118 DE. W. F. HTJME ON SECULAE OSCILLATION IN EGYPT [Feb. I9II,. 



3. The Effects of Secuxae Oscillation in Egypt during the 

 Ceetaceous and Eocene Periods. 1 By William Eeasee Hume, 

 D.Sc, Assoc.E.C.S., Assoc.R.S.M., E.G.S., Director of the 

 Geological Survey of Egypt. (Read November 23rd, 1910.) 



[Plate VI— Geological Map.] 



Contents. 



Page 

 I. Introduction 118 



II. Variations in the Fossiliferous Cretaceous Strata, and their 



Eelation to the Nubian Sandstone 119 



III. The Hammama Type 124 



IV. The Danian Extension in Eastern Egypt 124 



V. The Southern Cretaceous Type 129 



VI. Summary of Cretaceous History in Egypt 129 



VII. Transition from the Cretaceous to the Eocene Period 13i 



VIII. The Faunal History of Egypt during Eocene Times 133 



IX. General Summary 143 



I. Introduction. 



In the year 1878 Prof. Zittel 2 laid the foundations of modern 

 Egyptian sedimentary geology on a broad basis, since which period 

 the Cretaceous and Eocene strata of that country have aroused 

 much interest. The problems which have especially appealed to 

 investigators are : — 



(1) The age of the Nubian Sandstone. 



(2) The changes of the fossiliferous Cretaceous strata when traced from 



north to south. 



(3) The nature of the junction between the Eocene and the Cretaceous. 



(4) The distribution and variation in the Eocene beds. 



(5) The nature of the changes which have marked the passage from the 



Eocene to the Oligocene Period. 



The work carried out by the Egyptian Geological Survey has, 

 since 1896, widened our knowledge of the facts on which the 

 broader theoretical conclusions will have to be based ; and, in the 

 present contribution, I shall endeavour to set forth the new data 

 which have been obtained by me in connexion with each of 

 these questions, only referring to the results of other investigators 



1 In view of the new facts obtained during the expedition of 1910, the 

 author was permitted to rewrite his paper on ' The Cretaceous & Eocene 

 Strata of Egypt,' presented to the Geological Society in 1909, so as to include 

 these results. 



2 K. A. von Zittel, 'Ueber den geologischen Bau der Libyschen Wiiste * 

 (Festrede) K, Bayerisch. Akad. Wissensch. 1880, and 'Beitrage zur Geologie 

 & Palaontologie der Libyschen Wiiste, &c.' Palaeontographica, vol. xxx, 1883. 



