258 John Hogg, Esq., on the Geography and 



On the relative ages of the rocks of the Sinaic Peninsula, 

 Captain Newbold remarks, — 



" It is evident that the granite must be of more recent origin 

 than the hypogene schists, the strata of which he observed in 

 the vicinity of (the present) Mount Sinai, to have undergone 

 great disturbance, thrown on their edges, and altered by it. The 

 porphyries are more recent than the granite which they pene- 

 trate, and the greenstone penetrates both the porphyries and the 

 granite. Next in order of superposition to the hypogene schists 

 comes the (older) sandstone (of the secondary series) which rests on 

 them in slightly inclined and unconfoi'mable strata ; it marks the era 

 of a subsequent period of disturbance, but less violent, and was de- 

 posited while the granite peaks either formed inequalities in the 

 ocean's bed, or appeared as small island points just above its surface, 

 with which it rose to the heights we now see it." 



" The (^secondary) limestone, from its usually undisturbed hori- 

 zontal stratification, appears to have been elevated slowly, without 

 any violent paroxysms of plutonic or volcanic energy, like the more 

 recent formations. Its fossils have not been yet scientifically de- 

 scribed, but in general character they resemble those of the Egyptian 

 (secondary) limestones. The mineral character of the rock, too, is 

 much the same." 



In the (older or secondary) sandstone the same author says, 

 he " could discover no fossils to afford any indication of its 

 aye." This sandstone is what Herr Russegger names " Sinai 

 sandstein" with its different marls, and he considers it to 

 pertain to the lorver cretaceous series (Untere Kreide-Reihe) ; 

 but I think it likely, on a further examination, some of it 

 may prove to be of a more ancient period, perhaps of the 

 palceozoic epoch, like the old red sandstone formation. Indeed, 

 the sandstone from Wadi Mukatteb is described by M. de 

 Roziere (" Descrip. de I'Egypte") as being " Psammite" free- 

 stone, consisting of quartz grains mixed with mica. So also, 

 with regard to the " Kalkstein," or limestone, which Russeg- 

 ger refers to the " Kreide-Reihe," or cretaceous strata, it is 

 not improbable that some may be discovered, from a future 

 investigation of lis fossils, to belong to the Oolitic, or an older 

 series. This last geologist* mentions some of the specimens 

 of this limestone from Gebel Hamam, as compact chalk with 



* Reisen in Europa, Asien, und Afrika, von Joseph Russegger, p. 285, 12th 

 Part. Stuttgart, 1842. 



