The Base of the Keuper Formation in Devon. 147 



sections, viz. : — (i) The mountainous part of the Sinaitic Peninsula ; 

 (ii) the table-land of Badiet-el-Tih and Central Palestine • (iii) the 

 Jordan-Arabah valley ; (iv) the table-land of Edom, Moab, and the 

 volcanic district of Jaulan and Hauran ; and (v) the maritime plain 

 bordering the Mediterranean. 



The most ancient rocks (of Archaean age) are found in the southern 

 portion of the region ; they consist of gneissose and schistose masses 

 penetrated by numerous intrusive igneous rocks. They are succeeded 

 by the Lower Carboniferous beds of the Sinaitic peninsula and 

 Moabite table-land, consisting of bluish limestone with fossils, which 

 have their counterparts chiefly in the Carboniferous Limestone of 

 Belgium, and of a purple and reddish sandstone (called by the 

 author ' the Desert Sandstone,' to distinguish it from the Nubian 

 Sandstone of Cretaceous age), lying below the limestone. The Nubian 

 Sandstone, separated from the Carboniferous by an enormous hiatus 

 in the succession of the formations, is probably of Neocomian or 

 Cenomanian age, and is succeeded by white and grey marls, and 

 limestones with flint, with fossils of Turonian and Senonian ages. 

 The Middle Eocene (jSTummulitic Limestone) beds appear to follow 

 on those of Cretaceous age without a discordance; but there is a real 

 hiatus notwithstanding the apparent conformity, as shown by the 

 complete change of fauna. In Philistia a calcareous sandstone in 

 which no fossils have been observed is referred to the Upper Eocene ; 

 for the Miocene period was a continental one, when faulting and 

 flexuring was taking place, and the main physical features were 

 developed — e. g., the formation of the Jordan-Arabah depression is 

 referable to this period. 



In Pliocene times a general depression of land took place to about 

 200-300 feet below the present sea-level, and littoral deposits were 

 formed on the coasts and in the valleys. To this period belong the 

 higher terraces of the Jordan-Arabah valley. The Pliocene deposits 

 consist of shelly gravels. Later terraces were formed at the epoch 

 of the glaciation of the Lebanon Mountains, when the rainfall was 

 excessive in Palestine and Arabia. 



The volcanoes of the Jaulan, Hauran, and Arabian Desert are 

 considered to have been in active operation during the Miocene, 

 Pliocene, and Pluvial periods ; but the date of their final extinction 

 has not been satisfactorily determined. 



2. " The Base of the Keuper Formation in Devon." By the Bev. 

 A. Irving, B.A., D.Sc, F.G.S. 



In a paper published in the February number of the volume of 

 the Quarterly Journal for the current year, the author definitely 

 accepted the breccia which is clearly marked on the left bank of the 

 Sid at Sidmouth as the base of the Keuper, but he had not then 

 satisfactory data for determining a similar basement-line in the 

 country between the valleys of the Sid and Otter, where the 

 Keuper is repeated by the great Chit-rock Fault. Sinco then he 

 has received information from the Bev. Dr. Dixon of Aylesbcare, 

 mentioning the occurrence of breccia at several points on the east 

 side of the Otter, and has subsequently visited the district, and with 



