If the drainage from the hills is into a marsh containing an abundance of decaying vegetation, i.e., if peat is forming there, the ferrous carbonate, in the presence of the more greedy organic matter, will be unable to obtain oxygen from the air; and as the evaporation of the water goes on, it will sooner or later become saturated with this salt, and the latter will be deposited. Here we find an explanation of a fact often observed by geologists, viz., that the carbonate iron-ores are usually associated with beds of coal.
The formation of the iron-ores, like that of the coals and bitumens, is a slow process; and the ores, like the coals, etc., will be pure only where there is a complete absence of mechanical sediment, a condition that is realized most nearly in marshes.
Formation of Limestone, Diatomaceous Earth, etc.—Marine animals take from the sea-water certain mineral substances, especially silica and carbonate of calcium, to form their skeletons. Silica is used only by the lowest organisms, such as Radiolaria, Sponges, and the minute unicellular plants, Diatoms. The principal animals secreting carbonate of calcium are Corals and Mollusks. These hard parts of the organisms remain undissolved after death; and over portions of the ocean-floor where there is but little of other kinds of sediment they form the main part of the deposits, and in the course of ages build up very extensive formations which we call diatomaceous earth or tripolite, if the organisms are siliceous, or limestone if they are calcareous. A very satisfactory account of the formation of limestone on a stupendous scale by the polyps in coral reefs and islands is contained in No. IV. of this series of guides.
The rocks here considered may be, and, as we have already seen, sometimes are, deposited in a purely chemical way, without the aid of life; and it is important to observe that in no case do the organisms make the silica and carbonate of calcium of their skeletons, but they simply appropriate and reduce to the solid state what exists ready made in solution in the sea-water. These minerals, and others, as we know, are produced by the decomposition of the rocks of the land, and are being constantly carried into the sea by rivers; and, if there were no animals in the sea, these processes would still go on until the sea-water became saturated with these substances, when their precipitation as limestone, etc., would necessarily follow. Hence it is clear that all the animals do is to effect the precipitation of certain minerals somewhat sooner than it would otherwise occur; so that from a geological standpoint the differences between chemical and organic deposition are not great.
This section of our subject may be summarized as follows: Animals and plants contribute to the formation of rocks in three distinct ways:—
1. During their growth they deoxidize carbon dioxide and water, and reduce to the solid state in their tissues carbon and the permanent gases oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen; and after death, through the accumulation of the half-decayed tissues in favorable localities,—marshes, etc.,—these elements are added to the solid crust of the earth in the form of coal and bitumen.
2. During the decomposition, i.e., oxidation, of the organic tissues, the iron existing everywhere in the soil is partially deoxidized, and, being thus rendered soluble, is removed by rain-water and concentrated in low places, forming beds of iron-ore.
3. Through the agency of marine organisms, certain mineral substances are being constantly removed from the sea-water and deposited upon the ocean floor, forming various calcareous and siliceous rocks.
I now bring our study of the aqueous or superficial agencies to a conclusion by noting once more that the great geological results accomplished by air, water, and organic matter or life are: (1) Erosion, or the wearing away of the surface of the land; and (2) Deposition, or the formation from the débris of the eroded land of two great classes of stratified rocks,—the mechanically formed or fragmental rocks, and the chemically and organically formed rocks.