Structure of the Eastern Alps. S37 



nally, overlying- all these, are strong- bands of calciferous grit, exhibiting- on 

 fracture a cliatoi/ant lustre, and seeming- gradually to pass into a superior, 

 conglomerate system. 



The range or strike of this series is from E.N.E. to W.S.W.*; and 

 on the whole the strata may be considered vertical : but the inclination 

 is carried a few degrees beyond the perpendicular in some of the youn^-er 

 beds; which thus, by their excess of dislocation, present (as in several other 

 previously described parts of the chain) an appearance of dipping under the 

 older. 



The beds immediately superior to the above, are lost in the denudation of 

 Nesselwang ; but still higher beds, chiefly composed of conglomerate, appear 

 in the ridges to the north of the town, with the usual range and northerly dip, 

 and are from thence prolonged, without interruption, into the plains skirting 

 the base of the Alps. 



The absence of the nummulite-beds takes away from the interest of the 

 preceding section. It however exhibits the peculiar structure and position 

 of the outer secondary system, and, indeed, shows very clearly the relative 

 position of all the successive groups. We did not extend our section far to 

 the north of Nesselwang, as the conglomerates and sandstones in that direc- 

 tion are obviously the lower part of the great tertiary series, which descends 

 into the Bavarian plains. As the best arrangement which the preceding- 

 details enable us to give, we commence the tertiary system with tlie coarse 

 conglomerates, and therefore include the Nesselwang- lignites in one of the 

 lower portions of it. 



4. Section, in the ascetuling order, on the Banks of the Traun. 



Phenomena, similar to those above described, are exhibited in many other 

 neighbouring portions of the chain : but we now proceed to describe two 

 transverse sections (one from the banks of the Traun, and the other through 

 the iron-mines of the Kressenberg, near the south-eastern frontier of Bavaria); 

 as they mutually explain each other, and when taken together, place in a clear 

 point of view the relations of the nummulitic deposits, and the connexion 

 between the secondary and tertiary systems of the north-eastern Alps. 



* We adopt the word strike from the German geologists : it means the direction of a line drawn 

 ill the plane of any stratum at right angles to its line of dip. The word range is by no means so 

 expressive. Besides, a word is wanted to express the line of intersection of any stratum with the 

 actual surface of the earth. This line hardly ever coincides exactly with the strike, and its di- 

 rection might be very conveniently defined by the technical use of the word range. 



VOL. HI. SECOND SERIES. 2 X 



