Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1895 edition. Excerpt: ... aooH pas-oiozojsao-AHVIIH3X Coal in the Isthmian Tertiary.--The older Tertiary sediments of the Isthmian region are characterized by lignite. The presence of these coals in extensive beds is strong evidence of the close proximity of large land areas during the epoch of their deposition. While at Colon, Colonel Rives, Superintendent of the Railway, informed me of several coal deposits to the north of the road, especially one of unusual interest on the Rio Indios, a confluent of the Chagres, rising along the divide north of the town of Chorera. Commander Lull's Report1 gives all the known geological information concerning these localities. Still westward on the Isthmian region the coal bearing sandy clays have great development around the Chiriqui Lagoon, where they were studied in the year 1857, by Dr. John Evans. In his report he says: "On microscopic examination of their fragments and of the ashes of the coal when burnt, the structure of cellular plants which formed it is discerned quite distinstly. The fossil plants, leaves, etc., associated with the coal, were endogenous and allied to or identical with those at present growing in the vicinity." Later these shells were studied by Dr. C. T. Jackson,2 who stated that, judging from the fossils, such as Cardum, Cerethium, ISTatica, Mytilus, and other shells, this coal belongs to the Upper Eocene Period. They were also studied by Gabb,8 who referred them to the "Miocene," which is the Oligocene of this paper. The fossil shells are all Eocene or Miocene Tertiary (salt water shells); none older were discovered in the coal formations. The observations of Gabb in the eastern lying province of Talamanca. and of Sapper in Guatemala and Chiapas, show that these lignites are a marked characteristic...