Elements of Geology

About this book

A reprint of a classical work in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Between 1830 and 1833, Charles Lyell (1797–1875) published his three-volume Principles of Geology, which has also been reissued in this series. The work's renown stems partly from the fact that the young Charles Darwin, on his voyage around the world aboard the Beagle, became influenced by Lyell's ideas relating to gradual change across large spans of time. Shaping the development of scientific enquiry in Britain and beyond, Lyell was determined to disconnect geology from religion. He originally intended some of the present work, first published in 1838, to be a supplement to the Principles, but later expanded it to serve as a general introduction to geology. The topics covered include the formation of various rock types, matters of field geology, and how the presence of marine fossils above sea level could be explained by the land rising, rather than the sea retreating. Many salient points are illustrated with woodcuts.

Contents

Part I
1. Of the four great classes of rocks – the aqueous, volcanic, plutonic, and metamorphic
2. Aqueous rocks
3. Arrangement of fossils in strata
4. Consolidation of strata and petrification of fossils
5. Elevation of strata above the sea
6. Denudation, and the production of alluvium
7. Volcanic rocks
8. Volcanic rocks, continued
9. Plutonic rocks – granite
10. Metamorphic rocks
11. Metamorphic rocks, continued

Part II
12. On the different ages of the four great classes of rocks
13. On the different ages of the aqueous rocks
14. Recent and tertiary formations
15. Cretaceous group
16. Wealden group
17. Oolite and lias
18. Oolite and lias, continued
19. New red sandstone group
20. The coal, or carboniferous group
21. Carboniferous group, continued, and old red sandstone
22. Primary fossiliferous strata
23. On the different ages of the volcanic rocks
24. On the different ages of the plutonic rocks
25. On the different ages of the metamorphic rocks

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