218 J. C. BRANNER — OUTLINES OF THE GEOLOGY OF BRAZIL 



regard to the Permian beds, which he called the ^Herrain de transition" 

 (page 7). 



Claussen's section represents the geology right across the Permian 

 basin, including the whole region between Serra do Capacete and the 

 Serra do Barro Vermelho. Of the ^^terrain de transition" he says 

 (page 7) : 



"Le terrain calcareux de transition est compose de couches a pen pres hori- 

 zontales de phyllades argileux, petrosiliceux et macignos.^* Elles contiennent, 

 specialement dans leurs assises inferieurs, des couches puissantes de calcaire 

 noir et gris. Presque toutes les inegalites de ce terrain sont dues aux effets de 

 la denudation, et cela donne um aspect tout particulier au pays, en formant de 

 grands plateaux sur des montagnes cotoyees de terrasses. . . . Ce terrain 

 constitue a peu pres le tiers du sol de la province de minas Geraes." 



And it should be remembered that Clanssen lived in Minas some twenty 

 years (page 1), and that he traveled widely, while his paper showed that 

 he was a carefnl and discriminating geologist. 



On the east side of the Eio Sao Francisco these limestones and inter- 

 bedded shales, here referred to the Permian, extend from Santa Lnzia in 

 Minas northward to abont 50 kilometers north of 14 degrees south lati- 

 tude — that is, to a point about 75 kilometers northeast of the city of 

 Carinhanha. On the west side of the Sao Francisco the limestones end a 

 few kilometers north of Carinhanha. ^^ 



General conclusions. — The Permian beds have been definitely deter- 

 mined from fossils^ and traced out stratigraphically from the southern 

 part of Eio Grande do Sul to the northern part of Sao Paulo. North of 

 Sao Paulo the base of the series has been approximately located from the 

 notes of geologists as far as 14 degrees south latitude on Rio Sao Fran- 

 cisco, while in the Chapada diamantina east of the Rio Sao Francisco 

 rocks believed to belong to the Permian have been located by the writer 

 and his assistants, Crandall and Williams, over the region between 12 

 and 14 degrees south latitude. 



In the southern states several divisions have been recognized locally, 

 but two divisions are readily identified by the fossils Stereosternum and 

 Mesosaurus and by the fiint beds found in the upper, and by the Glos- 

 sopteris flora and the glacial beds found in the lower division. In north- 

 ern Brazil the upper division is characterized by the fossils Psaronius 

 and Sigillaria, but no fossils have yet been found in northern Brazil in 

 what are referred tentatively to the Lower Permian. 



38 Macigno is defined by Littre as a rock composed of quartz, mica, clay and iron 

 hardened by a calcareous cement. Vilanova y Piera says it is a hard sandstone of 

 feldspar, mica, cemented by a siliceous marl, sometimes green, sometimes black. 



39 It should be noted that the Permian limestones do not connect with those at Bom 

 Jesus da Lapa. The Bom Jesus exposure is entirely isolated. 



