Stratified Rocks near Killarney and Ditblin. 1 Q6 



is not visible lower down: the reddish gray strata alternate as 

 before with purplish gray slate. As Ave ascend and ap- 

 proach the summits of the Coumeen Peest, or eastern ridge 

 of the Reeks, the strata assume a more decidedly red charac- 

 ter, till at length they pass into brick or cherry-red quartz 

 rock, and contain some beds of conglomerate, identical in 

 colour, composition, and structure with the old red sand- 

 stone already described, situated to the north of the fault in 

 the Gap ofDunloe, but not quite so coarse-grained*. These 

 red quartzose or old red sandstone beds difl'er materially from 

 the schistose beds of the lower part of the series. The struc- 

 ture of the rock is decidedly granular, the strata are thinner, 

 and they are divided by joints into rectangular masses, while 

 the schistose beds beneath usually present rhomboidal forms. 



The conglomerate on the top of the Reeks is perfectly con- 

 formable with the underlying strata, and in fact a regular 

 gradation may be traced from the lower or chloritic portion 

 of the series through the gray and reddish gray into the brick- 

 red quartz rock and conglomerate. 



From the summitof the Reeks still proceeding in a southern 

 direction towards the valley of Kenmare, we do not find these 

 old red sandstone strata dipping to the southward, as shown 

 on Mr. Hamilton's section already mentioned, and published 

 in the Journal of the Geological Society of Dublin, but on 

 the contrary they crop out to the southward, forming a re- 

 gular cap resting conformably on the inferior strata, whose 

 ends appear in the precipitous escarpment visible on the 

 northern side of the valley of CoomyduiF, in the bottom of 

 which the green chloritic beds already described as occur- 

 ring near the fault in the Gap of Dunloe again make their 

 appearance, and the whole succession of the strata and pass-^ 

 ag-e from the green chloritic beds to the red conglomerate as 

 already described on the northern acclivity of the Reeks, may 

 likewise be traced on the southern. 



It is unnecessary to enter into any further particulars re- 

 specting the detail of the succession of the strata between the 

 valley of Coomyduff, and the reappearance of the old red 

 sandstone at Lisinisky, to the north of the valley of Kenmare, 

 as it is clearly shown in the section, and the same gradation 

 of colour and character, from the green to the red rocks, is 

 observable. See Plate II. fig. 1. 



The old red sandstone of the valley of Kenmare consists of 



* The conglomerate visible near the summit of Lisbug mountain on the 

 western ranges of the Reeks, is fully as coarse-grained as that of the Gap of 

 Dunloe. 



