408 H. E, Strickland, Esq., on the Geology of Zante. 



around, but no bubbles of gas rose in the water, nor was there any appearance 

 of inflammable gas, on the application of a lighted taper. 



On the 30th of May, 1836, the temperature of the air in the shade being 82° 

 Fahr., of the adjoining sea at the surface 73°, and at the bottom in 4 fathoms, 

 69°, the spring indicated a temperature of 65°. This is so near the mean 

 temperature of the latitude of Zante, that the mineral spring cannot be re- 

 garded as thermal. A bottle of the water is now in my possession, but I 

 have not yet ascertained its chemical ingredients ; from its close resemblance, 

 however, to the mineral waters of many volcanic regions, as those of the 

 ''Aquae Albulae " near Rome, we must refer its origin to some analogous 

 cause. Of this we have a further proof in the fact, that this spring rises on 

 the line of a considerable fault which has affected the Apennine limestone at 

 right angles to its strike. The upcast is on the south, and presents a smooth 

 and almost polished surface of rock, rising like a wall at an angle of about 80°, 

 and running in a straight line for about a quarter of a mile inland. (See 

 the Plan, PI. XXXIII.) It projects some distance into the sea, and the spring 

 above described rises in a recess a few yards to the south. Two smaller 

 springs of similar turbid water issue at the base of the smooth face of rock. 

 There can be little doubt, that the outburst of these springs is owing to this 

 fault, which has opened a passage from the abyss in which they originate. 



We have, then, in this mineral spring, an additional indication of tlie exist- 

 ence of a region of volcanic action, at some vast depth beneath the Ionian 

 Islands, — of which there is already much presumptive evidence in the springs 

 of bitumen, the frequent earthquakes, and, above all, in the current of sea- 

 water absorbed into a chasm in the neighbouring island of Cephalonia*. It is, 

 however, somewhat remarkable that no rocks of igneous origin exist, as far as 

 is known, throughout these islands. 



I cannot conclude this imperfect contribution to the geology of the Ionian 

 Islands, without expressing a wish that some competent geologist would un- 

 dertake an accurate survey of them. Such an undertaking would be well 

 worthy the attention of our Government, and would form an important ap- 

 pendix to the splendid survey, which has been already effected by the French 

 Government in the Morea. 



* See Geological Proceedings, vol. ii., pp. 220. 393. 



