250 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



The Auzits system of Bergeron. — The Auzits system is exposed in the 

 southeast corner of the basin and passes under the Campagnac at a little 

 way north from Eiou Vieux. Only the highest beds are shown farther 

 north along the eastern side, so that its full extent cannot be determined. 

 The faults bounding the basin at the east bring the newer systems against 

 the old rocks. The earliest deposits of the system are not shown along 

 the road followed by the writer, as they are within the space inclosed by 

 the Soulier outcrop. The oldest deposit assigned to this system is near 

 Antaignargues, where a mica-schist breccia, composed of great blocks with 

 angles barely rounded, rests on the mica schist of the region. Above this 

 and passing over to the mica schist is a conglomerate, which has been fol- 

 lowed for several kilometers; its fragments are smaller and much more 

 rounded, though still breccia-like; they are mica schist, microgranulite 

 and white quartz. This is succeeded by a conglomerate rich in micro- 

 granulite at the west, but in granulitized mica schist at the east. The 

 overljdng rock is a coarse sandstone of more or less greenish tint, becom- 

 ing yellowish eastward. This contains the Soulier coal bed. The coarse 

 rocks underlying that coal bed have an extreme thickness of 200 meters, 

 as determined by A. Jardel. 



In going northwestward from Auzits, one finds only indefinite expo- 

 sures along the road, and those are mostly sandstone. The I'Estang coal 

 beds are reached in somewhat more than a half-mile from the village. 

 Little is known respecting them beyond the fact that a company formed 

 for their exploitation soon came to grief, but evidently coal is present in 

 small quantity. The incomplete exposures show only some thin streaks 

 of coal associated with shale, and not coarse sandstone, dipping northeast- 

 wardly at approximate!}' 30 degrees. A similar sandstone is exposed on 

 the opposite side of the stream. These beds are above the middle of the 

 Auzits system. 



Less than half a mile beyond the I'Estang property, one reaches an 

 abandoned coal opening at about 500 feet south from the road. Expo- 

 sures along the road are widely disconnected, and one passing along can- 

 not determine the relations; but loose pebbles on the hillsides at several 

 places indicate the existence of a conglomerate, which is well marked at 

 the opening, and there is clearly an underlying sandstone which is asso- 

 ciated with the coal bed. The opening is on the Soulier bed, the first 

 well-defined coal deposit in the basin. The coal was not seen, as the 

 opening is closed by mud and water, but the dip is northward at about 30 

 degrees. On another tributary stream, possibly half a mile farther, there 

 was at one time an extensive group of openings from which a large quan- 

 tity of coal was taken out. The works seem to have been abandoned com- 



