190 GEOLOGY: 



SECTION VII. 



ADEN SERIES OF VOLCANIC ROCKS. 



Along both shores of the Red Sea and of the Gulf of 

 Aden there is known to be a great development of vol- 

 canic rocks. There is every probability that these, so 

 far as they are known, belong to one series ; and as some 

 active volcanoes still exist in the sea, and cones, quite 

 unchanged in form, and evidently of yqtj recent date, 

 abound in many places along the coast, it is clear that 

 the series is still in process of formation, and that it is, 

 in part at least, of recent date. 



These volcanic formations are but sparingly represented 

 on the west side of Annesley Bay. They appear, how- 

 ever, to compose the greater portion, if not the whole, of 

 the Buri peninsula east of the bay, and they are deve- 

 loped to a considerable extent west of Massowa. 



In mineral character they diflfer entirely from aU the 

 volcanic rocks of the highlands, and there cannot be the 

 slightest hesitation in assigning to them a totally dif- 

 ferent and much more recent geological age. They con- 

 sist, in the neighbourhood of Annesley Bay and Massowa, 

 of basaltic trap and of ash, both frequently scoriaceous. 



