238 STRATIGEAPHICAL GEOLOGY 



4. Norway 



Some small tracts of red sandstone and conglomerate occur on 

 the west coast of Norway between the Sogne and the Ludvig fiords 

 (see map, Fig. 10). They rest unconformably on Silurian and 

 older rocks, but the maximum thickness is not more than 1200 

 feet. It is very probable that they belong to the western border 

 of the Orcadian basin of deposition, in which case they are likely 

 to be Middle Old Eed Sandstone ; but no fossils have yet been 

 found in them to confirm this assumption. 



5. Arctic Regions 



Sandstones of the Old Eed facies have also been found in 

 several parts of the Arctic regions, notably in Spitzbergen, Bear 

 Island, and Greenland. 



In Spitzbergen, both Lower and Upper Old Eed Sandstones 

 occur. The lower beds, exposed in Dickson's Bay, consist of red 

 and green sandstones, and have yielded species of Pteraspis, 

 Cephalaspis, and Acanthaspis. The Upper Old Eed has been 

 explored at two localities, the Muner Valley and Grey Hook Point. 

 At the former the beds consist of red and green sandstones with a 

 band of grey shale enclosing ironstone nodules, in which fish of 

 the genera Psammosteus, Asteroplex, Onychodus, and Holoptychius 

 occur, together with plant remains (Lepidodendron and Bothrodendron 

 ( = Cyclostigma). At the other place (Grey Hook Point) there is a 

 series of black shales and hard grey sandstones, and these have 

 yielded a number of curious Mollusca which appear to be fresh or 

 brackish-water forms ; for no essentially marine genera occur, and 

 they are all bivalves which have been referred by Dr. Kayser to 

 the following genera, Archanodon, Palceomutela, Myalina, Pteria (?), 

 and Nathorstella? 1 



The relations of the Upper Series to the Lower have not yet 

 been ascertained, nor the thickness of either, for the whole mass 

 occupies a deep faulted trough which crosses the island from north 

 to south, so that the base is not seen ; but de Geer has estimated 

 the parts exposed to be over 4000 feet thick. 



Bear Island lies to the south of Spitzbergen, and the greater 

 part of it consists of beds which belong to the Upper Old Eed 

 Series. 22 There is a basal conglomerate resting unconformably on 

 Ordovician limestones and succeeded by a series of sandstones with 

 bands of carbonaceous shale and seams of coal ; these beds have 

 yielded many interesting plants, including species of Archceopteris, 

 Sphenopteris (Sphenopteridium), Cephalopteris, Pseudobornia ursina, 



