JEAN DE CHARPENTIER Swiss
You argue for widespread glaciation within the Alps (as opposed to
floods of various kinds) to explain deposits and other features. Like
Diluvialists, however, you make use Elie de Beaumont's theory of
rapid uplift ("soulevement") – but, in your case, to generate
sufficient cold to extend the glaciers.
On GoogleEarth Tour pay particular attention to:
- Pointe d’Ornex
- Pierre des Marmettes
- Pierre-a-Bot
- Simplon
Familiarize yourself with the following Episodes:
- An Incredible Hypothesis
- "A Lost Epoque" Switzerland
Read and summarize:
- "Account of one of the most important results of the Investigations of M. Venetz,
regarding the Present and Earlier Condition of the Glaciers of the Canton Vallais"
- :Some conjectures regarding the great revolutions which have so changed the
surface of Switzerland" (p.34-36)
Be aware:
- You use Elie de Beaumont's last epoch of elevation as a cause of glaciations.
However, Lyell is critical of flood theories and theories of sudden, rapid uplift of
mountains, and his own observations and those of Darwin support more gradual,
episodic uplift. Further, there already exist observations of erratics and striations
from North America, rendering your mechanism for glaciations too localized, and
shortly Renoir will have found evidence in the Jura Mountains for exactly the
features you describe in the Alps (see Episode "Vosges Glaciations). You are
venerable on the matter of cause.
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