CHAPTER VII.

SIMULATION OF STRUCTURES.

Although it is easy to give an account of the structures which are of importance to the student of the stratified rocks, actual observation of these structures is frequently attended with difficulties owing to the close imitation of one structure by another, and the past history of the science shows that erroneous conclusions have been reached again and again on account of the incorrect interpretation of structures.

Simulation of organisms has frequently been the cause of error. Inorganic substances take on the form of organisms with various degrees of closeness. The dendritic markings produced by efflorescences of oxide of manganese are familiar to all, and as the name implies, they simulate, to some extent, plant remains. More complex chemical changes have resulted in the production of rock-masses in which, not the outward form alone but, the internal structure of organisms is reproduced with more or less approach to fidelity, as the rocks which contain the supposed organisms described as _Eozoon bohemicum_, _E. bavaricum_, and, we may add, _E. canadense_. Mechanical changes in rocks subsequent to their formation may also cause the simulation of organisms by inorganic substances. Prof. Sollas has given reasons for considering the structure described as _Oldhamia_ to be inorganic, and in the Carboniferous Sandstones of Little Haven, Pembrokeshire, every stage in the formation of tubular bodies resembling worm-tubes, as the result of complex folding of the strata, may be observed, whilst in other cases we find imitation of worm-tracks, as has been observed before.

It is when one inorganic structure is simulated by another that the stratigraphical geologist is most likely to be led astray, and accordingly it is worth noting some cases where this has occurred, as a warning, for it must not be supposed that the cases here noted are the only ones which are likely to occur.

It has been seen that the existence of bedding-planes is of prime importance to the geologist, and their detection is a matter of supreme moment. Under ordinary circumstances there is no great difficulty in distinguishing bedding-planes from other planes, but the importance of discovering them is often greatest when the difficulty is most pronounced. In rocks which have undergone no great amount of disturbance the planes of stratification are often marked by their regular parallelism, the separation of layers having different lithological characters by these planes, the arrangement of the longer axes of pebbles parallel to them, and the occurrence of fossils and also of rain-prints, ripple-marks and other structures produced during deposition, upon the surfaces of the strata, but none of these appearances is necessarily conclusive, especially in areas where the rocks have been subjected to orogenic movements. In regularly-jointed rocks, jointing may well be mistaken for bedding, and there is often great difficulty in discriminating between bedding and cleavage, especially when the exposures of rock are of small extent. Fossils may be dragged out along planes at an angle to the true bedding, pebbles will be compressed by cleavage so that their longer axes do not remain parallel to the bedding-planes but now lie parallel to the superinduced planes of cleavage, and a structure closely resembling 'ripple-mark' may be produced on planes other than those of original bedding, as the result of puckering. The alternation of rocks having different lithological characters may also be misleading. Intrusion of dykes along cleavage-planes, followed by decomposition of the dyke-rock causing it to resemble a sediment, and formation of mineral veins along the same planes, may give rise to an apparent succession of rocks of different lithological characters which could easily mislead an observer and cause him to mistake the cleavage-planes for planes of stratification. In rocks which have undergone great lateral pressure, the beds of different lithological character may be folded in such a way as to give very erroneous ideas of the true dip of the rock on a large scale. In Fig. 3 the dip of the rocks in a small exposure might appear to be in the direction indicated by the unfeathered arrow, whilst the true dip of the strata as a whole, leaving the minor foldings out of account, is in the direction of the feathered arrow, at the inclination represented by the dotted line. The minor folds in a case like that represented may extend upwards for scores or even hundreds of feet, so that an error as to the direction and amount of dip may be made, even if the observer faces a cliff of considerable height.

False-bedding on a large scale may be a cause of error. In the Penrith Sandstone of Cumberland, the planes of deposition are often found dipping in one direction in a large quarry, but inspection of a wider area shows that this is not the true dip of the beds as a whole, but merely a local dip due to deposition on a slope, and any one attempting to calculate the total thickness of the beds by reference to these divisional planes might be seriously led astray. A reference to Fig. 4 will explain this. The lines _AA´_, _BB´_ are the true bedding-planes cut across in the section, whilst the lines sloping to the right from _xx_ are only lines of false-bedding on a large scale. An exaggerated estimate of the thickness of the deposit would be made by measuring the thickness of each of these stratula from _A_ to _A´_ and adding these thicknesses together, whereas the actual thickness of the middle bed is the distance between _A_ and _B_ or _A´_ and _B´_.

When rocks have been affected by thrust-planes, the simulation of bedding may be carried out to a very full extent. Not only do the major thrust-planes resemble bedding-planes but the minor thrusts produce an appearance of divisional planes separating stratula or laminæ, and a close approximation to false-bedding is the result. To this structure Prof. Bonney has given the name 'pseudo-stromatism[17].' It may be developed in rocks of all kinds, whether possessing original planes of stratification or not, and as a result of its existence the geologist may be seriously misled, not merely by mistaking the direction of the strata, but also the nature of the rock, for we may find it produced in an unstratified glacial till, and in a massive igneous rock, and in each case the resulting rock will resemble a sedimentary deposit, and of course the observer may be confirmed in his erroneous opinion by the formation of apparent fossils, ripple-marks or other objects which he might expect to discover in sediments. As illustrative examples, reference may be made to a number of schistose rocks, in which the planes of discontinuity (which are in truth planes of foliation) have been taken for bedding-planes and the rocks claimed as sedimentary though they are in reality igneous; for instance many of the rocks of the Laurentian of Canada, of the Hebridean of the North West Highlands, and some of the ancient rocks of Anglesey.

[Footnote 17: Bonney, T. G., _Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc._, vol. XLII. _Proc._ p. 65.]

A foliated structure may, as is now well known, be simulated by a structure developed in a rock prior to its consolidation. The similarity of flow structure of some lavas to the foliated structure of a schist was long ago pointed out by Darwin and Scrope, and recent work has proved that parallel structure due to differential movement prior to consolidation may be developed in plutonic rocks, as shown by Lieut.-General McMahon in the Himalayan granites, and by Lawson amongst the plutonic rocks of the Rainy Lake Region; and as the foliated structure may be mistaken for original stratification the same may occur, and has occurred, when dealing with this flow-structure.

This is not the place to discuss the truth of the old theory of progressive metamorphism, in which it was maintained that a gradual passage could be traced between ordinary sediments and plutonic rocks, but it may be pointed out that much of the evidence which was relied upon to prove the theory was fallacious and due to the confusion of the parallel structure set up in plutonic rocks prior to, or subsequent to, consolidation, with original stratification. Recent study of metamorphic rocks has proved that the parallel structures developed in the rocks of an area which has undergone metamorphism may be produced by three distinct processes; they may be original planes of deposition, or formed in a solid rock subsequently to its formation, or in an igneous rock before its consolidation, and although it is sometimes possible to separate the structures produced by these processes, this is not always the case[18]. When a plutonic rock contains large phenocrysts and an eye-structure is developed in it, it may simulate a conglomerate, the rounded phenocrysts being taken for pebbles[19]. Still closer simulation of an epiclastic conglomerate may be produced in other ways and will be referred to immediately.

[Footnote 18: It must be noticed that the rock in which parallel structure is produced before consolidation, if it undergoes no further change, though often associated with metamorphic rocks, is not itself metamorphic. The term _gneiss_ applied to these rocks is a misnomer, unless the term be used even more vaguely than it is at present.]

[Footnote 19: See Lehmann, _Untersuchungen über die Entstehung der Altkrystallinischen Schiefergesteine mit besonderer Bezugnahme auf das Sächsische Granulitgebirge_, Plate XI. fig. 1.]

We have already seen that the existence of unconformities has been utilised in the demarcation of large divisions of strata in various regions, and whether they be utilised in this manner or not, their detection is a matter of importance to the stratigraphical geologist, as they afford information concerning the occurrence of great physical changes during their production. These unconformities may also be closely simulated by structures produced in very different manner.

The occurrence of an unconformity implies the denudation of one set of beds before the deposition of another set upon them, and accordingly the denuded edges of the lower set will somewhere abut against the lower surface of the lowest deposit or deposits of the overlying set[20]. The existence of an unconformity may often be detected in section, but when the unconformity is upon a large scale this may not be possible, but it will be discovered by mapping the strata and will be apparent on a map owing to the deposits of the lower set of beds abutting against the others. This is well seen where the Permian rocks of Durham, Yorkshire, and Nottinghamshire rest upon different members of the underlying Carboniferous series, and will be noticed on any good geological map of England. But a similar effect may be caused by a fault, so that mere inspection of a map or even of the strata in the field and discovery of one set of beds ending off against another does not prove unconformity. When the fault is a normal one, with low hade (that is, having a fissure approaching the vertical position), the outcrop of the fault-fissure will approximate to a straight line if the fault has a straight course, even if the ground be very uneven, whereas, if the plane of unconformity has not been tilted to a high angle from its original horizontal position, it will crop out in a sinuous manner across uneven ground, in a way similar to that of beds which are nearly horizontal, so that though the general trend of the outcrop of the plane of unconformity may be fairly straight, its deviation from a straight line will be frequent and marked, as seen in the case of the Permian unconformity above referred to. But if the unconformable junction has been highly inclined its outcrop will resemble that of a normal fault, or if the fault be a thrust-plane with high hade, the outcrop of this will resemble that of an unconformable junction which has not been greatly tilted from its original horizontal position. In these cases we require more evidence before we can decide whether we are dealing with an unconformable junction or a faulted one.

[Footnote 20: An unconformity may be simulated or an actual unconformity rendered apparently more important, as the result of underground solution of the underlying strata subsequently to the deposition of the upper set upon them, and any insoluble materials in the underlying strata may be left as an apparent pebble-bed at the base of the upper beds. This is seen at the junction of the Tertiary beds with the chalk near London. Subterranean water has dissolved the upper part of the chalk, increasing the unconformity which naturally exists between chalk and Tertiary beds, and the insoluble flint of the dissolved chalk is left as a layer of 'green-coated flint' at the base of the Tertiary deposits.]

The lowest deposits of the newer set of strata lying above an unconformity have probably been laid down in water near the shore-line. As the unconformity, if large, implies elevation above the sea-level, the deposits first formed after this elevation has ceased, and depression commenced, will necessarily be littoral in character and possibly of beach-formation, and accordingly we often find that an unconformity is marked by the existence of an epiclastic conglomerate immediately above the plane of unconformity and, although this need not be continuous, it is usually found somewhere along the line of junction. The conglomeratic base of the Lowest Carboniferous strata when they repose upon the upturned edges of the Lower Palæozoic rocks of the dales of West Yorkshire is well known, and may be cited as an example. The association of conglomerates with unconformities is indeed so frequent that its possible occurrence will always be suspected and sought by the geologist. Unfortunately the result of recent observation is to show that along thrust-planes of which the outcrop simulates those of unconformable junctions, the difficulty of discrimination may be increased by the existence of cataclastic rocks which bear a close resemblance to epiclastic conglomerates, and which may be and have been styled conglomerates. It is well known that fragments of the adjoining rocks are knocked into a fault-fissure during the occurrence of the movements which cause the fault, to constitute a _fault-breccia_, and as the result of the abrasion of these fragments by chemical or mechanical agency, the angular fragments may become rounded and converted into rounded pebble-like bodies, when the rock is changed into a _fault-conglomerate_. Fig. 5, from a photograph kindly supplied by Prof. W. W. Watts, shows a stage in the formation of a conglomerate of this nature from a fault-breccia; the fragment on the right remains angular, whilst those on the left have become much more rounded. The illustration is from a case described by Mr Lamplugh occurring in the slaty rocks of the Isle of Man, and Mr Lamplugh's paper[21] furnishes the reader with references to other examples of the production of similar rocks. No general rule can be laid down for distinguishing the true from the apparent unconformity, for the attendant phenomena will differ in each case; but if a fault-conglomerate should be suspected, the observer should try to ascertain whether fragments of a newer rock are imbedded in an older one, which sometimes occurs; he should note the existence of extensive slickensiding along the plane of junction and along planes of faulting, though the existence of these, implying as it does the occurrence of differential movement along the plane, does not prove that the movement was necessarily great, or that it did not take place along a plane of original unconformity; above all, he should look for structures such as mylonitic structure, pseudo-stromatism, development of new minerals, crushing out and stretching of fossils and fragments and, in short, for any structure which is familiar to him as a result of orogenic movements.

[Footnote 21: Lamplugh, G. W., "On the Crush-Conglomerates of the Isle of Man," _Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc._, vol. LI. p. 563.]

The effects of thrusting not only give rise to appearances suggestive of unconformity, but naturally also to a simulation of overlap. The thrust-planes are often parallel to original bedding-planes for some distance, but must cut across them sooner or later, producing lenticular masses which might be supposed to be due to the thinning out of beds as the result of cessation of deposition in a lateral direction.

Attention has already been directed to the deceptive appearance of great thickness of strata which is due to repetition of one stratum or set of strata by a series of thrust-planes, so that there is no actual inversion of any part of a bed. When masses of limestone are affected in this way, the thrust-planes may become sealed up, as the result of chemical change, and a compact irregular mass of limestone devoid of any definite divisional planes may be the consequence, and beds of grit sometimes exhibit the same feature to some extent.

Enough has been said to show that simulation of one structure by another has frequently occurred in rocks in so marked a degree as to render mistakes easy; and that these examples of 'mimicry' in the inorganic world are particularly frequent in rocks which have been subjected to great orogenic movements. The student will do well to acquaint himself with the macroscopic and microscopic structures which may be taken as characteristic of the rocks which have been thus affected, some of which can usually be detected with ease, and when he discovers them he may suspect that many phenomena which appear explicable in one way were in reality produced in a different one, for it is frequently very true of a region in which the rocks have been violently squeezed, stretched and broken that 'things are not what they seem.'