into South America south of Buenos Aires, finally turning northwards to combine with the course of the Andes. The broken pieces of this fold are separated from one another to-day by a uniform ocean floor of more than 6,000 km. In our reconstruction, which allows of no adjustments, the pieces are brought exactly into contact; their distances from Cape San Roque and the Cameroons respectively are exactly the same.[1] This evidence of the accuracy of the combination is very striking, and reminds me of the use of a visiting-card torn into two for future recognition. The agreement is only slightly affected by the fact that on reaching the coast the range of the Cedar Berge branches to the north, away from the South African strike. This branch, which soon disappears, bears the character of a local deflection, which might well have been caused by a discontinuity at the place where the rift took place later. Such branches are seen to a still greater extent in the European folded mountain systems, both in those of the Carboniferous and in those of the Tertiary, and do not prevent us from combining them in one system and referring them to the same cause. Also, if the African folding has continued into later times, as appears from recent studies, no difference in age can be inferred; for we learn from Keidel: “In the Sierras, the glacial conglomerate, the latest formation, is folded; in the Cape Mountains the Ecca beds at the base of the Gondwana series (Karroo Beds) also show traces of the movements.
- ↑ This, of course, does not happen if these distances are measured from the 1000 m. depth-contour at Cape San Roque and the Cameroons respectively, as the opponents of the theory have done. The continents do not agree at all well with these depth-contours. It will be shown later that the old contours are much better preserved in the upper part of the continental margin, whilst the lower portions flow sideways. The junction, therefore, must as a rule be made at the upper margin of the steep slope to the deep sea.
