The Ancient Life History of the Earth / A Comprehensive Outline of the Principles and Leading Facts of Palæontological Science

by Henry Alleyne Nicholson

Fig. 6.—Microscopic section of a calcareous breccia in the Lower Silurian (Coniston Limestone) of Shap Wells, Westmoreland. The fragments are all of small size, and consist of angular pieces of transparent quartz, volcanic ashes, and limestone embedded in a matrix of crystalline limestone. (Original.) be composed of sand (arenaceous) or of carbonate of lime (calcareous). In the case of an ordinary sandstone, again, we have a rock which may be regarded as simply a very fine-grained conglomerate or breccia, being composed of small grains of sand (silica), sometimes rounded, sometimes more or less angular, cemented together by some such substance as oxide of iron, silicate of iron, or carbonate of lime. A sandstone, therefore, like a conglomerate is a mechanically-formed rock, its component grams being equally the result of mechanical attrition and having equally been transported from a distance; and the same is true of the ordinary sand of the sea-shore, which is nothing more than an unconsolidated sandstone. Other so-called sands and sandstones, though equally mechanical in their origin, are truly calcareous in their nature, and are more or less entirely composed of carbonate of lime. Of this kind are the shell-sand so common on our coasts, and the coral-sand which is so largely formed in the neighbourhood of coral-reefs. In these cases the rock is composed of fragments of the skeletons of shellfish, and numerous other marine animals, together, in many instances, with the remains of certain sea-weeds (Corallines, Nullipores, &c,) which are endowed with the power of secreting carbonate of lime from the sea-water. Lastly, in certain rocks still finer in their texture than sandstones, such as the various mud-rocks and shales, we can still recognise a mechanical source and origin. If slices of any of these rocks sufficiently thin to be transparent are examined under the microscope, it will be found that they are composed of minute grains of different sizes, which are all more or less worn and rounded, and which clearly show, therefore, that they have been subjected to mechanical attrition.

All the above-mentioned rocks, then, are mechanically-formed rocks; and they are often spoken of as "Derivative Rocks," in consequence of the fact that their particles can be shown to have been mechanically derived from other pre-existent rocks. It follows from this that every bed of any mechanically-formed rock is the measure and equivalent of a corresponding amount of destruction of some older rock. It is not necessary to enter here into a minute account of the subdivisions of these rocks, but it may be mentioned that they may be divided into two principal groups, according to their chemical composition. In the one group we have the so-called Arenaceous (Lat. arena, sand) or Siliceous Rocks, which are essentially composed of larger or smaller grains of flint or silica. In this group are comprised ordinary sand, the varieties of sandstone and grit, and most conglomerates and breccias. We shall, however, afterwards see that some siliceous rocks are of organic origin. In the second group are the so-called Argillaceous (Lat. argilla, clay) Rocks, which contain a larger or smaller amount of clay or hydrated silicate of alumina in their composition. Under this head come clays, shales, marls, marl-slate, clay-slates, and most flags and flagstones.

B. CHEMICALLY-FORMED ROCKS.—In this section are comprised all those Aqueous or Sedimentary Rocks which have been formed by chemical agencies. As many of these chemical agencies, however, are exerted through the medium of living beings, whether animals or plants, we get into this section a number of what may be called "organically-formed rocks." These are of the greatest possible importance to the palæontologist, as being to a greater or less extent composed of the actual remains of animals or vegetables, and it will therefore be necessary to consider their character and structure in some detail.

By far the most important of the chemically-formed rocks are the so-called Calcareous Rocks (Lat. calx, lime), comprising all those which contain a large proportion of carbonate of lime, or are wholly composed of this substance. Carbonate of lime is soluble in water holding a certain amount of carbonic acid gas in solution; and it is, therefore, found in larger or smaller quantity dissolved in all natural waters, both fresh and salt, since these waters are always to some extent charged with the above-mentioned solvent gas. A great number of aquatic animals, however, together with some aquatic plants, are endowed with the power of separating the lime thus held in solution in the water, and of reducing it again to its solid condition. In this way shell-fish, crustaceans, sea-urchins, corals, and an immense number of other animals, are enabled to construct their skeletons; whilst some plants form hard structures within their tissues in a precisely similar manner. We do meet with some calcareous deposits, such as the "stalactites" and "stalagmites" of caves, the "calcareous tufa" and "travertine" of some hot springs, and the spongy calcareous deposits of so-called "petrifying springs," which are purely chemical in their origin, and owe nothing to the operation of living beings. Such deposits are formed simply by the precipitation of carbonate of lime from water, in consequence of the evaporation from the water of the carbonic acid gas which formerly held the lime in solution; but, though sometimes forming masses of considerable thickness and of geological importance, they do not concern us here. Almost all the limestones which occur in the series of the stratified rocks are, primarily at any rate, of organic origin, and have been, directly or indirectly, produced by the action of certain lime-making animals or plants, or both combined. The presumption as to all the calcareous rocks, which cannot be clearly shown to have been otherwise produced, is that they are thus organically formed; and in many cases this presumption can be readily reduced to a certainty. There are many varieties of the calcareous rocks, but the following are those which are of the greatest importance:—

Chalk is a calcareous rock of a generally soft and pulverulent texture, and with an earthy fracture. It varies in its purity, being sometimes almost wholly composed of carbonate of lime, and at other times more or less intermixed with foreign matter. Though usually soft and readily reducible to powder, chalk is occasionally, as in the north of Ireland, tolerably hard and compact; but it never assumes the crystalline aspect and stony density of limestone, except it be in immediate contact with some mass of igneous rock. By means of the microscope, the true nature and mode of formation of chalk can be determined with the greatest ease. In the case of the harder varieties, the examination can be conducted by means of slices ground down to a thinness sufficient to render them transparent; but in the softer kinds the rock must be disintegrated under water, and the débris examined microscopically. When investigated by either of these methods, chalk is found to be a genuine organic rock, being composed of the shells or hard parts of innumerable marine animals of different kinds, some entire, some fragmentary, cemented together by a matrix of very finely granular carbonate of lime. Foremost amongst the animal remains which so largely compose chalk are the shells of the minute creatures which will be subsequently spoken of under the name of Foraminifera (fig. 7), and which, in spite of their

Fig. 7.—Section of Gravesend Chalk, examined by transmitted light and highly magnified. Besides the entire shells of Globigerina, Rotalia, and Textularia, numerous detached chambers of Globigerina are seen. (Original.) microscopic dimensions, play a more important part in the process of lime-making than perhaps any other of the larger inhabitants of the ocean.

As chalk is found in beds of hundreds of feet in thickness, and of great purity, there was long felt much difficulty in satisfactorily accounting for its mode of formation and origin. By the researches of Carpenter, Wyville Thomson, Huxley, Wallich, and others, it has, however, been shown that there is now forming, in the profound depths of our great oceans, a deposit which is in all essential respects identical with chalk, and which is generally known as the "Atlantic ooze," from its having been first discovered in that sea. This ooze is found at great depths (5000 to over 15,000 feet) in both the Atlantic and Pacific, covering enormously large areas of the sea-bottom, and it presents itself as a whitish-brown, sticky, impalpable mud, very like greyish chalk when dried. Chemical examination shows that the ooze is composed almost wholly of carbonate of lime, and microscopical examination proves it to be of organic origin, and to be made up of the remains of living beings. The principal forms of these belong to the Foraminifera, and the commonest of these are the irregularly-chambered shells of Globigerina, absolutely indistinguishable from the Globigerinœ which are so largely present in the chalk (fig. 8). Along with these occur fragments of the skeletons of other larger creatures, and a certain proportion of the flinty cases of minute animal and vegetable organisms (Polycystina and Diatoms).

Fig. 8.—Organisms in the Atlantic Ooze, chiefly Foraminifera (Globigerina and Textularia), with Polycystina and sponge-spicules; highly magnified. (Original.) Though many of the minute animals, the hard parts of which form the ooze, undoubtedly live at or near the surface of the sea, others, probably, really live near the bottom; and the ooze itself forms a congenial home for numerous sponges, sea-lilies, and other marine animals which flourish at great depths in the sea. There is thus established an intimate and most interesting parallelism between the chalk and the ooze of modern oceans. Both are formed essentially in the same way, and the latter only requires consolidation to become actually converted into chalk. Both are fundamentally organic deposits, apparently requiring a great depth of water for their accumulation, and mainly composed of the remains of Foraminifera, together with the entire or broken skeletons of other marine animals of greater dimensions. It is to be remembered, however, that the ooze, though strictly representative of the chalk, cannot be said in any proper sense to be actually identical with the formation so called by geologists. A great lapse of time separates the two, and though composed of the remains of representative classes or groups of animals, it is only in the case of the lowly-organised Globigerinœ, and of some other organisms of little higher grade, that we find absolutely the same kinds or species of animals in both.