This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 68-9041 MAYO, Dwight Eugene, 1919- THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE IDEA OF THE GEOSYNCLINE. The University of Oklahoma, Ph.D., 1968 History, modem University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan (?) Dwight Eugene Mavo 1968 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 'i hii UIUV&Hüil Y OF O&LAÜOM GRADUAS ü COLLEGE THS DEVlïLOFr-ÎEKS OF TÜE IDEA OF SHE GSOSÏNCLIKE A DISDER'i'ATIOH SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUAT E FACULTY In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY DWIGHT’ EUGENE MAYO Norman, Oklahoma 1968 THE DEVELOfMEbM OF THE IDEA OF I HE GEOSÏHCLINE APPROVED BÏ DIS5ERTAII0K COMMITTEE ACKNOWL&DG EMEK3S The preparation of this dissertation, which is sub­ mitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy at the University of Okla­ homa, has been materially assisted by Professors Duane H, D. Roller, David b, Kitts, and Thomas M. Smith, without whose help, advice, and direction the project would have been well-nigh impossible. Acknowledgment is also made for the frequent and generous assistance of Mrs. George Goodman, librarian of the DeGolyer Collection in the history of Science and Technology where the bulk of the preparation was done. ___ Generous help and advice in searching manuscript materials was provided by Miss Juliet Wolohan, director of the Historical Manuscripts Division of the New fork State Library, Albany, New fork; Mr. M. D. Smith, manuscripts librarian at the American Philosophical Society Library, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Dr. Kathan Seingold, editor of the Joseph Henry Papers, bmithsonian Institution, Wash­ ington, D. C, Finally, the completion of the program of studies of which this dissertation is a part would have been iii Impossible without the help and encouragement of my wife, iîlaine, and of my children, Linda, diehard, and Susan, all of whom have exhibited a remarkable degree of patience and understanding throughout the whole period. iv lABLà Ot CONlaNTS ACKNOWLEDG SMENTS..................................... 111 Chapter I. INIÏÎODÜCIION................................. 1 Definitions of the Géosynclinal Concept...... 2 Development of the Term Geosyncllne........... 6 Contemporary Geological Philosophy........... 7 Catastrophism...... 8 Unlf ormltarianlsm. ......................... 16 Unlformltarlanlsm and Catastrophism In the United States...................... 26 II. TiiS ORIGINS OF JAMES HAIL'S CONCEFl OF SUBSIDENCE................................... 30 Definitions of Hall's Subsidence Concept 30 Hall's Philosophy of Geology........... 3^ Statements Preliminary to the Subsidence Concept................. 36 Ocean Currents................. 44 Elevation and Subsidence..................... 49 Metamorphism..... 67 Igneous and Volcanic Actions................. 77 III. THE RECEPTION OF HALL'S SUBSIDENCE CONCEPT 83 Initial Reaction to the New Concept.......... 83 Later Reactions........... 106 IV. THE GECSYKCLINE AND THE COMRACTIONAL THEORY... 124 Cana and the Contractlonal Theory............ 125 Criticism and Modification of Dana's Views,.., 148 V. THE GEOSYNCLINE AND THE RELATED CONCEPT OF ISOSTASÏ..................................... 177 VI. THE SEMI-INDEPENDENT EXISTENCE OF THE GEOSYNCLINE.................................. 221 VII. THE GEOSYNCLINE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY...... 24l VIII. CONCLUSIONS.................................. 262 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................... 270 v G.(F DiLVELOi- 'ÜKI OF TüJ, ILùA Ci- ÜbOsïÜCLINE C .iAF-i'Cii I iFTnODüC^lüC The problem of providing a satisfactory explanation for the phenomena of mountains lias perplexed geologists during the whole history of the science of geology. iurlng the nineteenth century there %vas a marked growth of interest in all sorts of geological investigation and a proliferation of geological theory including theories of mountains. Luring the middle and latter decades of the century, a new and very useful concept, which plays a significant role in theories of mountain formation, came into being, a concept today called the "geosyncline." A considerable amount of litera­ ture has appeared about the concept and the place it occu­ pies in present-day geological theory, but there has been no comprehensive examination of its historical development. The purpose of this study is to provide an analysis of the historical growth of the idea, including an investigation of its antecedents, how it developed during its earlier decades, how it complemented other contemporary concepts, and how it fitted into broader geologic theories, 1 definitions of the Géosynclinal Concept The concept of the geosyncllne seems to have been clearly defined first by James r;all (I8II-I8 9 6), long-time geologist and palaeontologist for the state of Tew York, ;ie described the general type of geological phenomena asso­ ciated with the geosyncllne as follows: It has long since been shown that the removal of large quantities of sediment from one part of the earth’s crust, and its transportation and deposition in another, may not only produce oscillations, but that chemical and dynamical action are the necessary consequences of large accumulations of sedimentary matter over certain areas. V/hen these are spread along a belt of sea bottom, as originally in the line of the Appalachian chain, the first effect of this great augmentation of matter would be to produce a yielding of the earth’s crust beneath, and a gradual subsidence will be the consequence, , , , The line of greatest depression would be along the line of greatest accumulation; and In the direction of the thinning margins of the deposit, the depression would be less, ly this process of subsidence, as the lower side becomes gradiially curved, there must follow, as a consequence, rents and fractures upon that side. The sinking down of the mass produces a great syn­ clinal axis; and within this axis, whether on a large or small scale, will be produced numerous smaller syn­ clinal and anticlinal axes, , , , I hold , , , that it is Impossible to have any subsidence along a certain line of the earth’s crust, from the accumulation of sediments, without producing the phenomena which are observed in the Appalachian and other mountain ranges,* James Ü, Dana (I813 -I8 9 5). Yale university geolo­ gist, generally receives acknowledgment for first using the term geosyncline itself. His first reference to the con­ cept is found in this passage: ^James Hall, Palaeontology: Containing Descrip­ tions and Figures of the Organic Remains of the Lower Hel- derberg Group and the Oriskany Sandstone. 1855-1859, Vol. Ill, ^ r t It Palaeontology of New York (Albany: State of New York, 1859), pp. 69-70, 'ihe making of the Allegheny range was carried for­ ward at first through a long-continued subsidence— a géosynclinal (not a true synclinal, since the rocks of the bending crust may have had in them many true or simple synclinals as well as anticlinals), and a con­ sequent accumulation of sediments, which occupied the whole of Paleozoic time. The Green Mountains are another example in vdnich the history was of the same kind: first, a slow sub­ sidence or geosynclinal, carried forward in this case during the Lower Silurian era or the larger part of it; and, accompanying it, the deposition of sediments to a thickness equal to the depth of the subsidence; finally, as a result of the subsidence and as the climax in the effects of the pressure producing it, an epoch of pli­ cation, crushing, etc. between the sides of the trough. £n 1923 Charles Schuchert (1858-1924' defined the term geosyncline as he thought lall had Intended and brought others to task for broadening the concept too much. •"Jo extend the meaning of the term geosyncline,” he said, to all subsiding areas of sedimentary accumulation, to mediterranean and even to oceanic basins, as was done, it is true, for the first time by I.ana. Is to befog the brilliant idea of James Jail. Our understanding of geo- synciinee (both monogeosyncllnes and polygeocynclines) is that they are variably long and variably wide, very mobile, sinking areas that always originate within a continent; they are more or less long in geologic devel­ opment, and receive great quantities of sediments derived in the main from the borderlands. The more rapidly sinking side of a geosyncline is adjacent to the inner side of a borderland, ?dille the subsidence of the trough becomes less and less toward the neutral area of the continent.2 Schuchert here imposed a sophistication of the concept that 2 James D. Dana, "On Some Results of the Earth's contraction from Cooling," American Journal of Science, series 3. V (1873), 430. 3 Charles Schuchert, "Sites and Nature of the North American Geosynollnes," Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. XXXIV (1923)7 209-10, schuchert was the last of a long line of geologists and palaeontologists who had been assistants to James Hall, spending some thirty months 4 cannot be found any^sdiere In .iall's writings. In 19^? two German geologists, f. ulaessner and Curt Geichert, stated their views on the problem, asserting that the concept at that time did not differ greatly from that defined by uall and Dana who, they believed, had defined it broadly enough to allow for later developments and interpretations. Yet, they tvrote, "there is . a certain vagueness in this concept which makes it impossible at present to define a geosyncline in absolute terms and quantitative relations so as to decide once and for all what is a geosyncline and what is not." Another and per­ haps more useful way of defining the terra, they believed, was to break up the definition into several elements, each of which must be satisfied by any geological structure before it could be called a geosyncline. Among these ele­ ments are first, that geosynollnes are represented by masses of sediments in elongated belts of regional extent; second, that some of these masses become folded to varying degrees and generally are formed into folded mountain regions while some remain unfolded; and third, that sites of geosynollnes at that position from 1889-91. lie thus could be expected to have familiarity with Hall's concepts and to speak favor­ ably of them.