Argentine Republic.

Northland Age, Volume 1, Issue 17, 6 December 1904, Page 3

Argentine Republic.

Australasia’s Chief Competitor. (Continued from last issue.) “ I have described the ancient conditions of the Mississippi—the Gulf of Mexico as a great estuary and a deep shore-lino extending well into the heart of the American continent. The same conditions existed in tha contour-line of South America in the La Plata estuary. It extended fourteen hundred miles into the continent, and was four hundred miles wide, eleven times greater than the Empire State. It was the great Pampeun Sea, receiving the drainage not only of the present Parana and its tributaries, but of the groat Mudcria River, with its immense discharge of waters and sedimentary matters—the source of great alluvial formations, discharging into a sea two-thirds the size of the Mediterranean.

“ When, in the processes of nature, the great under-water plains of rich soil had been formed during the comparatively short period of less than one hundred thousand years, a dam was thrown across the Maderia by the rivers Grande and the Parapiti coming down from the Andes, and a deposit moro than 170 ft. deep occurred forming this dam, which produced the ancient Lake Mojos with an area of about 115,000 square miles, larger than that of the Great Lakes of North America combined, which is less than 94,000. The remarkable action of these rivers and the changes caused by it are graphically told by Colonel Church in his paper upon ‘Argentine Geography and the Ancient Pampean Sea.’ “ ‘ The Grand and the Parapiti entered the plain with a northern trend to contest with the great river of the north the possession of the gap. They struck it almost at a right angle, and slowly pushed their rival eastward over against the Chaco base of the “ Chiquitos Sierras.’' Here the final conflict must have taken place, as the Grande and Parapiti threw their dum across the outlet of the Mojos River, thus cutting off its exit into the ancient sea. No doubt the giant stream waged fierce war for thousands of years to keep its channel open, alternately sweeping away the barrier and again yielding to the ceaseless volume of sand and clay, which, visible to-day, confirms the victor}' of tho Grand and Parapiti. The dam having finally become permanent, the formation of the ancient Lake Mojos was assured. When it reached the level of the lip of Guajara-mirim its waters commenced to tumble over it and carve their way to the Amazon. Since then huge volumes of alluvium have poured down the northern slopes of the Bolivian Andes; the ancient lake is now almost loaded with material, but it is not yet obliterated. The; muddy silt which covers the surface of the basin is so fine that when an Indian goes up stream to the mountains his friends ask him to bring back a stone that they may see what it is like. Since forming the dam the Rio Grande has slowly been returning westward down the countersiope which its own alluvium creates.’

“During the proo ’we have described the ancient lake and the Pampean Sea were connected, and their relation was similar to that of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Traces of it are still observable, notably the great, low, flooded monads of Xarayas, on the Paraguay River, and the ancient delta of the Parana, including the Ybara Lagoon. The Selina Grande was also an arm of it —a great inland fiord. The sea, moreover must have covered large areas of the provinces of Paraguay, Corrientes, Entrc Rios, and Uruguay, and before the uplifting of the country it extended south-west to the Rive- H CLadi Leofri and the Colorado, lapping round the southern slope of tho Vent ana Range until the curved rim, concave to the north-east, which connects this with the Sierra de Cordova, was sufficiently elevated to completely cut off its south-western extension.

“ This range was high enough to lodge the glacial rocks coming from the Andes, one of which, at Tandil, is so poised and delicately balanced that the hand can rock it, but it cannot be dislodged. This range later prevented the entrance of the) destructive sea, protecting the great areai from its waves. i

“Then came another factor into the beneficent problem of the Creator. Instead of draining the waters from the great deposits under the Pampean Sea, as He did in North America, He lifted tho Andes higher, and with them their Atlantic slopes, until the latter were ultimately lifted to their present level, forming the ‘ Plains of the Pampas,’ the soil of which is 50ft. deep and of surpassing richness—an area square miles, pne-fiftli the United States and five •■^'Tesfik Britain, ihus by, r yclic changes in the NortheraJjCTS sphere, and by fluvial and sediip/mtai y action and siesmic changes yC\ the Southern Hemisphere, have been formed the great interior agricultural regions of the United States and Argentina.

“Let me now quote from Mr. Revy’s work on ‘Hydraulics of Great Rivers’ (Argentine rivers which he surveyed), whero he compares the rivers as we now find them with others well known. “ ‘ Great as the volume of the Parana River at its lowest summer level is, immense in comparison to the largest European river, and much larger than all the European rivers put together, it is hut a small fraction of its flood-volume during exceptional rises; and we can only wonder at the magnitude of the sources which for months, nay, for whole years together, pour forth inconceivable masses of sweet water, every drop of which has been raised by the power of the sun from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans above the top 3 of the highest mountains of Brazil and the Andes.’ ” (To be Continued.J