THK I'UM.T.Ni; SKKIKS 



587 



-"M~ nut far ivmovrcl from the exiting coa-t-liin-s of tin- 

 Continriii. Of BOOh deposits good examples exi>t in Kngland and 

 iiiin. The only areas when- marine deposits of Pliocene age 

 attain any great thickness are Holland, Italy, and the south-east of 

 France, Inn there is also a large area in the south-east of Europe, 

 when- the Sarniatian Beds (see p. 573) are succeeded by another set 

 of deposits formed in a similar inland sea. These Pontian Beds are 

 only represented in Western Europe by a few isolated lacustrine 

 and terrestrial accumulations which yield a similar mammalian 

 fauna. 



The great extent and thickness of the Italian Series (over 2000 

 feet), and the abundant marine fauna which it contains at suc- 

 cessive horizons, have caused it to be regarded as the type of the 

 Pliocene in the south of Europe. It has been divided into three 

 stages named after Italian localities, and those names have been 

 adopted in France. In the northern region, on the other hand, 

 names have been given to small subdivisions which have no higher 

 stratigraphical value than zones, and are only useful in the detailed 

 correlation of the sequence found in one area with that of another. 

 In a former edition of this book I grouped these zones into Lower, 

 Middle, and Upper Stages, and as these correspond very closely 

 \sitli the major divisions of the Mediterranean Series, the same 

 nomenclature will be employed in the present edition. 



Wiih regard to the deposits of the eastern inland sea, there is 

 no reason to suppose that they are older than the lowest marine 

 Pliocene Beds of Italy, i.e. those to which the name Messinian was 

 given by Professor Sacco ; they may therefore be included in the 

 Lower Pliocene group or stage, and the divisions which have been 

 made in different countries may be correlated as follows : 



TABULAR CORRELATION OF THE PLIOCENE SERIES 



