56. The cracks and crevices and joint planes which intersect all rocks
in a greater or less degree, are not unfrequently filled with
subsequently introduced mineral matter, forming what are termed _veins_.
This introduced matter may either be harder or less durable than the
rock itself; in the former case, the veins will project from the surface
of the stone, where that has been subjected to the weathering action of
the atmosphere; in the latter case, the veins, under like circumstances,
are often partially emptied of their mineral matter. Not unfrequently,
however, the more or less irregularly ramifying, non-metalliferous veins
appear as if they had segregated from the body of the rock in which they
occur, as in the case of the quartz veins in granite. Besides these
irregular veins, the rocks of certain districts are traversed in one or
more determinate directions by fissures, extending from the surface down
to unknown depths. These great fissures are often in like manner filled
with mineral matter. The minerals are usually arranged in bands or
layers which run parallel to the walls of the vein. Quartz, fluor-spar,
barytes, calcite, &c. are among the commonest vein-minerals, and with
these are frequently associated ores of various metals. A vein may vary
in width from less than an inch up to many yards, and the arrangement of
its contents is also subject to much variation. Instead of parallel
layers of spars and ores, frequently a confused mass of clay and broken
rocks, which are often cemented together with sparry matter, chokes up
the vein. The ore in a vein may occur in one or more ribs, which often
vary in thickness from a mere line up to masses several yards in width.
Sometimes the rocks are dislocated along the line of fissure occupied by
a great vein; at other times no dislocation can be observed. Mineral
veins, however, do not necessarily occupy dislocation fissures. They
often occur in cavities which have been formed by the erosive action of
acidulated water, in the way described in pars. 59, 60, and 61. This is
frequently the case in calcareous strata. Such veins usually coincide
more or less with the bedding of the rocks, but in the case of thick
limestones they not unfrequently cut across the bedding in a vertical or
nearly vertical direction, forming what are termed _pipe-veins_.