﻿Geological Society. 309 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



[Continued from p. 156.] 



Nov. 11th, 1868.— Prof. T. H. Huxley, LL.D., F.R.S., 



President, in the Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. " Note comparing the Geological Structure of North- western 

 Siberia with that of Russia in Europe." By Sir R. I. Murchison, 

 Bart., K.C.B., G.C.St.S., F.R.S., Y.P.G.S., &c. 



Count A. von Keyserling had communicated to the author the 

 following facts :— -The district between the rivers Lena and Jenissei 

 is occupied by Upper Silurian rocks of the same type as those found 

 in the region of Petchora, and by Carboniferous rocks containing 

 seams of coal. The chief Secondary deposits are of Oolitic or 

 Liassic age, and agree with those of the Petchora region, which is 

 the next adjacent tract on the west to the Siberian region in ques- 

 tion. Similar rocks are found in Spitzbergen. The banks of the 

 Jenissei are covered with Postpliocene accumulations similar to 

 those found near Archangel. It is thus seen that the vast, slightly 

 undulating, and to a great extent horizontal and unbroken forma- 

 tions, each of which occupies so wide an area in European Russia, 

 are repeated on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains. In this 

 range of mountains only are to be found igneous and erupted rocks. 



In conclusion, Sir Roderick referred to the discovery of fossili- 

 ferous white chalk in parts of the great Sarmatian plain by M. 

 Grewinck. 



Sir Roderick Murchison, in explanation of the paper, referred to 

 a geological map of Russia, and gave a general sketch of the bearing 

 of the paper on the previously known geology of that country. He 

 mentioned the discovery by M. Grewinck of beds of brown coal 

 containing amber, and overlying true chalk. The amber in the 

 Baltic had been supposed to have been washed out of beds beneath 

 the sea ; but Count Keyserling has suggested that the amber may 

 have been brought down by the rivers from the interior, and depo- 

 sited in the Baltic. Sir Roderick also called attention to the ab- 

 sence of igneous rocks in Russia to the west of the Ural Mountains. 



2. "On a Section of a Well at Kissingen." By Prof. Sand- 

 berger, For.Corr.G.S. 



Taking as a starting-point a bed of dark-blue limestone, the 

 author proceeded to describe the various beds passed through in 

 sinking the Schonbern well, both as regards their petrological cha- 

 racters and chemical constitution. He considered that this bed is 

 on the same horizon as the uppermost Plattendolomite of the Zech- 

 stein formation in the Harz and Thuringia. Above this lie the 

 lowermost beds of the Bunter (containing dolomites), and below it 

 pie upper part of the Zechstein formation. Below the Plattendolo- 



