PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



1832. No. 27. 



May 2. — Thomas Baker, Esq., Wilton Place, and Capt. Jones, 

 R.N. M.P. Curzon Street, were elected Fellows of this Society. 



A paper was read, " On the Geological Structure of the North- 

 eastern Part of the County of Antrim," by James Bryce, Jun. Esq. 

 M.A. Member of the Belfast Natural History Society, &c, and com- 

 municated by Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq. P.G.S. 



In this memoir the author enters into a minute description of the 

 physical features and geological constitution of a portion of the di- 

 strict, described by Dr. Berger, and by Dr. Buckland and Mr. Cony- 

 beare in the third volume of the first series of the Geological Society's 

 Transactions. 



After alluding to the labours of these celebrated observers, the au- 

 thor defines the extent and physical features of the district described 

 in his memoir. He states that it is bounded on the west by the es- 

 carpment of the chalk from Kenbaan Head to Corky ; on the south 

 by a line drawn from that place to Gerron Point ; and on the east 

 and north by the Irish Sea. The area, thus circumscribed, is tra- 

 versed in a N.W. direction by the Aura mountains, from the southern 

 part of which several, long, projecting ridges with fiat, broad sum- 

 mits and precipitous sides, branch off ; and in the northern part of 

 the district the surface is occupied by detached hills, having a direc- 

 tion parallel to that of the main chain. The height of the principal 

 mountains varies from one thousand to two thousand feet. Their 

 eastern declivity is abrupt, but their western is formed by a succes- 

 sion of undulating hills, which gradually descend into the low country 

 extending from Kenbaan Head to Corky. 



The principal formations described, are mica-slate, porphyry, old red 

 sandstone, carboniferous limestone, coal measures, new red sand- 

 stone and conglomerate, lias, mulatto or green sand, chalk, and trap. 



Mica-slate. — This formation is stated not to differ from the cha- 

 racters assigned to it by Dr. Berger in other parts of the North of Ire- 

 land. The subordinate strata which it contains, are limestone, com- 

 pact felspar, porphyry, and hornblende rock ; granite is also said to 

 form a bed in it near the village of Ardsilloch. It occupies nearly the 

 whole of the central area of the district described in the memoir, 

 being covered at only four points by beds of chalk and basalt. The 

 strata dip invariably to the eastward, and generally at a high angle. 



Old red sandstone. — This deposit is of very limited extent, being 

 confined, by the author, to a narrow band ranging from Cushendan 

 Church to Ballyeemin Glen ; and he is of opinion that the district as- 



