1849.] 



HAMILTON ON THE GEOLOGY OF ASIA MINOR. 



'd()7 



with them in immediate contact, so as to decide upon their degree of 

 conformabiHty or separation. All that I was enabled to observe be- 

 yond what I have just mentioned was, that in that which I assume to 

 be the oldest, the schistose beds abound in masses and veins of quartz, 

 and assume a more indurated and grauwacke-like appearance, the 

 limestone beds becoming at the same time more crystalline and of a 

 darker hue, and sometimes giving out a very foetid smell on being 

 struck or fractured, while those which belong to the newer formation 

 graduate upwards into a compact cream-coloured scaglia. They may 

 be described as follows : — 



1 . The Lower Secondary, probably the representative of the Jurassic 

 or Oolitic system. 



2. The Upper Secondary, probably corresponding with the Creta- 

 ceous system. 



1. The Lower Secondary . — This formation consists of crystalline 

 limestone of various colours, sometimes associated with micaceous 

 schists, or with argillaceous and arenaceous beds penetrated by veins 

 of quartz ; the sandstones sometimes assume a compact and very grau- 

 wacke-like appearance, while the argillaceous beds are often altered into 

 jasper. In the limestone beds no traces of stratification are generally 

 visible, and no fossils were found in any of the beds attributed to 

 this system ; it occurs in the following localities : — generally speaking 

 the whole of the mountainous district which extends along the 

 southern shore of the Black Sea from Sinope to Samsim, and be- 

 tween it and the valleys of the Kizil Irmak and the Lycus, or rather 

 through which those rivers have forced their way, consists of this 

 crystalline limestone and its subordinate beds of sandstones, shales and 

 schists more or less altered according to their vicinity to the igneous 

 rocks (see fig. 1). 



Fig. 1. 



Sandstone altered by underlying Trap. ^ 



a. Trap rocks. b. Altered sandstone. c. Micaceous sandstone. 



At Boiavad the castle hill consists of this limestone associated with 

 beds of red and yellow talcose schists much contorted and in places 

 penetrated by veins of quartz (see fig. 2). The gorge of Kara tep«ih, 

 about ten miles east of Boiavad, is a narrow defile through the same 

 formation ; the hills are chiefly limestone, thick-bedded, black and 

 white veined, emitting a rather foetid smell on being fractured. 



