404 Dr. Du Riche Preller—Contact-Zone of 
the road tio Santuario and Cimavalle in the Letimbro Valley north of 
Savona; the Quiliano and the Madonna del Monte and Cadibona 
roads in the western, and those from Albissola to Ellera, to Piazza 
and Corona, and from Celle to Ferrari in the eastern part of the area. 
All these roads offer a great variety of interesting and instructive 
exposures. 
III. Tae Crrystaruine Massir. (Fig. 1.) 
Within the rectangular border-lines of the Permian, Triassic, and 
Tertiary sedimentary formations, the crystalline massif occupies 
practically the whole area, with two exceptions. One of these is 
an island of underlying Permo-Carboniferous gneissic and sericitic 
schist, about 7 by 4 kilometres in length and width, which stretches 
from Savona and Madonna degli Angeli north-west to Santuario 
(98 m.). It has obviously been eroded by the Letimbro and 
Lavanestra torrents which join a few kilometres above Savona and 
discharge into the sea at that town. The other exception is a wedge 
of overlying Permian schist, Triassic limestone, eale-schist with 
pietre verdi, and Oligocene conglomerate which projects from the 
north near Monte Ormé and Palazzo Doria to within a kilometre of 
the Permo-Carboniferous island at its upper or Santuario end. The 
intervening gap thus forms the superficial connecting link between 
the two fairly equal parts of the crystalline massif. The only other 
island in the latter is that of Cadibonain the north-western part of the 
area composed of overlying Oligocene conglomerates and _ breccia, 
at whose eastern extremity occurs at Cima di Prato, west of Cimavalle, 
an extraordinary isolated outcrop of Permo-Carboniferous schist, 
mica-schist and gneiss; and Permian schists, surmounted by a cap of 
Triassic dolomitic limestone.’ 
The anomalous phenomenon which chiefly governs the problem of 
the Savona region is that the Permo-Carboniferous schists in the 
south, and more especially those of the Savona and Santuario island, 
crop out below the crystalline massif, while the Permian and Triassic 
strata in the north overlie it. The gneissic rocks which occupy the 
greater part of the southern area are crossed by two bands of 
amphibolic rocks 8. W. to N.E., intimately associated with the gneiss. 
The whole northern part of the massif, on the other hand, is composed 
of granitic rocks, which, in the eastern part, are surrounded on the 
north by a band of Permian schist, and on the south are in contact 
with gneiss and amphibolic rocks; in the western part the granitic 
rocks have the same contact as on the south, while on the west the 
adjacent formations are Permo-Carboniferous schists and Oligocene 
conglomerates. Granitic rocks also occur among the gneisses and 
amphibolites, and form a considerable separate mass near Madonna 
del Monte, in the south-west corner of the area. 
IV. Tue Crystattine Rocks, 
The granite when fresh and unaltered resembles in some respects 
the Alpine type, is often porphyroid and granulitic in structure, of 
1 This outcrop was pointed out by G. Rovereto in a memoir to be quoted 
later. The small dolomitic cap is obviously in connexion with the larger deposits 
further north-east. 
