the sea level. Such eruptions form
the Cascade range, the mountainous plateaus
OF Iceland and the Farce islands. the Deccan
plateau in India, the volcanic chains OF the
Sunda, Kuriie and Aleutian islands and the
Hawaiian island belt. The Cascade range is Q
typical example Of this Glass; having an extent
of more than 500 miles from south to north
across Oregon and Washington, showing q
thickness of nearly 200 feet of lava where it is
cut through by the Columbia and bearing here