THK TRIASSIC SYSTEM .".71 



The lower stage is about 300 feet thick, and consists of thin- 

 bedded marly limestones (Wellenkalk) with yellowish porous lime- 

 stones (Schaumkalk). The chief fossils in the lowest beds are 

 Mi/ophoria orbicularis, Natica gregaria, and Dentalium torquatum, 

 l>ut the higher part of the Wellenkalk is one of the richest fossili- 

 tVroiis zones in the whole series, its fossils including Myophoria 

 ("A/am, Gervillia costata, Pecten discites, Terebratula (Coenothyris) 

 (/(/(/arts, T. (Aulacothyrix) angusta, and Beneckeia Buchi. 



The middle stage consists chiefly of dolomitic limestone and 

 marl with beds of gypsum and rock-salt Fossils are rare. 



The upper beds are hard limestones, consisting mainly of 

 Encrinite stems, overlain by thin-bedded limestone characterised 

 by Ceratites nodoms. These upper beds are rich in fossils, some of 

 the commonest being Encrinus liliiformis, Lima striata, Gervillia 

 (Hcernesia) socialis, Terebratula, (Cvenothyris) vulgaris, Myophoria 

 vulgaris, and Temnocheilus bidorsatus. 



In the Vosges country some of the Muschelkalk limestones are 

 replaced by sandstones and marls, and the whole division gradually 

 dwindles till it finally thins out and disappears. 



The Keuper. The main area of the German Keuper lies in 

 Franconia and Swabia (Wurtemberg), but it also occupies a con- 

 siderable space in Luxemburg and in Alsace-Lorraine. It occurs 

 also in the middle of the Thuringian basin and to the north-east of 

 the Teutoburger Wald (in Hanover and Brunswick). The series is 

 everywhere divisible into three groups, which have a combined 

 thickness of from 900 to 1200 feet (see Fig. 122). 



The Kohlenkeuper consists of dark -grey shales and sandstones 

 with thin beds of shaly coal, but the fossils are marine and brackish 

 water, some of the beds being crowded with Estheria minuta and 

 Lingula, tenuissima, with the teeth of fishes (Ceratodus, Acrodus, 

 and Hybodus). The highest beds of the group are yellow dolomitic 

 limestones some compact, some oolitic and these contain Myo- 

 phoria Goldfussi, M. transversa, and Anoplophora donacina. 



The central beds, forming the main mass of the Keuper, are 

 red and green marls with beds of gypsum and some of rock-salt. 

 Fossils are rare in these marls, but in South Germany (Stuttgart) 

 they include plant-bearing sandstones with Equisetites arenaceum 

 and Pterophyllum Jcegeri. 



The Steinmergel seems to correspond with the highest red and 

 green marls of the English Series. They are free from gypsum 

 and rock-salt, but contain thin layers of sandstone and, in Lorraine, 

 beds of dolomite and layers of dolomitic concretions. From these 

 beds many Reptilian remains have been obtained, e.g. Aetosaurus 

 and Belodon, and the Dinosaurs Dimodosaurus and Zanclodon. 



