PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



Vol. II. 1838. No. 56. 



Feb. 21. — "William Blount, Esq., of Cumberland Place, and Josd 

 Estavao Cliffe, Esq., of Cuijaba, Brazils, were elected Fellows of 

 this Society. 



A paper " On part of Asia Minor," by William John Hamilton, 

 Esq., Sec. G.S., was read. 



In this paper, the author gives an account of the geological struc- 

 ture of the country from the foot of Hassan Dagh, a few miles S.S.E. 

 of Akserai (lat. 38° 20' N., long, about 34° E.), to the great salt 

 lake of Toozla or Kodj-hissar, and thence eastwards to Csesarea and 

 Mount Argseus. 



The formations, noticed by Mr. Hamilton, are trachytic conglo- 

 merates, considered by him one of the oldest formations of the 

 country ; a system of highly inclined beds of red sandstone, conglo- 

 merates and marls, which rest upon the trachytic conglomerate, 

 and are apparently connected with the saliferous deposits of the 

 country, though the author did not observe any beds of salt in the 

 sandstone* ; a limestone belonging to the vast, calcareous, lacustrine 

 formation of the central part of Asia Minor ; a great system of vol- 

 canic tufts, trachytes and basalts, apparently of comparative modern 

 origin ; and a grey granite which is newer than the sandstone, as it 

 penetrates and disturbs that formation near Kodj-hissar ; but pebbles 

 of a grey granite identical in composition also occur in the conglo- 

 merate. 



Hassan Dagh, upwards of 8000 feet above the sea, consists en- 

 tirely of trachyte, and trachytic and porphyritic conglomerates, and 

 rises from the eastern termination of a great calcareous plain. 

 Several volcanic cones, composed of trachytic conglomerates and 

 scoriae, occur near the base on the S.S.W. and N.W. sides. All 

 the latter, with the exception of one, are in the present valley, and 

 below the tufaceous beds which cap the hills on its north side, and 

 were, therefore, produced subsequently to the excavation of the 

 valley. From one of them a considerable stream of black, vesicular 

 lava proceeds, and encircles some of the smaller cones. 



* The extensive beds of rock salt on the borders of Pontus and Galatia, 

 occur in troughs or small basins resting upon the perpendicular edges of a 

 led and brown sandstone conglomerate. 



3 G 



