REVIEW. 11? 



^efrieto. 



A Sketch of the Geology of Lincolnshire. By W. J. Hakkison, F.G.S. 

 (in " White's Directory, History, and Gazetteer of Liucolnshire.") 

 Sheffield, 1881. 



The appearance of this "Sketch" will be welcome to a number of 

 students of the science of Geology who live in Lincoln or in the 

 bordering counties, or whose business or pleasure takes them thither ; 

 the more so since accurate and rehable information on the subject has 

 not hitherto been readily obtainable. The study of the geology of 

 Lincolnshire has been until quite recently more neglected than that of 

 any other district of equal size in England, and this work is probably 

 the first attempt to give a complete account of the whole of the rocks 

 of the county. Isolated papers have, indeed, been given by various 

 authors on a variety of s;iecial subjects connected with the geology of 

 the district, but for the i.iost part these lie buried in the volumes of 

 the journals of the Geological and other learned Societies. To Mr. 

 Harrison belongs the credit of having satisfactorily accomplished the 

 task of compiling from these hidden sources a connected and readable 

 account of the geological structure of the county. 



Commencing with a general introduction to the science of Geologj', 

 accompanied by a table of the order of the succession of the stratified 

 rocks, and followed by a list of the works that have hitherto been 

 published which bear upon the geology of Lincolnshire, the author 

 proceeds to describe the general structure of the district. The 

 question of the extension of the older rocks beneath Lincolnshire is 

 first considered, some clue as to which was recently furnished by the 

 unsuccessful boring for coal at South Scarle, between Newark and 

 Lincoln. Mr. Harrison rightly concludes that productive coal measures 

 do underlie the western half of the county, but at such great depths 

 (3,000ft. to 4,000ft.) that it will be difficult, if not impossible, ever to 

 work them profitably. The stratified rocks of Mesozoic age that show 

 at the surface, viz., the Keuper and Rhjetic, Lias and Oolite, Neoco- 

 mian and Cretaceous formations are then treated in detail, their 

 lithological and palaeoutological characters described, and their 

 geographical distribution indicated. The Pleistocene rocks are next 

 examined. These deposits are of considerable importance in Lincoln- 

 shire. They include the Fen Beds — accumulations of gravel, silt, and 

 peat, and buried forests, that occupy an area of 1,300 square mUes, 

 about half of which lie in the county of Lincoln. In conclusion, the 

 author has a few words to say on the evidence of pre-historic man in 

 Lincolnshire. 



Mr. Harrison has evidently derived considerable assistance from a 

 knowledge of the work of the officers of the Geological Survey in the 

 southern portion of the district. It is to be hoped that the hostile influ- 

 ences which are perpetually endeavuuriug to prematurely hasten thecom 



