RevieiDS — Dr. F. X. Schaffer — Guide to Vienna Basin. 39 



more or less similarly directed progress by numerous series of phyletic 

 stems already existing at the end of Palaeozoic times, their evolutioa 

 presents itself as a relatively simple and clear process of metamorphosis 

 in which there is no space for large groups to either appear or become 

 extinct abruptly. B. Hobson. 



IV. — Geological Guide to the Neighbofkhood of Vienna. 



GeOLOGISCHER FtJHRER EOR ExKUKSIONEiSr IM INNERALPINEN BeCKEN- 



der nachsten Umgebung TON" WiEN. Vou Dr. Franz X. 

 Schaffer. Sammlung geologischer Fiihrer XII. Sm. 8vo ; 

 11 Abbildungen im Text. Gebriider Borntrager, Berlin, 1907. 



THIS is another of the excellent little Geological Guides issued 

 by the Brothers Borntrager. The idea of writing this one 

 occurred to the author when he was preparing for the excursions 

 in the neighbourhood of Vienna in connection with the meeting of the 

 Geological Congress in that city in 1902. The material for the work 

 was already in the author's possession in his " Geologic von Wien " 

 (part ii). Naturally only a few of the most important of the 

 excursions could be dealt with in the small work under review. 



Beginning with a brief bibliography of the subject, the author 

 continues by giving the geological history of the Vienna Basin, which 

 he calls the concluding episode in the formation of the Alps ; that 

 great chapter in the shaping of the physical contour of Europe, which 

 has always had a particular attraction for students. 



Let us depict in brief terms its past history as the author gives 

 it, though but few traces remain by which the picture may be clearly 

 presented to the mind's eye. 



The Mediterranean had entered with its rich fauna into the sinking 

 region, and in this area fresh- water beds were deposited before it had 

 sunk below the level of the sea. The shore lay at a somewhat higher 

 level than that at which its shore formations now stand. An immense 

 portion of this inland sea was cut off from the ocean, and under the 

 influence of inflowing fresh water a brackish- water fauna came into 

 existence, and this can be traced up to the highest beds deposited near 

 Vienna. While the transition from the marine to the Sarmatian stage 

 is marked by a discordance or break in the succession of the beds 

 connected with the retreat of the sea, the Sarmatian beds merged 

 gradually into the Pontian, and the sea-level reached the same height 

 as at the Mediterranean stage. The very thick beds of at least 

 500 metres (1,640 feet) in thickness mostly indicate a medium depth 

 of water, the deposit having taken place on a slowly sinking sea- 

 bottom. During the Pontian period a sinking of the water-level is 

 noticeable, and at the same time a stream coming from the north-west 

 finds its way into the basin. In Vienna its traces are not only seen in 

 the high-level terraces, but also in the thick 'schotter' (conglomeratic 

 deposits) which the stream has brought down here to the margin of 

 the sea. The terraces can be traced near Vienna at heights ranging 

 from 50 to 200 metres above the present level of the Danube, and 

 they stretch still farther south of this area. Loess and also fresh- 

 water limestone were deposited at about this period at the edge of the 



