Page:The origin of continents and oceans - Wegener, tr. Skerl - 1924.djvu/69

Rh In both areas the chief movements may therefore have taken place in the interval between the Permian and the Lower Cretaceous.”

But this confirmation of the correctness of our views by the Cape Mountains and their extension in the Sierras of Buenos Aires, is by no means the only one, since we find numerous other proofs along the coasts of the Atlantic. The immense gneissic plateau of Africa, which has not been folded for a very long period of time, shows a striking similarity to that of Brazil. That this similarity is not only confined to broad characters is at once shown by the agreement of the igneous rocks and sediments, and also that of the ancient directions of folding on both sides of the ocean.

The igneous rocks were first briefly compared by H. A. Brouwer. He found no fewer than five parallels, namely, (1) the older granite, (2) the more recent granite, (3) alkaline rocks, (4) Jurassic volcanic rocks and intrusive dolerite, (5) kimberlite, alnöite, etc. In Brazil the older granite forms part of the so-called “Brazilian Complex,” and in Africa of the “Fundamental Complex” of South-West Africa, the Malmesbury System of the South of Cape Colony, and the “Swaziland System” of the Transvaal and Rhodesia. “The east coast of Brazil in the Serra do Mar, as well as the opposite west coast of South and Central Africa, consist for the greater part of these rocks, and they bestow a similar topographical character on the landscape in both continents.” The younger granite is intrusive into the Minas Series of Brazil in the provinces of Minas Geraes and Goyaz, where it yields auriferous veins, as well as in the province of São