Abstract
II.
WE will now consider the structure of the actual nitrate beds. As before mentioned, there is no nitrate under the flat Pampa; but exactly where the first slopes of the coast range spring out of the plain, there nitrate is found at a small but variable distance below the surface. The width of the belt varies with the slope of the hill, being greatest where the slope is least, and the vertical height of the highest part of the bed appears to vary from 100 to 120 feet above the plain. It is, however, most important to notice that the beds of nitrate follow the slope of the Pampa, and not a level line. For instance, the northern extremity of the Pampa is some hundreds of feet higher than the southern portion, but the nitrate beds follow the spring of the hill from the plain, throughout their whole extent.
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ABERCROMBY, R. Nitrate of Soda, and the Nitrate Country.1. Nature 40, 308–310 (1889). https://doi.org/10.1038/040308b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/040308b0