202 J. E. Coolie— The Pleistocene Beds of Malta. 



The loams are similar to those which occur in most of the 

 plateau valleys of the islands. They are very homogeneous in 

 texture, and are somewhat incoherent. They exhibit no signs of 

 stratification, but lines of bedding are strongly marked. Both 

 these, and the underlying layer of compact rock, contain consider- 

 able quantities of land-shells, comprising Helix aspersa, H. Melitensis, 

 H. vermicular is, Clausilia bidens, Bumina decollata, Cyclostoma Meli- 

 tensis, and Clausilia sulcatum ; but no mammalian or other remains 

 are present. On the southern slopes, near the head of the bay and 

 in the valley which debouches on Ghain tal Eazul, numerous 

 interesting sections are to be seen. On the south-eastern shore, 

 between the main road and the old church, there is an extensive 

 bed of grey, calcareous loam, capped with a layer of fine sand and 

 grit. Like the valley deposits it contains enormous quantities of 

 land-shells, but all of them are broken and beyond identification. 



The deposit is distinctly stratified, and it averages five feet in 

 thickness. The most interesting of the beds that occur in this 

 locality are the limestone agglomerates which fringe the shore-line. 1 

 These agglomerates admit of being divided into two classes, one of 

 which is more ancient than the other ; the older of the two is to 

 be seen along the shore, extending from the tower to the cliffs 

 below Selmone Castle. Along the southern shore of the bay it 

 lies unconformably on a considerable area of Upper Coralline Lime- 

 stone, which has been depressed beneath the sea-level by a secondary 

 fault. This depressed area extends from Cala tal G-gazenin to 

 Ghain tal Eazul ; and the agglomerates cover it for a distance of 

 about two hundred yards, and fill all of its fissures and surface 

 extravasations. The creek of G-gazenin is bounded on the south- 

 west by a narrow promontory which disappears beneath the waters 

 of the sea in an easterly dkection, and reappears at a distance of 

 twenty yards as two small outliers. Both the surfaces of the pro- 

 montory and of the outliers are covered with the agglomerates. 

 The rock upon which these beds now rest had been much eroded into 

 fissures and pot-holes, prior to the deposition of the agglomerates, 

 but all of these irregularities are now filled with the Pleistocene 

 materials. In places a layer of stalagmite of from one to two inches 

 in thickness serves as a line of demarcation between the beds. The 

 agglomerates consist of a mass of angular, subangular, and rounded 

 rock -fragments, all of which have apparently been derived from the 

 Upper Coralline formation. They are promiscuously intermingled, 

 and are embedded in an exceedingly compact, calcareous and ferru- 

 ginous earth of a deep red colour. Small veins of calcite traverse 

 the rock in all directions, and the sections are pitted with minute 

 borings the interiors of which are lined with crystals of calcite. 



The bedding planes are distinctly marked, but evidences of stratifi- 

 cation are not so apparent. The bed is so compact that it is only 

 with difficulty that specimens can be detached from it. Borne idea 

 of its compactness and durability may be obtained from the fact 



1 Photographs of these, and of most of the other beds that are referred to in these 

 notes, may be seen in the Library of the Geological Society of London. 



