Structure of the Eastern Alps. 341 



This assemblage of fossils presents us with an admixture of marine and fresh- 

 water shells, similar to that which occurs in the London and Paris basins. 

 Indeed this admixture is so common to tertiary formations, that we are led to 

 conclude many of them must have been deposited in large estuaries. The dip 

 of the beds at Haslach is not more than 30°, but their direction is still due 

 east and west, like that of all the underlying strata. This inclination carries 

 them rapidly beneath the same coarse, horizontal conglomerate, which we had 

 seen resting upon the vertical, numrnulitic formations near Arzt, the highly 

 inclined edges of the molasse and pebble beds, and lastly, upon the blue 

 marls of Haslach, from which it passes over the plains at the extreme northern 

 limit of our section. 



The section of the Traun exposes phenomena in strict accordance with 

 those on the southern flank of the Alps in the Canal di Brenta. In both cases 

 the parallelism and inclination of the younger strata aflbrd satisfactory proof, 

 that the last, and perhaps the greatest elevation of the chain, took place after 

 the accumulation of most of the shelly, tertiary deposits, and that no great 

 dislocations took place between the secondary and tertiary periods. The sec- 

 tion of the Traun further shows, that this epoch of elevation was succeeded by 

 a period of violent mechanical action, during which vast masses of coarse, 

 horizontal conglomerate and gravel, were spread over the inclined edges of 

 the strata on the outskirts of the chain *. 



5. Section through Kachelstein and the Iron Beds of the Kressenherg, ^c. 



This section commences with the metalliferous, Alpine limestone of the 

 Rauschenberg, the beds of which plunge at a considerable angle to the south, 

 and the line passes nearly due north over the Kachelstein and Kressenberg ; 

 it afterwards ranges over some undulating ridges north of the village of 

 Neukirchenf. The Kachelstein ridge is composed of alternations of lime- 

 stone, calc-grit, sandstone, and shale, and (though rarely) contains Ammo- 

 nites and Belemnites. The limestone is generally compact and thin bedded; 

 the shale is most frequently of a bluish colour, but is sometimes red or varie- 

 gated, and the sandstone is generally micaceous, and has a greenish grey 

 tinge. The beds of this hill are much concealed by vegetation, but on its 

 northern brow we obtained the following ascending section. 



* Enormous masses of liorizontal, coarse conglomerate are found in many Alpine valleys ; and 

 there are instances where the rivers have eroded gorges out of them to the depth of 600 or 700 

 feet. In the valley of the Inn near Inspruck, and in that of the Drave between Klagenfurth and 

 Marburg, there are splendid examples of these phenomena. 



t Plate XXXVI. fig. 7. 



