V.—On the Geology of the Bermudas.

1837; Geological Society of London; Volume: 5; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1144/transgslb.5.1.103

ISSN

2058-1041

Autores

Richard J. Nelson,

Tópico(s)

Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

Resumo

Having been stationed at the Bermudas, at different periods between the years 1827 and 1833, I made a series of notes on the peculiarities of their structure, and the following memoir is the result. Much information was derived from sources which are no longer accessible, such as the aspect and arrangement of the strata, presented by large excavations made during the progress of the works, conducted by the Royal Engineer Department, and are either no longer in existence, or are masked by revétements *. Though the Bermudas are barren of mineralogical interest, they have yet claims to attention in the striking lithological resemblance, which some of their rocks bear to chalk and other secondary limestones; and I hope that my descriptions may afford a clue to the origin and nature of those formations. Conceiving also that a comparison of the Bermudas with the coral islands in the Pacific, described by Kotzebue, might be instructive, I have given references to those passages in the work of that author, which present any analogy or important variation. The Summer Isles, Somers' Islands, or Bermudas, (see Plate VI.) consist of a group of about 150 islets, lying within a space of fifteen miles by five, and containing altogether nearly twenty-one square miles. This singular little archipelago is situated very near, and conformably to, the south-east side of an elongated ring of what are commonly called † coral reefs, and rudely approaching the shape of an ellipse, twenty-five miles long by thirteen broad. The direction of

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