572 Reports & Proceedings — Liverpool Geological Society. 



The future of the war-wrecked Galician oil-field affects British 

 interests in opposite ways. The Scottish oil trade would profit if the 

 field were annexed by Russia ; but those British industries which 

 need cheap paraffin would suffer by the change. The belief that 

 Germany could not continue the struggle if her imports of copper 

 were stopped was one of the most widespread early illusions of the 

 war. Germany's own copper production would doubtless suffice for 

 her military needs. The total copper production of Germany in 1913 

 was 25,000 tons, but with a rise in the price of copper the extensive 

 areas of low-grade ores at Mansfeld could be profitably worked. 



The great iron ore-field of Lorraine and the recent discovery of the 

 potash mines of Alsace both increase the difficulty of the readjustment 

 of the Franco-German frontier. Germany now obtains three-quarters 

 of her iron. ore from Lorraine and would strenuously resist the loss of 

 that field. The transfer of that area would probably be detrimental 

 to its own economic interests. The re-annexation of Alsace by France 

 offers the best prospect by breaking the German monopoly in the 

 supply of potash. The Americans especially have endeavoured to 

 escape from that monopoly by finding fresh sources of potash and by 

 dodging German restrictions on the output. The German potash 

 fields were formed by such an unusual sequence of geographical events 

 that they are quite unique. It has been calculated that one of the 

 German fields, even with an increased output, will last for 600,000 

 years. It has been suggested that at the end of the war the German 

 potash mines might be held as security, but they are so widely spread 

 through Western Germany that their military occupation would be 

 very expensive and the total profit from the potash mines would be 

 insignificant in war finance. 



II. — Liverpool Geological Society. 



The annual meeting of this Society was held on October 19, 1915, 

 the President, Mr. W. A. Whitehead, B.Sc, in the chair. Mr. J. H. 

 Milton, F.G.S., F.L.S., was elected President for the new session, 

 and Dr. J. C. M. Given Vice-President. It is gratifying to record 

 that the Society enters upon its fifty-seventh session with a slightly 

 increased membership and with undiminished vitality. 



The retiring President took for the subject of his address 

 " Sandbanks and Sand-dunes ". The conditions affecting their forma- 

 tion and growth were discussed in detail, special reference being 

 made to the deposits of the Lancashire coast, which extend twelve 

 miles north of Liverpool and eight miles out to sea. Surface 

 features such as ripple and current marks were then described, and 

 the differences between seolian and subaqueous ripple-marks explained. 

 Finally, the records in the Triassic sandstones were referred to, and 

 compared with the modern deposits. Bipple-marking was a fairly 

 common feature in certain beds of the Trias, and was mostly associated 

 with marl bands, and presumably with shallow water, judging from 

 the proportions of length to height. In fact, most of the positive 

 evidence pointed to local water conditions, and it was not impossible 



