TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION C. 567 



of elimination of the quartz pranules, their distribution over great areas, and fre- 

 quent rounding by wind action are fully discussed. 



It is also sugg'ested that the quartzite boulders and pebbles have most probably 

 travelled from the South, as they are less in number and smaller in Lancashire than 

 in tlie conj^lomerates of Market Drayton. 



To the objection that no marine fossils are present in the Bunter sandstone, the 

 author, while allowin"^ a considerable amount of force to the circumstance, points 

 out that it is only negative evidence, proverbiHlly unsafe, and sets against it the 

 absence of saline deposits, which we would expect to occur on the sub-aerial 

 delta theory. 



Finally, if is shown that the distribution of the lower Triassic sandstones is 

 inconsistent with a fluviatile origin. 



FlilDA Y, SEPTEMBER 13. 



The following Papers were read : — 



1. On the Origin and Age of some of the CrystalUne Schistic of Norway. By 

 Arcuibald Geikie, F.E.S,, Director- General of the Geological Survey. 



The author described the chief results of a recent journey made by him in 

 Norway for the purpose of comparing the Archsean and Palaeozoic metamorphic 

 rocks of that country witli those of the Highlands of Scotland. lie directed his 

 attention to the districts where recognisable fossils occur iu strata surrounded by 

 crystalline schists, and where he hoped that the actual relations of the fossiliferous 

 sedimentary formations and the schistose rocks could be definitely ascertained. 

 These districts were, 1st, the country lying to the south and east of Trondhjem 

 embracing the lower parts of the valleys of the Orkla and Gula rivers ; and, 2nd, 

 the southern portion of the peninsula of Bergen. 



The Trondhjem region has been described and mapped by Kjerulf and his 

 associates in the Geological Survey of Norway, and portions of it have been 

 described by Professor Brogger and others, but their observations were made 

 Ijefore the recent development of our knowledge regarding the problems of meta- 

 morphism. There was, therefore, room to believe that a re-examination of the 

 area, in the light of recent experience in the Scottish Highlands, might lead to a 

 clearer apprehension of the nature and order of the rocks. According)}- the 

 author first studied the fossiliferous series of strata, and worked outwards from 

 these into the adjacent metamorphosed masses. The rocks which contain fossils 

 in some of tiieir members consist of shales, slates, mudstones, limestones, sandstones, 

 breccias, and conglomerates, an assemblage of ordinary .sedimentary accumulations 

 precisely similar in character to those that compose the older Palreozoic formations 

 in Britain. Tiiey have, however, been very greatly disturbed. Over wide areas 

 they are on end or placed at high angles ; they have been so folded and fractured 

 that without detailed mapping it is impossible to determine satisfactorily their 

 order of .sequence. The fossils obtained from certain portions are Upper Silurian 

 types, while those from other parts are Lower Silurian. The author traced these 

 fossiliferous rocks southwards, and found evidence of increasing mechanical de- 

 formation and metamorphism. He a-scertained that at their base they are inter- 

 Btratified with and rest upon an important series of volcanic rocks — basic lavas of 

 the diabase type with coarse agglomerates and fine tufls — which, where they have 

 come within the influence of the regional disturbances, have been crushed and 

 converted into unctuous chloritic schists. .\ series of specimens was exhibited 

 illustrating the stages of metamorphism from an amorphous igneous rock into a 

 perfect schist, the change being sometimes shown even in a single hand-specimen. 

 The volcanic zone is succeeded by a great series of sandstones, grits, quartzites, 

 elates, and schists. Among these some of the most conspicuous bands are black, 



