SPRATT ON THE GULF OF SMYRNA. 159 



Section from the Vouria Basin to the foot of Mount Corax.* 

 Vourla. Sevri Tepeh. Mt. Corax. 



The lacustrine deposits surrounding Vourla extend to the head 

 of the Gulf of Gul-bagtcheh on the west, but the promontory 

 jutting out towards the Vourla Islands is divided across by a hill 

 of brown trachyte, which separates the fresh-water formations at 

 the extremity of the promontory from those in the Vourla basin, 

 and has evidently overflowed the intermediate portion of the bed 

 of this ancient lake. The adjacent islands present phenomena 

 resembling those observed in the neighbourhood of Smyrna, and 

 Originated, most probably, at the same period. A vast eruption 

 of volcanic matter seems here to have burst through the bed of the 

 ancient lake, uplifting the sedimentary matter deposited in it into 

 hills and islands, which vary from 100 to 600 feet in height. 



The two northern islands, Long Island and Keelsali, consist 

 almost entirely of porphyritic trachyte and of a white tufa ; but 

 the small islands to the south are principally composed of the 

 fresh-water deposits in contact with, and frequently disturbed by, 

 similar igneous productions, offering clear evidence of their later 

 origin. These volcanic ejections form part only of a chain of 

 similar eruptions which extends to the north, nearly in a straight 

 line, as far as the Gulf of Adramitti. 



The fossils from the Vourla Islands have been examined by 

 Professor Edward Forbes, and arc described in a note appended to 

 this memoir. 



The Karabournou promontory consists of a high central table 

 mountain of grey limestone, along the east and north base of which 

 runs a narrow strip of the calcareous and marly series, the bed, no 

 doubt, of an ancient lake which formerly occupied the whole 

 Gulf of Smyrna, and, perhaps, the whole archipelago. The limits 

 of this lake are indeed as yet undefined, but there are indications 

 of it in the Scio and Mitylene channels, where it ranges at the 

 foot of the higher hills along the present sea-coast, as on the east 

 side of Karabournou. I obtained fossils (Paludina) proving its 

 fresh-water origin at the very northern extremity of Cape Kara- 

 bournou, and a few yards only from the sea. 



On the western flank of the high central table of limestone lies 

 a broad chain of hills, composed of shales and schists, which corre- 

 spond with those of Mount Corax. They dip to the east and 



* The references both to this and the other sections are as follow : — 

 4. Fresh-water beds. 2. Shales and schist. 



3. Limestone. 1. Erupted trap and serpentine. 



