Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/718

Rh 688 E U E OPE rian formations to the south. In France they constitute, not only the great plateau already mentioned between the Paris and the Bordeaux basin, but also the massive penin sula of Brittany; and in eastern Germany they are the predominant rocks of the Erzgebirge, the Sudetic chain, the Bohmerwald, and the inclosed area. They again appear in isolated masses of considerable extent along the inner side of the Carpathians ; and in Turkey they reach from Novi-Bazar to the Black Sea, and from the south of the Balkans to the yEgean. It need hardly be added that they constitute the main mass of the Alps. The only country where the Silurian rocks have a large surface area is the Spanish peninsula, and there they are mainly confined to the western half. . They show a long line in the Ural range, stretch from Lake Ladoga along the south of the Gulf of Finland, rise above the Baltic in the islands of Dago, 6 sel, Gottland, and Gland, and appear sporadically throughout Scandinavia. Their very name comes from the fact that they are present in England. The other Palaeozoic formations Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian are widely developed. In Russia they stretch from the Baltic to the Oka, and from the White Sea to Voronezh ; they occupy a considerable area to the west of the lower Don, and are laid bare in the valley of the Dniester. In Western Europe they are best represented in the countries on each side of the lower Rhine, in the British Islands, and in northern Spain ; but they occur here and there in several other quarters. The Secondary formations are still more extensively distributed, the Triassic and Jurassic forming a large proportion of central Germany, a good part of France, much of England, and nearly the whole of the eastern por tion of European Russia. To the Cretaceous rocks alone belong a large part of the Paris basin, part of the lower Rhine basin, all the Danish or Cimbric peninsula, the great range of the Carpathians, the Balkan range, nearly the whole of Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Dalmatia, Servia, and a wide tract in the centre of southern Russia. The Secondary are in their turn exceeded b)- the Tertiary formations, which furnish the continent with some of its most valuable agricultural areas. The Miocene alone occupies a considerable part of the Paris basin, part of the basins of the lower Rhine and the lower Weser, the Lombardy plain, the Hungarian plain, Galicia, and Bessarabia, not to mention the valley of the Ebro and other extensive tracts in Spain. The Pliocene is best represented in the Caspian basin and the Ponto-Caspian depression, and along the Russian coast from the Danube to the Don. Minerals. Europe is richly furnished with mineral wealth, and the distribution is not so irregular as might appear from the actual state of the mining industry in the different countries. For the precious metals it is mainly indebted to other quarters of the globe, but it possesses abundant stores of iron ores, lead, copper, coal, and salt. Britain, Germany, Table shoiving Statistics of the Produce The years vary from 1871 to 1875, and and the countries of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy are especially distinguished by the value and variety of their deposits ; and Belgium and Sweden are largely indebted for their national prosperity, the one to its coal and the other to its iron. Spain naturally ranks high in this de partment, but the working of its mines is in a backward condition. In the lands of the Turkish empire matters are still worse, and Greece has comparatively little to show except the silver mines of Laurion. Roumania exports salt and petroleum, and Servia, since it became indepen dent, has begun again to work its iron and copper mines. In the Russian empire there are valuable coal-beds in the European territory, but the richest mineral area lies on the Asiatic side of the Urals. Platinum has hitherto been obtained nowhere in Europe except in the auriferous sands in the Russian government of Perm, which yield from 900 to 1000 kilogrammes a year. Gold, on the other hand, is widely diffused, but it occurs for the most part in such insignificant quantity as not to repay the expense of collecting. The total produc tion is about 6900 kilogrammes per annum, and by far the greater part is furnished by Russia. The gold mines of Spain were at one time famous, and there was a consider able population supported by gold-washing in Transylvania and Roumania. Silver is much more abundant than gold, but it is less extensively distributed. There are productive mines in the Erzgebirge, the Carpathians, the Urals, the Norwegian Dovre-Fjeld, and the Sierra Morena, as well as in Sardinia and England. The total yield is about 300,000 kilogrammes per annum. A considerable proportion is obtained during the working of the lead mines, which are of great importance in several countries, more especially in Spain, Germany, and Belgium, where the supply of lead exceeds the local demand. In Spain, which has a large export, the lead mines are mainly situated in Murcia, Almeria, and Jaen ; in France the most important are in the Puy-de-Dome ; in Britain in Durham and Northum berland ; in Austria in Carinthia, Bohemia, Tyrol, and Galicia ; and in Hungary at Neusohl and Nagybanya. In the German empire, Prussia, Saxony, Brunswick, nnd Anhalt are most productive; and in Italy, Sardinia, Tus cany, and Lombardy. In Portugal there are 15 mines; and in Turkey lead ore exists at Gallipoli, and at Olovo in Bosnia. The total amount of copper obtained throughout the continent is estimated at about 589,000 cwt. yearly. The only countries that can afford to export are Spain, Sweden, and Norway ; but Germany, Britain, Russia, Belgium, and Hungary are all great producers. In Britain the mines are mainly situated in Cornwall, Devon, and Chester; in Germany they are widely distributed, but the most productive are in the districts of Merseburg and Arns- berg in Prussia; in Hungary they chiefly occur in the Car pathian mountains. Of all the Spanish mines the best known are those of Rio Tinto and Tharsis in the province of several of tlie more important Metals. 1 in the case of Spain from 1869 to 1872. Gold. Silver. Quicksilver. Tin. Copper. Lead. Zinc. Antimony. Austria Belgium F ranee 13 59 kil. 410-5 kil. 327 kil. 393 o z. 450 kil. 4789 kil. 23,740 kil. 34,454 kil. 127,007 kil. 483,422 oz. 3,500 kil. 22,500 kil. 4,000 kil. L 3,350c-wt. 45 kil. 2, 7 40 cwt. 40,540 cwt. 1,843 cwt. 2, 000 cwt. 170, 000 cwt. 155 cwt. 3, 945 cwt. 51, 366 cwt. 4 23, 508 cwt. 5, 381, 242 cwt. 93, 900 cwt. 11, 7 86 cwt. 58,520 cwt. 149, 300 cwt. 12,410 cwt. 34,720 cwt. 146,516 cwt. 423,824 cwt, 2, 11 9, 030 cwt. ) (ores) 1,173,340 cwt. ( 363, 638 cwt. ( 2, 100,000 cwt. ( approx. ... 35, 528 cwt. 1,442,494 cwt. 163, 925 cwt. 9,138,046 cwt. 472, 280 cwt. 3, 754,860 cwt. (ores) 62, 555 cwt. 40,544 cwt. 1291 cwt. 2368 cwt. 361 cwt. Germany Great Britain. Ttaly... Kussia Spain Sweden and ) Norway.. 16 -86 kil. 1 Based largely on data furnished by Mr Robert Hunt, F.R.S.
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