368 Professor Sedgwick and Mr. Murchison on the 



nation. Our supposition will, we think, l}e rendered still more probable by 

 the position of the lignite basin of Hiiring-, which we shall attempt to describe 

 in a part of the next chapter. 



Chap. IV. 



On the Lignite Basin of H'ching in the Valley of the hm, and on some other 

 Deposits of the same kind on the Outskirts of the Austrian and Bavarian 

 Alps. Section at Ortenburg, near the Junction of the Danube atid the 

 Inn, Sgc. 



Before we enter on a detailed section of the tertiary coal formation of 

 Haring,, it is necessary to notice the peculiar dislocations of the neighbouring 

 portions of the Alps. 



In traversing the mountain gorges by the road from Reichenhall to 

 Inspruck, we find that vast disruptions and inversions of dip have thrown all 

 the central portions of the secondary region into inextricable confusion. 

 Before the road emerges from the calcareous chain into the plains of St. 

 Johann, the strata^ however, recover their usual position and elevation ; and 

 from that village, bare mountains of the older Alpine limestone (dipping to 

 the north, presenting mural precipices to the south, and resting on terraces 

 of red marl, sandstone, and conglomerate) are seen to range, on one side in 

 the direction of Salzburg, and on the other towards the valley of the Inn. 

 Following the chain towards the east by the foot of the great escaipment, we 

 may remark, that the position of all the component strata is once more dis- 

 turbed before they reach the right bank of the river near the village of 

 Haring, and that the whole Alpine limestone series of the Bolfen, along with 

 the red sandstone and conglomerate, pitch down at a great angle to the north- 

 westj and plunge under the level of the valley. 



One might expect, from the bearing of the chain, that the several groups of 

 strata would, in their prolongation, strike the mountains on the left bank of 

 the river. The order is, however, once more broken, and none of the beds, 

 last described, reappear on that side of the Inn : for we there find a great 

 succession of calcareous precipices composed of a younger part of the Alpine 

 limestone series, without any indications of the red sandstone and con- 

 glomerate, and dipping at a high angle towards the north-west ; and this dip 

 continues, almost without interruption, as far as Inspruck through the whole 

 saliferous chain ; the beds of which have, in consequence, the appearance of 

 plunging under the older formations of the central Alps. 



