84 Mr. Weaver's Geological Remarks. -  [Avue. 
where the weissliegende, or new conglomerate, is in immediate 
contact with the transition country, reposing unconformably on 
vertical strata of clayslate. The belt, thus described, follows in 
general in its inclination the declivity of surface presented by the 
subjacent transition tract, and hence in its line of apposition to 
that tract, it is sometimes conformable, sometimes unconforma- 
ble, to the stratification of the latter, the strata in their course 
dipping successively to the north, east, and south, and at angles 
varying from 12° to 50°. 
The far greater part of this belt consists of the old red sand- 
stone, being connected with coal districts at both its extremities ; 
on the NW. with a coal field about three miles long, extending 
from the vicinity of Cpperode eastward toward Meisdorf, and 
on the SW. with a field which, commencing in the territory of 
Stollberg, and ranging past Neustadt to the NW. of ihlefeld, 
extends about 10 or 12 miles in length. 
The exposed breadth of the old red sandstone is in most parts 
inconsiderable, being soon concealed by the succeeding floetz 
formations; but in the south-eastern quarter, where it throws 
out an arm toward Hornburg on the SH, a distance of about 10 
or 12 miles, it acquires in its widest part a breadth of three or 
four miles, forming a plateau of great thickness and considerable 
elevation, in the central part of which the strata are nearly hori- 
zontal, while on the south-western side the dip is SW. 12° to 
15°, at the south-eastern extremity a few degrees to the E. or 
SE. ; and on the north-eastern side, 12° to 3U° to the NE. 
In the north-eastern quarter, near Hettstadt, the old red sand- 
stone throws out another arm, extending eastward beyond the 
banks of the Saale in the form ofa narrow ridge, about 14 miles 
in length, in which the prevailing dip of the strata on the south- 
ern side is to the &. or SW.; on the northern to the NE.; and 
in the eastern quarter to the E. At this extremity it is found 
again connected with and supporting a coal district (vol. iv. p. 
191—198), which, as far as exposed, between-Kathau and 
Lobegiin on the N. and Dolau and Halle on the 8., is about 12 
miles long. 
In thus following the circuitous course of the old red sand- 
stone, we find it to extend through a range of about 60 miles, to 
which, if we add the coal fields at its north-western, eastern, 
and south-western extremities, the entire range of the carboni- 
ferous series may be said to be between 80 and 90 miles. But 
if we consider that on the 8. of the general range are to be found 
several isolated hills of old red sandstone, emerging from beneath 
the newer floetz formations, e. g. in the Kiffhauser, &c. we may 
conclude that the carboniferous series occupies a great expanse 
also, though mostly witlidrawn from observation. 
Characters of the Old Red Sandstone (vol. iv. p. 67—119).— 
i have already noticed the general constituents of the primary 
and transition tracts of the Hartz; and in examining the ingre- 
