(Nearly opposite to this escarpment, there is another corresponding one, with the strata dipping not to the exactly opposite point, or S.W., but to S.S.W.: consequently the two escarpments trend towards each other, and some miles southward they become actually united: this is a form of elevation which I have not elsewhere seen.), the clay-slate formation is seen to be covered by--(1st) a purple, claystone porphyry resting unconformably in some parts on the solid slate, and in others on a thick fragmentary mass;(2nd), a conformable stratum of compact blackish rock, having a spheroidal structure, full of minute acicular crystals of glassy feldspar, with red spots of oxide of iron; (3rd), a great stratum of purplish-red claystone porphyry, abounding with crystals of opaque feldspar, and laminated with thin, parallel, often short, layers, and likewise with great irregular patches of white, earthy, semi-crystalline feldspar; this rock (which Inoticed in other neighbouring places) perfectly resembles a curious variety described at Port Desire, and occasionally occurs in the great porphyritic conglomerate formation of Chile; (4th), a thin stratum of greenish white, indurated tuff, fusible and containing broken crystals and particles of porphyries; (5th), a grand mass, imperfectly columnar and divided into three parallel and closely joined strata, of cream-coloured claystone porphyry; (6th), a thick stratum of lilac-coloured porphyry, which I could see was capped by another bed of the cream-coloured variety; I was unable to examine the still higher parts of the escarpment.These conformably stratified porphyries, though none are either vesicular are amygdaloidal, have evidently flowed as submarine lavas: some of them are separated from each other by seams of indurated tuff, which, however, are quite insignificant in thickness compared with the porphyries.This whole pile resembles, but not very closely, some of the less brecciated parts of the great porphyritic conglomerate formation of Chile; but it does not probably belong to the same age, as the porphyries here rest unconformably on the altered feldspathic clay-slate, whereas the porphyritic conglomerate formation alternates with and rests conformably on it.These porphyries, moreover, with the exception of the one blackish stratum, and of the one indurated, white tufaceous bed, differ from the beds composing the Uspallata range in the line of the Villa Vicencio Pass.
I will now give, first, a sketch of the structure of the range, as represented in the section, and will then describe its composition and interesting history.At its western foot, a hillock [N] is seen to rise out of the plain, with its strata dipping at 70 degrees to the west, fronted by strata [O] inclined at 45 degrees to the east, thus forming a little north and south anticlinal axis.Some other little hillocks of similar composition, with their strata highly inclined, range N.E.and S.W., obliquely to the main Uspallata line.The cause of these dislocations, which, though on a small scale, have been violent and complicated, is seen to lie in hummocks of lilac, purple and red porphyries, which have been injected in a liquified state through and into the underlying clay-slate formation.Several dykes were exposed here, but in no other part, that Isaw of this range.As the strata consist of black, white, greenish and brown-coloured rocks, and as the intrusive porphyries are so brightly tinted, a most extraordinary view was presented, like a coloured geological drawing.On the gently inclined main western slope [PP], above the little anticlinal ridges just mentioned, the strata dip at an average angle of 25degrees to the west; the inclination in some places being only 19 degrees, in some few others as much as 45 degrees.The masses having these different inclinations, are separated from each other by parallel vertical faults [as represented at Pa], often giving rise to separate, parallel, uniclinal ridges.The summit of the main range is broad and undulatory, with the stratification undulatory and irregular: in a few places granitic and porphyritic masses [Q] protrude, which, from the small effect they have locally produced in deranging the strata, probably form the upper points of a regular, great underlying dome.These denuded granitic points, Iestimated at about nine thousand feet in height above the sea.On the eastern slope, the strata in the upper part are regularly inclined at about 25 degrees to the east, so that the summit of this chain, neglecting small irregularities, forms a broad anticlinal axis.Lower down, however, near Los Hornillos [R], there is a well-marked synclinal axis, beyond which the strata are inclined at nearly the same angle, namely from 20 to 30 degrees, inwards or westward.Owing to the amount of denudation which this chain has suffered, the outline of the gently inclined eastern flank scarcely offers the slightest indication of this synclinal axis.The stratified beds, which we have hitherto followed across the range, a little further down are seen to lie, I believe unconformably, on a broad mountainous band of clay-slate and grauwacke.The strata and laminae of this latter formation, on the extreme eastern flank, are generally nearly vertical; further inwards they become inclined from 45 to 80 degrees to the west: near Villa Vicencio [S]
there is apparently an anticlinal axis, but the structure of this outer part of the clay-slate formation is so obscure, that I have not marked the planes of stratification in the section.On the margin of the Pampas, some low, much dislocated spurs of this same formation, project in a north-easterly line, in the same oblique manner as do the ridges on the western foot, and as is so frequently the case with those at the base of the main Cordillera.
