ON THE SHELL-BEARING DEPOSITS AT CLAVA, AND OTHER PLACES. 307 



Character of the High-level Shell-bearing Deposits at Claim, 

 Chapelhall, aiul other Localities. (Ghapelhall Section.) Report of 

 the Committee, consisting o/Mr. J. HoRNE (Chairman)., Mr. David 

 Robertson, Mr. T. F. Jamieson, Mr. James Fraser, Mr. Percy F. 

 Kendall, ami Mr. Dugald Bell (Secretary). 



Appendix— O/i tlw Chapelhall Clay, by D. Kobertson .... Page 313 



I. Locality and Previous Notices. 



Chapelhall is a little mining village situated in the north-oastern part 

 of Lanarkshire, about twelve miles east from Glasgow and two miles south 

 from Airdrie. Its name has been well known to geologists for more than 

 thirty years past from its being usually mentioned in works relating to 

 the science as the highest locality in Scotland where ' shelly clay ' has been 

 found (510 feet above the sea). That of Clava, near Liverness, which the 

 Committee reported upon last year, is of more recent discovery, and has 

 not been so generally referred to. 



It may be useful, first, to present a summary of the hitherto existing 

 information regarding this ' deposit.' 



(i.) Mr. Smith, of Jordanhill. — The 'shelly clay' at Chapelhall was 

 first brought into notice by Mr. Smith, of Jordanhill, in a paper read to 

 the Geological Society in 1850, and republished in his well-known little 

 volume of ' Researches in Newer Pliocene and Post-Tertiary Geology,' in 

 1862. The following is the passage referring to this 'deposit : ' — 



' Having been informed by Mr. John Craig, F.G.S., that a bed of 

 shells had been discovered near Aii'drie, much higher than any previously 

 found in Scotland, I considered it of importance to ascertain the exact 

 amount of the elevation above the present level of the sea, as well as the 

 species of the shells, and the nature of the deposit in which they are 

 found. Mr. Craig kindly accompanied me to the locality, which is near 

 the Monkland Iron Works, and about fourteen miles to the south-east of 

 Glasgow. 



' The shelly deposit in question proved to be a bed of the TeUina 

 proxima, Brown (T. calcarea 1 Linn.), an Arctic species extremely abun- 

 dant in the Clyde Pleistocene beds overlying the till, and which I had 

 formerly procured from a brick-work in the same neighbourhood.' The 

 shells in the present instance were discovered by Mr. James Russell, an 

 operative miner, in digging a well.' 



Mr. Smith then states that he ascertained the elevation of the place 

 to be, on the surface, 524 feet above the sea, which is 'at least 150 feet 

 higher than the highest level at which any shelly deposits have been 

 hitherto discovered in Scotland.' He continues : 



' The most remarkable circumstance attending the present discovery is 

 that the shells were imbedded in the stratified clay below the till. 



'Mr. Russell states that at the depth of 14 feet from the surface, 

 after passing through the till, he came to a bed of brick-clay containing 



' This refers to shells previously stated to have been found by Mr. Craig near 

 Airdrie, at a height of 350 feet. See Hesearches, kc, p. 17. (The j lace, an old 

 brickfield, has long been filled up.) 



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