'296 Geological Society. 



and belemnites), and together with it rises into peaks of considerable 

 height on the extreme border of the chain : and there is no conglo- 

 merate or other mechanical degradation of the older rocks, to mark 

 the junction of the secondary and tertiary systems. Some notion 

 may be formed of the enormous thickness of these deposits from the 

 statement, that a transverse section (from Asolo to Possagno) through 

 beds of only a part of this series, inclined at various angles from 25° 

 to 40° and exhibiting no invertions of dip, is not less than five miles 

 in length. One important consequence seems to follow inevitably 

 from these details: ihe last epoch of elevation of the neighbouring 

 mountains must have commmenced during a period posterior to the 

 tertiary formations described in this memoir. 



In three Papers, recently presented by Mr. Murchison and myself 

 to this Society, we have endeavoured to establish a series of similar 

 conclusions, by induction from the phsenomena observed on the flanks 

 of the Salzburg and Bavarian Alps. I will not give you any analy- 

 sis of details, which have so lately been the subject of discussion in 

 this room. 1 may, however, briefly recall your attention to the re- 

 sults, which we consider best established and of most importance. 

 We have shown that several transverse sections from the central axis 

 of the Alps to the basin of the Upper Danube would present a suc- 

 cession of phsenomena in very near accordance with those of other 

 transverse sections from the same axis to the tertiary formations at 

 the other bise of the chain in the north of Italy. On both sides of 

 this chain, after passing over the great secondary calcareous zones, 

 we meet with the lower tertiary strata, — always highly inclined, some- 

 times vertical, and occasionally conformable to the beds of the older 

 system. We contend tliat this remarkable symmetry confirms the 

 hypothesis of a recent elevation of the Eastern Alps ; and makes it 

 probable, independently of arguments derived from organic remains, 

 that the tertiary deposits of the Sub-Apennine regions and of the 

 basin of the Upper Danube belong to one period of formation. 



Thick masses of strata full of organic remains, and often occurring 

 at low levels near the northern foot of the chain, are sometimes also 

 found (e. g. in the valley of Gosau) in unconformable positions, 

 caught up among the serrated peaks of the Alps, four or five thousand 

 feet above the level of the sea. Such a disjunction of corresponding 

 strata (and I may observe that the argument bears not upon their 

 exact age), is inexplicable on any hypothesis which rejects the theory 

 of elevation. We have concluderl, chiefly on zoological evidence, 

 that the unconformable beds of Gosau are more recent than the chalk. 

 We believe that they contain neither ammonites nor belemnites, nor 

 any other known species of secondary fossils ; and on the whole we 

 regard them as a term of that unknown series of formations which 

 may hereafter close up the chasm between the lowest beds of the Paris 

 basin and the chalk. 



We have pointed out the limits of the old chain of the Salzburg 

 and Bavarian Alps, and traced the direction of its valleys anterior 

 to the tertiary epoch : and we have described a great deposit of lig- 

 nite far up the valley of the inn, containing freshwater and marine 



shells. 



