Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

McCarthy: kerfs

887 views
Skip to first unread message

Marius Hancu

unread,
Nov 8, 2013, 6:44:00 PM11/8/13
to
Hello:

~~~
[Boy journeying across Texas, then in an irregular military company,
then in another, in Mexico. Rich in geological references, the book:-)]

They rode through regions of particolored stone upthrust in ragged kerfs
and shelves of traprock reared in faults and anticlines curved back
upon themselves and broken off like stumps of great stone treeboles and
stones the lightning had clove open, seeps exploding in steam in some
old storm. They rode past trapdykes of brown rock running down the
narrow chines of the ridges and onto the plain like the ruins of old
walls, such auguries everywhere of the hand of man before man was or
any living thing.

Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy
~~~

"kerfs": ?

"trapdykes": ?

Didn't find them.

Thanks.
--
Marius Hancu

Horace LaBadie

unread,
Nov 8, 2013, 7:25:48 PM11/8/13
to
In article <l5jt04$ivp$1...@speranza.aioe.org>,
A kerf is the cut made by a saw. It is the width of the teeth of the
saw. Thus, a sharp, narrow cut in the rock, as though made by a giant
saw.


> "trapdykes": ?

Googling comes up with an example in the Adirondacks.

<http://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/trapdike>

Marius Hancu

unread,
Nov 9, 2013, 9:48:18 PM11/9/13
to
Horace LaBadie wrote:
> In article <l5jt04$ivp$1...@speranza.aioe.org>,

>>
>> ~~~
>> [Boy journeying across Texas, then in an irregular military company,
>> then in another, in Mexico. Rich in geological references, the book:-)]
>>
>> They rode through regions of particolored stone upthrust in ragged kerfs
>> and shelves of traprock reared in faults and anticlines curved back
>> upon themselves and broken off like stumps of great stone treeboles and
>> stones the lightning had clove open, seeps exploding in steam in some
>> old storm. They rode past trapdykes of brown rock running down the
>> narrow chines of the ridges and onto the plain like the ruins of old
>> walls, such auguries everywhere of the hand of man before man was or
>> any living thing.
>>
>> Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy
>> ~~~
>>
>> "kerfs": ?
>
> A kerf is the cut made by a saw. It is the width of the teeth of the
> saw. Thus, a sharp, narrow cut in the rock, as though made by a giant
> saw.

Thanks.


>> "trapdykes": ?
>
> Googling comes up with an example in the Adirondacks.
>
> <http://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/trapdike>

Sorry, this isn't too clear in the OP context.

--
Marius Hancu

Mark Brader

unread,
Nov 10, 2013, 4:58:08 AM11/10/13
to
Marius Hancu quotes Cormac McCarthy:
>> They rode through regions of particolored stone upthrust in ragged kerfs
>> and shelves of traprock reared in faults and anticlines curved back
>> upon themselves and broken off like stumps of great stone treeboles and
>> stones the lightning had clove open, seeps exploding in steam in some
>> old storm...

Horace LaBadie explains:
> A kerf is the cut made by a saw. It is the width of the teeth of the
> saw. Thus, a sharp, narrow cut in the rock, as though made by a giant
> saw.

But note the word "upthrust" in the original, which doesn't go with a
cut or notch. I might guess that the meaning is that the particolored
stone forms an outcrop with straight sides, as if they had been cut by
a saw -- except that *that* doesn't go with the word "ragged".

I am left wondering if McCarthy actually knows what a kerf is, or if he's
just hoping the reader won't know.
--
Mark Brader "'You wanted it to WORK? That costs EXTRA!'
Toronto is probably the second-place security hole
m...@vex.net after simple carelessness." -- John Woods

My text in this article is in the public domain.

Peter Duncanson [BrE]

unread,
Nov 10, 2013, 6:32:30 AM11/10/13
to
A dike is "a sheet of rock that formed in a crack in a pre-existing rock
body".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dike_%28geology%29

The climbers' use of "trap dike" seems to be for a formation where the
rock of the dike has eroded faster than the surrounding rock to form a
substantial crevice.

This is a trap dike:
http://images.everytrail.com/pics/fullsize/2525757-Colden_With_L.G._Outing_Club_10-14-96_26.jpg

from:
http://www.everytrail.com/guide/mt-colden-via-the-trapdike


--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

CDB

unread,
Nov 10, 2013, 6:45:40 AM11/10/13
to
On 09/11/2013 9:48 PM, Marius Hancu wrote:
> Horace LaBadie wrote:
[>> Marius:]

>>> [Boy journeying across Texas, then in an irregular military
>>> company, then in another, in Mexico. Rich in geological
>>> references, the book:-)]

>>> They rode through regions of particolored stone upthrust in
>>> ragged kerfs and shelves of traprock reared in faults and
>>> anticlines curved back upon themselves and broken off like stumps
>>> of great stone treeboles and stones the lightning had clove
>>> open, seeps exploding in steam in some old storm. They rode past
>>> trapdykes of brown rock running down the narrow chines of the
>>> ridges and onto the plain like the ruins of old walls, such
>>> auguries everywhere of the hand of man before man was or any
>>> living thing.
>>>
>>> Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy ~~~

>>> "trapdykes": ?

>> Googling comes up with an example in the Adirondacks.

>> <http://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/trapdike>

> Sorry, this isn't too clear in the OP context.

IANA geologist, but this definition of "traprock" might help, from
OneLook's Collins English Dictionary: "any fine-grained often columnar
dark igneous rock, esp basalt". The etymology is given as "C18: from
Swedish trappa stair (from its steplike formation)".

That paints a picture for me, of dark walls of upthrust igneous rock,
perhaps with the surrounding rock eroded away. Do you need anything
more precise?



Peter Duncanson [BrE]

unread,
Nov 10, 2013, 6:51:19 AM11/10/13
to
Eureka!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_rock

Trap rock, also known as either trapp or trap, is any dark-colored,
fine-grained, nongranitic intrusive or extrusive igneous rock. Types
of trap rock include basalt, peridotite, diabase, and fine-grained
gabbro.

That just leaves the question of whether the eroded rock in the crevice
is trap rock or whether a trap dike is a dike in trap rock.

My guess at the moment is the latter.

The trap rock I'm familiar with[1] is the formation used to illustrate
the Wikip article, the Giant's Causeway.

[1] I knew that the rock of the Causeway is basalt but I didn't know
that basalt is a type of trap rock.

Mike L

unread,
Nov 10, 2013, 6:30:51 PM11/10/13
to
Peter's mentioned the Giant's Causeway family of outcrops; but perhaps
a better idea of what the rocks in the passage look like may come from
the famous Deccan Traps. See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deccan_traps

Actually, I should have looked for American examples, but it's too
late now.

--
Mike.

Marius Hancu

unread,
Dec 3, 2013, 7:21:49 AM12/3/13
to
I am checking the "escapees" in my annotated version and this has been one of the toughest.

Great find.

Thanks, everyone.
--
Marius Hancu
0 new messages