.Fresh-Water Limestones in tJie Vicinity of Edinburgh, 387 



At East Calder, and to the south-west of Mid Calder, the lime- 

 stone which is there quarried appears, like that of Burdiehouse, to 

 have a fresh-water origin. Its strata have undergone great derange- 

 ment; and dip in various directions. In one of the quarries of East 

 Calder, where a good section is exposed, the lowest rock is said to be 

 sandstone, above which the following strata may be enumerated in 

 an ascending order : — A yellowish coarse limestone, 16 feet thick ;— 

 limestone, 43 feet thick, in which vegetable remains are contained, 

 such as are usually found in coal-fields, and, along with these, scales 

 of Saurian reptiles have been discovered ; — nine feet of a very bitu- 

 minous shale, part of which burns readily, mixed with ironstone ; — 

 shale (named Blaes) 16 feet ; — and, at the top of the series, an allu- 

 vial covering of clay, sand, &c. in which large boulders occur. 



Another site, where a fresh-water limestone crops out, is Kirkton, 

 situated a mile or more east of Bathgate. Very interesting pheno- 

 mena are here exhibited. The chemical action under which the de- 

 posit was elaborated, appears to have been so powerful as to have 

 caused such miscellaneous earthy matters as are found to enter into 

 the composition of an impure limestone, like that of Kirkton, to se- 

 parate into lamina?, and to assume a sort of striped disposition, 

 {ruhane, as it is also named), resembling what the author has occa- 

 sionally noticed in Auvergne, where tertiary strata have come into 

 contact with volcanic rocks The strata, for instance, of Kirkton 

 quarry are composed of distinct and alternating thin laminae, some of 

 them being of remarkable tenuity, variously consisting either of pure 

 calcareous matter, of translucent silex, resembling common flint, or 

 of a mixed argillaceous substance, which approaches to the character 

 of porcellanite, or of ferruginous, or even of bituminous layers ; the 

 surface of the two. latter description of laminae having often a sort of 

 blistered appearance, as if from the efl^ect of heat. Frequently also, 

 in the purer limestone, a globularly concretional structure is observa- 

 ble. The whole of the strata of Kirkton quarry shew a kind of warp- 

 ing or curvature, which is to be traced no less in small detached spe- 

 cimens of the rock than in the contortions or wavings which are ex- 

 hibited among the strata upon a large scale.* 



All these appearances, in connexion with the remarkable circum- 



• This limestone is extensively quarried for burning, and the Author has 

 understood, that, although very impure, it possesses qualities which particu- 

 larly recommend it to the use of the agriculturist. These are well deserving 

 farther investigation. 



