PLIOCENE. 



the tertiary period, a new upheaval appears to have taken place in tho 

 region of the Alps. A part of this complicated chain of mountains had 

 then long existed. Thus the Alps of Provence and of Dauphiny, which 

 belong to a system of which Mont Viso is the most remarkable point, dato 

 from the interval elapsed between the deposit of the inferior and upper lay- 

 ers of the creta'ceous system ; other portions of the Alpine region were 

 raised up at the same time as the Pyrenees, that is, after the creta'ceous 

 period; for example, the neighbourhood of Castel-Gomberts, and in the 

 mountains which connect the Alps to the Jura, we perceive traces of an 

 upheaval contemporaneous with that of Corsica, which occurred after the 

 deposit of the eocene, or first period of the tertiary formation ; but the 

 greater part of this majestic barrier between Italy and the north seems to 

 have acquired its present configuration, and to have, attained the immense 

 height we now observe, in more recent times. The chain of the western 

 Alps appears to have been upheaved after the deposit of the mioccne or 

 second series of the tertiary ; and the chain extending from Valais towards 

 Austria appears to be of still more recent origin. 



Dating frcm the geological convulsion which gave to the western Alps 

 their existing prominence, and at different points produced the elevation of 

 the " molasse," and other tertiary strata of the miocene period, as well as 

 those of more ancient epochs, Europe presented a great continental space ; 

 and during the period of tranquillity which followed this catastrophe, marine 

 deposits did not take place except on the shores or in gulfs not far from the 

 centre of this region, as in the subapcnnine hills, in some parts of Sicily, and 

 on a portion of the coast of England ; but sedimentary deposits occurred 

 in the basins or valleys of still existing rivers, and in some lakes of fresh 

 water which a more recent geological revolution has caused to disappear. 



25. The Pliocene, or newer tertiary. In Europe the pliocene 

 is chiefly represented in south Italy, in the Morea, and in the isl- 

 ands of the eastern archipelago ; and important contemporaneous 

 beds exist in the valley of the lower Rhine, near Bonn, and a por- 

 tion of central France, as well as in southern Russia. 



26. The pliocene beds are not all, however, of the same age, 

 and the beds so called must have been in the course of formation 

 for a very long period. Those of Italy admit of being subdivided 

 into two groups, the older of which is called the sub-apennine, and 

 attains a great thickness near Parma, exhibiting a considerable 

 number and variety of fossils. These beds consist for the most 

 part of greyish, brown, or blue marls, containing calcareous mat- 

 ter, and overlaid by thick sandy beds. The Sicilian beds are dis- 

 tinctly newer than these, and are equally extensive. Marls, with 

 occasional limestone, form the great mass of the materials of these 

 strata. Like the subapennines they are richly fossili'ferous, but 

 are chiefly characterized by their shells. A fresh-water bed of 

 the newer period is found at GEningen, on the lake of Constance, 

 and contains numerous remains of fishes, and some fragments of 

 land animals. 



27 From the eocene, or deposits of the Paris basin, there is a 



25. In what parts of Europe are the pliocene beds represented ? 



26. Are all pliocene beds of the same age? What is the character of the 

 Sicilian beds? 



8"* 



