Hostname: page-component-6898cfcb55-zkb6p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-11T11:58:46.809Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

VII.—The Gavarnie Overthrust, and other Problems in Pyrenean Geology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

E. E. L. Dixon
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In view of the interest which charriages and extensive overthrusts of low inclination are exciting in various parts of the world, an interest which has steadily increased since Nicol first put forward his explanation of the anomalous position of the Moine gneisses, it may be worth while to place before readers of the Geological Magazine a brief account of a remarkable structure in the Pyrenees, which has been noticed by various geologists, but only recently explained, by Bresson, as another example of overthrusting, and named by him the “nappe de recouvrement de Gèdre-Gavarnie,” after two villages in the neighbourhood. I have the less hesitation in doing this because the phenomena, considering their importance and their setting amidst the magnificent scenery of the lofty central parts of the range, appear to have received less attention from English geologists than they deserve. For these reasons also, other questions in Pyrenean geology are afterwards discussed in the light of some recent observations.

Information

Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 5 , Issue 8 , August 1908, pp. 359 - 373
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1908

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

page 360 note 1 “Etudes sur les formations anciennes des Hautes- et Basses-Pyrénées”: Bull. Carte Géol. France, tome xiv (1903), No. 93, pp. 238–68, pl. iv, maps.Google Scholar

page 360 note 2 Mr. Stuart-Menteath's discoveries in this part of the Pyrenees have provided a starting-point for much of the more recent work; an idea of the development of his own views during the controversy over the Gavarnie rocks may best be obtained by referring to his book on “Pyrenean Geology” (parts 1–8, London, 1903–7), especially to the following pages:—Pt. 3, pp. 14–15; pt. 4, p. 26; pt. 5, pp. 5–7, 17; pt. 6, pp. 7, 12, 15–17, 26, 29, 30; pts. 7 and 8, pp. 2, 25–26. In the same work he deals also with the general question of charriages on lines to which we shall have occasion to refer later. He has increased my indebtedness to him by checking the statements of fact made in this paper, and by adding an appendix.

page 360 note 3 “Géologie des Pyrénées Françaises”: Mém. Carte Géol. France, fasc. ii (1904).Google Scholar

page 362 note 1 As will be seen later, Carez would probably regard one or both of these junctions as overthrusts.

page 362 note 2 Carte Gé. Dét. 251, feuille de Luz, 1906.

page 365 note 1 “Pyrenean Geology,” pt. 6 (1906), p. 26.

page 367 note 1 Bresson, op. cit., fig. 75.

page 368 note 1 Stuart-Menteath, P. W.: “Sur les Méthodes de la Nouvelle Géologie,” 1907Google Scholar; “La Nouvelle Géologie à Biarritz” (Extrait de ‘Biarritz-Association’), pts. 1 and 2, (1907 and 1908). Termier, P., “Sur la Structure Géologique des Pyrénées occidentales,” C.R. Ac. Sc., tome cxli (1905), p. 966Google Scholar. Carez, L., “Géologie des Pyrénées françaises,” Mém. Carte Géol. Fr., fasc. i–iv (1903—1906).Google Scholar

page 368 note 2 Op. cit., p. 966.

page 368 note 3 Op. cit., fasc. ii (feuilles de Tarbes et de luz) (1904), p. 1156.