the Disjylacement of Slwre-Unes. 499 



if they are not throuohout separated by freshwater formations, 

 as in the case of several, at any rate, of the French Fahnis, 

 they may nevertheless be regarded as corresponding to five 

 oscillations. In the deeper seas the bottom will not always be 

 upheaved above the sea under low eccentricities ; but the 

 oscillations will nevertheless operate in changing the fauna, 

 and also fi'equently the constitution of the deposits. 



The Miocene deposits of the Vienna-basin are divided into 

 three principal stages, — the first and second Mediterranean, 

 and the Sarmatian. But if we study the detailed profiles 

 more closely, there appear to have been here also five Miocene 

 oscillations. Thus (according to Suess, Sltzungsh. Wiener Akad. 

 18G6) the first Mediterranean stage shows the following 

 sequence of strata from below upwards : — 



Beds at Molt, with oyster-shells (broken), at the top with 

 lignite, 4 alternations, arc 8'. — Supposed by Suess to be 

 on the same horizon with the Faluns of Bazas. 



Beds near Loibersdorf, Gauderndorf, and Eggenburg, 

 marine, probably with 8 alternations, at any rate in 

 part younger than the beds at Molt (arcs 8' ? and 9'). 



" Schlier " with gypsum, at the top with land-plants. — 

 Suess calls it " ein ersterbendes Meer," and seems inclined 

 to regard it as a peculiar stage. Alternations, but scarcely 

 more than two. The last part of arc 9'. 



Beds at Grund, marine, with few (3-4) alternations, 

 to judge from Suess' profiles. — The faima forms a trans- 

 ition from the first to the second Mediterranean stage, 

 and this deposit at Grund is with reason regarded by 

 several Viennese geologists as representing a distinct 

 stage. Arc 10'. 



This was followed by the greatest submergence, the second 

 Mediterranean stage (arc IV), contemporaneous with the 

 French Faluns de Salles. The sea rose quite up into the 

 inner Alpine Vienna-basin. 1 have been unable to make out 

 the number of alternations in this stage. I have only seen 

 sections of the littoral formations described. 



Finally, the last Miocene oscillation, the Sarmatian stage, 

 arc 12'. In some localities {e. g. near Constantinople) this 

 stage commences with freshwater covered by marine formations 

 (see Suess, Antlitz der Erde, i. p. 419). According to a 

 profile from Hungary (by Peters in Sitzungsh. Wiener Akad. 

 1861) the stage has 4 alternations. 



This stage is followed by the Pliocene Congeria-beds, which 

 in the Vienna basin are represented only by brackish-water 

 formations, according to Fuchs [Jakrh. k. k. Geol. Reiclis. 



