44 [February, 



RECENT GEOLOGICAL WORK IN THE COUNTY OF 



WATERFORD. 



A Popular Sketch of the Ceolog^y of County Waterford. Bv 



F. R. CowPER Reed, M.A., F.G.S. Fabb and Tyler, Cambridge, 



1S97. 

 The Red Rocks near Bunmahon on the coast of County 



Waterford. Bv F. R. Cowper Reed, M.A., F.G.S. Quari. 



loiiriial Geo/. Soi. London^ May, 1897. 

 The Fauna of the Ordovlcian Beds near Tramore. By F. R. 



Cowper Reed, M.A., F.G.S. Geol. Mag., November, 1897. 



Of the first of these papers the Author tells us in his preface, that it 

 " was not written in the first instance for publication, but is now printed 

 by request," and " that his aim has been to present a concise and 



popular account of the geology of the district with a view of 



stimulating local interest in the science." On reading the paper one 

 feels bound to say that Mr. Reed has succeeded in the first part of his 

 object, and, that it is only necessary to bring it under the notice of 

 students of geology in the district, to make the second portion an 

 accomplished fact. Technical terms are avoided as far as possible, and 

 those who wish to go deeper into the subject are referred to standard 

 works, dealing in detail with special points only touched on in this 

 paper. In the introduction the most prominent physical features of the 

 county are sketched out. The western portion is mountainous, as 

 compared with the eastern, which forms a comparatively slightly elevated 

 plain ; and Carboniferous and Old Red Sandstone rocks form the valleys 

 and hills respectively, while in the eastern portion Ordovician rocks are 

 principally developed. Attention is drawn to the gaps in the regular 

 succession of the geological formations of the county. The Silurian 

 period is not represented, and all the formations between the Carboni- 

 ferous and Glacial periods are missing in this district. A detailed 

 account is next given of the Ordovician rocks of this area, and the 

 conditions prevailing at the time of their deposition. The oldest rocks 

 of this series belong to the Llandeilo epoch, when great volcanic 

 activity prevailed, resulting in the formation of a chain of islands 

 running in a line north-east and south-west. From vents in these 

 islands lava and ashes were deposited in the neighbouring sea, and 

 during quiet intervals, mud brought down from the land buried the 

 invertebrate organisms which then existed, and whose remains we now 

 extract from the rocks as fossils. At the close of this period the land 

 was again uplifted by the earth-movements which produced the 

 " Caledonian " system of folds, and a large island was formed, which 

 retnained above the sea till upper Old Red Sandstone times. The 

 depression which followed resulted in the formation of a huge brackish- 

 Water lake, the actual shore-line of which may still be traced at 



