HKYON1AN AND O1.I> 



SAMiSTuNK SYSTKM 



I'll 



In Ki-rry and the west of Cork there seems to be a com- 

 plete upward sequence from the greenish grits through tin- 

 purple slates to a series of grey and l>n>wn grits with intercalations 

 of dark-grey slate, which group is known as the Coomhola Bed*. 

 Tin-si- contain a marine fauna which is similar to that of the 

 Baggy and Marwood Beds of North Devon, and they are succeeded 

 by a set of dark-grey and black slates which resemble the Pilton 

 Beds, but their fossils have not yet been collected with sufficient 

 care to separate the Devonian and Carboniferous portions of the 

 series. Fig. 69 is a copy of the section drawn by Jukes to 

 illustrate the relative position of the beds near Glengarriff Harbour 

 at the head of Bantry Bay. 



Jukes could find no evidence of unconformity ; but Professor 

 Hull, going over the district in 1878-80, thought he could detect 



d c c b 



Fig. 69. SECTION SEAR OLEXQABRIKF (Jukes). Distance about 2J mile.s. 



e. Black slates with calcareous bands 



(i. Black and ^crey slates 



c. Coomhola grits and slates . 





about 2000 



3000 



. 5000 



an unconformity between the Coomhola Beds and the Glengarriff 

 Series at Sneem near Kenmare. 7 His section, however, is by no 

 means convincing. 



In the more recent revision of the country round Cork the 

 Geological Surveyors 8 have failed to find any evidence of a break 

 between the two series, the Upper Glengarriff Beds in that district 

 being succeeded by yellow sandstones and green shales which 

 occupy the place of the Coomhola Beds, and are overlain by shales 

 with Carboniferous fossils. It is true that these yellow sandstones 

 are not the Coomhola Beds and do not contain marine fossils, but 

 only fish and plants of Upper Devonian species. They are in fact 

 the Kiitorcan Beds or Upper Old Red Sandstone of Kilkenny. 



From the above account the student will understand that there 

 are still several points to be cleared up in the geology of the 

 south-west of Ireland, and in particular the exact relation between 

 the Coomhola and the Kiitorcan Beds remains to be ascertained. 

 If, however, we consider the sequence found in West Cork and 

 Kerry by itself, we may regard it as a succession of presumably 



