152 



QUATERNARY PERIOD. 



The lignite deposits of the Canton of St. Gall, especially that 

 of Utznach (fig. 329) , are of much greater extent than those of 



Fig. 329. 



Ideal section of the valley of Utznach. (The vertical scale is to the 

 horizontal as 8 : 1.) G, Gubel ; U, Utznach ; B, Lower Buchberg. 

 a, upturned Miocene ; 5, lignites of Utznach ; V, lignites of Wangen ; 

 c, pebble-bed ; d, erratic blocks. 



the Canton of Zurich. The deposit of Utznach is situated 

 92 metres (or about 100 yards) above the bottom of the valley, 

 and 512 metres (or about 560 yards) above the sea-level. As 

 we ascend the road leading into the Toggenburg, we arrive, in 

 about a quarter of an hour, at a number of shafts which have 

 been sunk through the beds of sand and gravel. In the hill- 

 chain of the Gubel these beds are exposed in a wall about 

 100 feet high, in which the edges of their strata are turned 

 towards the valley. On the lignite there is, first, a gravel-bed ; 

 then follows a layer of reddish-grey sand, and upon this nume- 

 rous beds of gravel, the pebbles in which consist of limestone, 

 flint, sernifite, and sandstones ; they are surrounded by sand, 

 loosely held together, and of all sizes, from 1 inch to several 

 inches in diameter. On the hill there are two enormous blocks 

 of variegated conglomerate. 



Three deposits of lignite lie one above the other in the Gubel 

 hill : the highest deposit is 5 feet thick, the middle one only a 

 few inches in thickness ; and the lower one is about 3 feet thick. 

 Towards the north the thin middle bed disappears, and there 

 remain only the upper and lower layers, which are separated 

 by a light- coloured deposit of loam from 16 to 20 feet thick. 



