There is another point which deserves some notice, namely, the analogy between the upper parts of the Patagonian tertiary formation, as well as of the upper possibly contemporaneous beds at Chiloe and Concepcion, with the great gypseous formation of Cordillera; for in both formations, the rocks, in their fusible nature, in their containing gypsum, and in many other characters, show a connection, either intimate or remote, with volcanic action; and as the strata in both were accumulated during subsidence, it appears at first natural to connect this sinking movement with a state of high activity in the neighbouring volcanoes.
During the cretaceo-oolitic period this certainly appears to have been the case at the Puente del Inca, judging from the number of intercalated lava-streams in the lower 3, feet of strata; but generally, the volcanic orifices seem at this time to have existed as submarine solfataras, and were certainly quiescent compared with their state during the accumulation of the porphyritic conglomerate formation.
During the deposition of the tertiary strata we know that at S. Cruz, deluges of basaltic lava were poured forth; but as these lie in the upper part of the series, it is possible that the subsidence may at that time have ceased: at Chiloe, I was unable to ascertain to what part of the series the pile of lavas belonged. The Uspallata tuffs and great streams of submarine lavas, were probably intermediate in age between the cretaceo- oolitic and older tertiary formations, and we know from the buried trees that there was a great subsidence during their accumulation; but even in this case, the subsidence may not have been strictly contemporaneous with the great volcanic eruptions, for we must believe in at least one intercalated period of elevation, during which the ground was upraised on which the now buried trees grew.
I have been led to make these remarks, and to throw some doubt on the strict contemporaneousness of high volcanic activity and movements of subsidence, from the conviction impressed on my mind by the study of coral formations, that these two actions do not generally go on synchronously; — on the contrary, that in volcanic districts, subsidence ceases as soon as the orifices burst forth into renewed action, and only recommences when they again have become dormant.
During and before the accumulation, however, of these old tertiary strata, and, therefore, at a very remote period, sediment, strikingly resembling that of the Pampas, was deposited; showing during how long a time in this case the same agencies were at work in the same area.
