THE EOCENE PERIOD. 217 



Belgium before the close of the Lower Eocene, the drainage from east- 

 ern Britain and Norway 1 brought plants (palms) and animals (croco- 

 diles, alligators, etc.) now characteristic of tropical latitudes. The 

 Tertiary of the Paris basin especially is famous for its wealth of fossils. 

 The Lower Eocene of this basin is largely of non-marine origin, and 

 contains some coal; the Middle is marine, and includes both nummu- 

 litic limestone and glauconitic beds; while the Upper is marine below, 

 but non-marine above. 



The Eocene of central and western Europe is mostly of clastic origin, 

 and the beds are still uninduratecl. The aggregate thickness of the 

 system in England is about 1700 feet. 



In southern Europe, the Eocene sea spread much beyond the borders 

 of the present Mediterranean, covering much of the southern part of 

 Europe. It also overspread the northern part of Africa and part of 

 southeastern Asia. Connecting freely with the Indian Ocean, it cut off 

 the southern peninsulas of Asia from the continent to the north. In 

 western Europe, an arm of the Mediterranean sea swung around the 

 north side of the Alps and Carpathians, and extended thence eastward, 

 connecting in that direction with the water which covered much of 

 southern Europe. A narrow sound east of the Urals probably con- 

 nected the Arctic ocean with this expanded Eocene Mediterranean. 

 Out of this extended sea rose many islands, some of which corresponded 

 in position to the Alps, Carpathians, Apennines, and Pyrenees. 



On the bottom of this great body of water, which should perhaps 

 be thought of as a part of the ocean rather than as a Mediterranean 

 sea, limestone was deposited on an extensive scale. Much of it is made 

 up almost wholly of the shells of nummulites, a genus of foraminifera, 

 and is known as Nummulitic limestone. This limestone is known in the 

 Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennines, the Carpathians, in Greece and Tur- 

 key, at various points in northern Africa, in Asia Minor, Persia, Beloo- 

 chistan, India, Farther India, China, Japan, Java, Sumatra, and the 

 Philli pines. It is, in short, found from one side of the Old World to the 

 other. While the limestone is sometimes made up almost wholly of 

 foraminiferal shells, it often contains other types of fossils in abundance. 

 The rock is often firm and even crystalline. In this respect the Eocene 

 of southern Europe is in sharp contrast with the unindurated, new- 



1 James Geikie, Outlines of Geology. 



