328 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 1, 



4. On the Probable Events which succeeded the Close of the Creta- 

 ceous Period. By S. V. Wood, Jun., Esq. 



[Communicated by S. V. Wood, Esq., F.G.S.] 



(Abstract.) 



The object of this paper was to show that the close of the Secondary 

 period was followed by the formation of a continent having a great 

 extent from east to west, and at that time chiefly occupying low 

 latitudes ; that this direction of continent prevailed throughout the 

 Tertiary period ; and that in certain portions of the southern hemi- 

 sphere, particularly in Australia and New Zealand, there have been 

 preserved portions of the Secondary continent with isolated remnants 

 of the Secondary Mammalia and Gigantic Birds. 



These conclusions were arrived at by a consideration of the direc- 

 tion of the principal volcanic axes in the Secondary and Tertiary 

 periods. The Secondary continent was (the author considered) 

 mainly influenced by volcanic axes which came into action at the 

 close of the Carboniferous, and continued through the Secondary 

 Period. These axes were (in the northern hemisphere) that of the 

 Oural, that of the north of England prolonged into Portugal, and 

 that of the Alleghanies, having all a north and south direction ; 

 and (in the southern hemisphere) those of eastern Australia and 

 New Zealand, having a similar alignement. From this circumstance 

 an inference was drawn that the Secondary continents had generally 

 a trend from north to south, governed by volcanic bands having this 

 direction ; while, as the Secondary formations indicate a great extent 

 of sea over the northern hemisphere, the bulk of the Secondary con- 

 tinent lay in the southern hemisphere. 



The elevation of the bed of the Cretaceous sea, it was inferred, 

 was due to volcanic forces acting from east to west ; and the author 

 adduced evidence of this action having become perceptible during 

 the later part of the Cretaceous period. He considered that the 

 direction of all the Post-cretaceous lines of volcanic action governed 

 the direction of the continent during the Post- cretaceous period, and 

 pointed out that these were nearly all in an easterly and westerly 

 direction, coincident with the existing volcanic band which extends 

 from the Azores to the Caspian, and thence (with an interval of in- 

 tense earthquake- action between the Caspian and Bengal) extends 

 to the Society Isles. He concluded that they gave rise to a continent 

 extending from the Caribbean Sea to the Society Isles, — many reasons 

 uniting to show a land- connexion between America and Europe at 

 the dawn of the Tertiary period, the submerged continent of Oceanica 

 also indicating the easterly extension of Southern Asia; and that, 

 since this continent receded to the north at the dawn of the Tertiary 

 period before the inroad of the Nummulitic Sea (which stretched 

 from the south-east through Western Asia and Southern Europe, 

 and was, as the author conceives, the oceanic equivalent of the 

 Eocene basins of Europe), the greater portion of the deposits formed 



