Ch. XII.] TERTIARY STRATA AT NICE. 167 



other bays of the Mediterranean, which are surrounded by 

 bold rocky coasts. 



The general resemblance of the Albenga strata to the 

 Subapennine beds is very striking, the lowest division consisting 

 of blue marl, which is covered by sand and yellow clay, and 

 the highest by a mass of stratified shingle, sometimes consoli- 

 dated into a conglomerate. Dr. Sasso has collected about 200 

 species of shells from these beds, and it appears, by his 

 catalogue, that they agree, for the most part, with the northern 

 Subapennine fossils, more than half of them belonging to recent 

 species *. 



Nice. At Nice the tertiary strata are upraised to a much 

 greater height, but they may still be said to lie at the base of 

 the Alps which tower above them. Here, also, they consist 

 principally of blue marl and yellow sand, which appear to 

 have been deposited in submarine valleys previously existing in 

 the inclined secondary strata. In one district, a few miles to 

 the west of Nice, the tertiary beds are almost exclusively com- 

 posed of conglomerate, from the point of their j unction with 

 the secondary strata to the sea. 



The river Magnan flows in a deep valley which terminates 

 at its upper extremity in a narrow ravine. Nearly vertical 



Monte Calvo. No. 29. 



Section from Monte Calvo to the sea by the valley of Magnan, near Nice. 

 A, Dolomite and sandstone. (Green-sand formation ?) 

 a, b, d, Beds of gravel and sand. 

 c, Fine marl and sand of St. Madeleine. 



* Giornale Ligustico, Genoa, 1827. 



