Darwin the Travelor - Geological Observations on South America

Geological observations on South America.

Charles Darwin was on a voyage of the beagle, where at first he was describing the structure and the distribution of coral reefs. Later on in his journey he describes the Volcanic Islands that he has visited throughout his expedition. The expedition that Charles Darwin was on let him to go and see the Geology of Cape of Good Hope in Australia, and last but not least the treats of South America.

There were lots of different people on the board of the ship, and Charles Darwin was still in the hope that even more people would follow later on. Charles Darwin even wrote down the histories of the voyage and the various countries he visited down in his journal, as well as his appreciation towards Captain FitzRoy who has given him the opportunity to travel with him.

In the first chapter they were traveling to the eastern coast of South America in which he wrote down great detail of what he has seen and the geology of the land. The landscape is written down in great detail and the flow of the currents as well. It is interesting to see how observant this man was in the surroundings that he discovered, but he did not only use his observations, he listened to the people that traveled with him also.

Throughout chapter two he was writing down the elevation of the area and sketches of the landmarks. The shells that he found on his journey were placed back to their original positions so that in turn he could see how the pacific was flowing. The continent was narrower in the southern parts of Patagonia he made an estimated guess that they came from another elevated area of the southern parts of the western coast.

After he was done visiting the southern coast of South America he went on to the plains and valleys of Chile. Where he had Mr. Reeks analyze some of the salt that he found in the area near Rio Negro. Mr. Reeks told him then that it is entirely composed of chloride sodium with some exceptions. Due to this salt being so pure it is not a good preserver of meats, but it will work well for cheese. He was being opposed by M. d'Orbigny, but he still made his estimated guess on where the salt was actually coming from.

The Pampas were his next stop in the journal, in which he discovered great bones. There were different kinds of fossils which he did not know anything off. Darwin and others made estimates on where they could have come from or from what they derived off. Today I would guess that he actually found some dinosaur bones.

After he finished looking at the bones in Pampas the whole crew went on to the formations of Patagonia and Chile. He figured out that when the sea is not moving it is not that good for the surroundings. He revealed that the depth of the water and its sediments that were accumulating were working perfectly for its surroundings and if the depth is too great the existence of molluscous animals is not given.