Geology, Vol. 1 [of 3]

by Thomas C. Chamberlin; Rollin D. Salisbury

The work of the surface waters, ground (underground) waters, standing waters, and ice will be considered in order.

RAIN AND RIVER EROSION.

Rain and river erosion began when the first rains fell on land surfaces. Neither the location nor the nature of the first land surface is known. There is little reason to believe that the ocean was ever universal, but there is reason to believe that most land areas have at some time or other been covered by the sea. The prevalent conception that land areas which were once submerged came into existence by being elevated above sea-level, should be supplemented by the alternative conception that submerged areas may have become land by the depression of the ocean basins, thus drawing off the water from the areas where it was shallow. Thus in [Fig. 36] the sinking of the sea-bottom from a to b would lower the surface of the water from cc′, to dd′, and draw off the water from the surfaces cd and c′d′.

Fig. 36.—Diagram to illustrate the origin of lands by the lowering of the sea-level due to depression of the sea bottom. If the bottom is depressed from a to b the surface will be drawn down from cc′ to dd′, and the surfaces cd and c′d′ will become land.

Without attempting to picture the character of the original land our study of subaërial erosion may begin with an area which has just been changed from sea bottom to land. What is the nature of such a land surface? Of what material is it composed, and what is the character of its topography? Concerning its constitution something may be inferred from the nature of the deposits now found at the bottom of the sea. Near the shore and in shallow water they often consist of gravel and sand, though other materials are not wanting. Far from shore and in deep water they consist for the most part of fine sediments, some of which were washed or blown from the land, some of which came from the shells and other secretions of marine animals, some from volcanoes, and some from various other sources. The topography of the newly emerged land may have had some likeness to the topography of the sea bottom. The numerous soundings which have been made over large areas of the sea have shown that its bottom is, as a rule, free from the numerous small irregularities which affect the surface of the land. They seem to show that a large part of the ocean bottom is so nearly flat that, if the water were removed, the eye would hardly detect irregularities in the surface. This statement does not lose sight of the fact that the ocean bottom is, in certain places, markedly irregular. Volcanic peaks and striking irregularities of other sorts abound in some places. Nevertheless if the bottom of the sea could be seen as the land is, its most striking feature, taken as a whole, would be its apparent flatness.

With the topography of the sea bottom the topography of the land is, in its details, in sharp contrast. In order to get at the history of the latter, we may study the sequence of events which would follow the emergence of a portion of the former.

Subaërial Erosion without Valleys.

For the sake of emphasizing the fundamental principles involved in the work of running water, a hypothetical case will first be studied in some detail, even at the risk of elaborating processes already understood. The principles themselves will find application later in relations which are much less simple.

Let it be assumed that the area of newly emerged land is a circular dome-shaped island. The simplest possible condition is represented by assuming its slope to be the same in all directions from the center, and its materials to be absolutely homogeneous. Such an island would be subject to all the forces ordinarily operating on land surfaces. The chief agency tending to modify land surfaces is atmospheric precipitation. It will be assumed that the rain falls on the surface of the island with absolute equality at all points, and that all other forces which affect it operate equally everywhere.