718 ME. E. K. C. EE£D ON THE LOWER PALEOZOIC [NoV. 1 899, 



39. The Lower Paleozoic Bedded Eocks of County Wateeford. 

 By F. E. Cowper Eeed, Esq., M.A., F.G.S. (Eead May lOtb, 

 1899.) 



[Plate XLIX.] 



Contents. -p^^ 



I. Introductory Eem arks 718 



II. Description of the Exposures 721 



(a) Eaheen and Newtown Head. 



(b) Tramore Bay. 



(c) Garrarus and Kilfarrasy. 



{d) Annestown and Dunabrattin. 



{e) Knoekraabon. 



(/) Ballydouane Bay. 



{g) Killelton Cove to Ballyvoyle. 



III. General Succession and Subdivision of the Strata 740 



IV. Palseontological Notes 741 



y. Petrological Notes on the Contemporaneous Volcanic Rocks. 763 



VI. Correlation of the Eocks of the Waterford Coast with those 



of other Areas 766 



VII. Conclusion 770 



I. Introductory Eemarks. 



The principal exposures of the Lower Palaeozoic and associated rocks 

 are found in the sea-cliffs which extend for nearly 20 miles westward 

 from Tramore to Ballyvoyle Head, and along the banks of the Suir 

 near Passage. Inland the outcrops are much obscured by Drift, 

 and consequently the best opportunity of determining the succession, 

 etc. is afforded by the coast-sections, which will therefore be here 

 described. The complexity of many of these sections is con- 

 siderable, and is mainly caused by the intrusion of various later 

 igneous rocks, as Sir A. Geikie has remarked.^ 



Historical Summary. 



The earliest geological account of the region was published by 

 Thomas Weaver^ in 1821, in his paper on the 'Geological Eelations 

 of the East of Ireland,' but no details were given. 



In 1824 the Eev. E. H. Eyland's 'History, Topography, & 

 Antiquities of the County & City of Waterford' appeared, in which 

 we find many references to the rocks and mines (pp. 255, 258, 273). 



The paper by J. Hodgson Holdsworth ^ in 1885 on the ' Geology 

 of the District of the Knockmahon Mines ' is specially interesting 

 from its record of the discovery of fossils in the ' slate-rock ' near 

 Knockmahon. 



In 1837 Weaver ^ published a paper on the ' Geological Eelations 

 of the South of Ireland/ in which he gave an account of the 



^ ' Ancient Volcanoes of Great Britain,' vol. i (1897) p. 247, 



2 Trans. GeoL Soc. yoI. v (1821) pp. 117, 248, 251. 



3 Journ. Geol. Soc. Dubl. vol. i (1833) p. 85. 



^ Trans. Geol. Soc. ser. 2, vol. v, pt. i (1837) p. 1. 



