forming theSouthernFlank oftheTyroleseAlps near Bassano. 405 



pact and thick beds, from which variegated marbles are ex- 

 tracted. During my short examination I could detect no or- 

 ganic remains in the scaglia of this district ; in which respect, 

 as well as in mineralogical structure, it seemed to be quite 

 identical with the calcareous rock of the Euganean Hills*. 



A perfect conformity of dip and bearing of the tertiary to 

 the secondary or ammonite deposits is exhibited in the pre- 

 ceding section; but their junction, as has been stated, is obscured 

 by the denudation in the valley of Urgana, and all along the 

 base of the Alps between Possagno and Bassano it is concealed 

 by vast accumulations of alluvial detritus. 



II. The river Brenta, however, in issuing from the Tyrol, 

 cuts transversely through all the deposits from the oolitic 

 series to the most recent, and exposes a most unequivocal 

 junction between the secondary and tertiary rocks, which has 

 not yet, as far as I am aware, been noticed by any geologist. 

 I will describe this section like the former in a descending 

 order. (See Section, fig. 2.) 



The youngest beds at Bassano consist of conglomerates, with 

 subordinate and irregular layers of yellow sand, the whole 

 dipping gently away to the plain from the low hillocks on 

 which that town is situated. A little above the bridge the 

 conglomerate forms cliffs on both banks of the river, from 

 fifteen to twenty feet in height, dipping 20° to 25° S.S.E. 

 Ascending the Brenta, and thus approaching the Alps, the 

 lower beds of conglomerate become more highly inclined; and 

 thinning out as at Asolo, they finally pass into yellow sand- 

 stone and calciferous grit. The sandstone is micaceous, con- 

 tains in certain parts many green grains, and hydrate of iron, 

 and the characteristic fossils were Pectens, and other bivalve 

 shells, with Echini, &c. After this the inclination of the strata 

 increases rapidly; and previous to reaching the village of St. 

 Eusebio, the dip already amounts to 40° S.S.E. Green sand- 

 stone and blue marl succeed to the above ; the surfaces of the 

 more indurated beds being dotted with nummulites, and the 

 marls full of shells similar to those described between Castel 

 Cucco and Possagno. These are most instructively exhibited 

 on the right bank near the village of Sarzon, where the stony 

 beds having gradually increased their inclination to angles 

 from 70° to 80°, lun out like so many walls into the cliannel 

 of the Brenta ; whilst some of the intermediate marls being 



* I am informed by the Marchesc Paroliiii, that in other parts of this 

 ncighbourliood the same rock docs contain ammonites, belemnites, &c. : 

 for this we have also the authority of Kortis, Marasciiini, Professor Catiiilo, 

 and Dr. Poihni, so that the scaglia may be considered the e(juivalcnt of the 

 chalk, a place already assigned to it by Prof. Hucklami. 



washed 



