Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !

Updated: June 28, 2025


Of these lines, there are two considerably higher than the others; namely, on the Chilian side, the Peuquenes ridge, which, where the road crosses it, is 13,210 feet above the sea; and the Portillo ridge, on the Mendoza side, which is 14,305 feet.

The altitude of the Peuquenes Range, considering its not great antiquity, is very remarkable; many of the fossils were embedded at the height of 13,210 feet, and the same beds are prolonged up to at least from fourteen to fifteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. The valley of Tenuyan, separating the Peuquenes and Portillo lines, is, as estimated by Dr.

Considering this resemblance, and that the fossils from the Puente del Inca at the base of the gypseous formation, and throughout the greater part of its entire thickness on the Peuquenes range, indicate the Neocomian period, that is, the dawn of the cretaceous system, or, as some have believed, a passage between this latter and the oolitic series I conclude that probably the gypseous and associated beds in all the sections hitherto described, belong to the same great formation, which I have denominated cretaceo-oolitic.

Two of these shells, namely, the Gryphaea and Trigonia, appear to be identical with species collected by Meyen and myself on the Peuquenes range; and in the opinion of Von Buch and M. d'Orbigny, the two formations belong to the same age.

Of these lines, there are two considerably higher than the others; namely, on the Chilian side, the Peuquenes ridge, which, where the road crosses it, is 13,210 feet above the sea; and the Portillo ridge, on the Mendoza side, which is 14,305 feet.

Having crossed the Peuquenes, we descended into a mountainous country, intermediate between the two main ranges, and then took up our quarters for the night. We were now in the republic of Mendoza. The elevation was probably not under 11,000 feet, and the vegetation in consequence exceedingly scanty.

About noon we began the tedious ascent of the Peuquenes ridge, and then for the first time experienced some little difficulty in our respiration. The mules would halt every fifty yards, and after resting for a few seconds the poor willing animals started of their own accord again.

I will make only one other geological remark: although the Portillo chain is here higher than the Peuquenes, the waters, draining the intermediate valleys, have burst through it. The same fact, on a grander scale, has been remarked in the eastern and loftiest line of the Bolivian Cordillera, through which the rivers pass: analogous facts have also been observed in other quarters of the world.

The wind on the crest of the Peuquenes, as just remarked, is generally impetuous and very cold: it is said to blow steadily from the westward or Pacific side. Dr. Gillies in "Journal of Natural and Geographical Science" August 1830. The Peak of Teneriffe, with a less elevation, and situated in latitude 28 degrees, in like manner falls within an upper return stream.

Gypsum in a nearly pure state, about three hundred feet in thickness: this bed, in its concretions of anhydrite and layers of small blackish crystals of carbonate of lime, exactly resembles the great gypseous beds in the Peuquenes range. 22nd. Pale purple and reddish sandstone, as in bed 20: about three hundred feet in thickness. 23rd.

Word Of The Day

221-224

Others Looking