Central Connecticut in the Geologic Past Classic Reprint

Excerpt from Central Connecticut in the Geologic Past

Plan of the Paper. - The great lesson taught by the study of the outer crust is that the earth-mother, like her children, has attained her present form through ceaseless change - change which marks the pulse of life - change which will cease only when her internal forces Slumber, and her outer envelopes, the cloudy air and surf-bound ocean, no more are moving garments. The flowing landscapes of geologic time may be likened to a kinetoscopic panorama. The scenes transform from age to age, as from act to act; seas and plains and mountains of different types follow and replace each other through time, as the traveler sees them succeed each other in space. At times the drama quickens, and such rapid geologic action has marked the epochs since man has been a spectator on the earth.

Science demonstrates that mountains are transitory forms, but the eye Of man through all his lifetime sees no change, and his reason is appalled at the thought of duration so vast that the millenniums of written history have not recorded the Shifting of even one of the fleeting views whose blendings make the moving picture. The reason becomes convinced by argument, but draw ings assist the imagination to rebuild on the visible rock foundations and eroded structures the shadowy outlines of the former landscapes which they imply. For such graphic study, Central Connecticut is here chosen. Statements of the present surface forms and geologic structures are given as a basis for the reconstruction by drawings of the forms and structures of the past. Having followed the evidence backward through the geologic ages to that period in which obscurity darkens the farther past, our vision is then turned forward and, while taking homeward flight to the present age, we behold the panorama of geologic time. But Science not only reconstructs the past. It also asks the questions why and whither. In order not wholly to omit an answer there is given therefore at the close of this study a brief conclusion on the meaning of the shifting scenes.

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