278 Dr Hibbert on the Limestone of Calder, fyc. 



1st, The Fresh- Water Limestones of Calder. 



At East Calder, and to the south-west of Mid-Calder, the limestone which is 

 there quarried appears, like that of Burdiehouse, to have a fresh-water origin. Its 

 strata have undergone great derangement, and dip in various directions. In one of 

 the quarries of East Calder, where a good section is exposed, the lowest rock is said 

 to be sandstone, above which the following strata may be enumerated in an ascend- 

 ing order : — A yellowish coarse limestone, 16 feet thick; — limestone, 43 feet thick, 

 in which vegetable remains are contained, such as are usually found in coal-fields, 

 and, along with these, scales of the Megabchthys have been discovered ; — nine feet of 

 a very bituminous shale, part of which burns readily, mixed with ironstone ; — shale 

 (named Blaes) 16 feet; — and, at the top of the series, an alluvial covering of clay, 

 sand, &c. in which large boulders occur. 



2d, TJie Fresh' Water Limestone of Burntisland. 



A very deep-seated bed of fresh-water limestone is to be found in the road from 

 Newbigging to Burntisland in Fifeshire. It also crops out on the north of the 

 Bin Hill. It is comparatively a small bed, being at Newbigging not more than 

 eighteen feet thick. Plants as well as Coprolites are contained in it. 



I have collected numerous details regarding this very deep seated deposit, but, 

 as I have not space to enter into them, I shall merely remark, that its geological si- 

 tuation appears in a section of the beds exposed between Burntisland and Seafield 

 town, which has been published by Dr Boue'. This excellent geologist did not lose 

 sight of the important fact that the limestone of Burntisland contained the remains 

 of plants. (See Essai Geohgique sur YEcosse, par A. Boue', p. 472.) 



3d, The Fresh-water Limestone of Kirhton, near Bathgate, indicative of ancient Thermal 



Waters. 



I regret most exceedingly, that I have only space to give a mere outline of this 

 very interesting deposit. 



From Bathgate to Linlithgow, a distance of about six miles, a long bne of fissure 

 extending from SS.W. to NN.E. may be traced, by which deep seated beds of lime- 

 stone are brought to view. Near Linlithgow an eruption of trap occurs, but as out- 

 crops of limestone reappear in the noted quarry of Limekilns in Fifeshire, near the 

 seat of the Earl of Elgin, it is probable that the line of fissure has been prolonged 

 across the Firth of Forth in the same direction of NN.E. 



A mile or two to the east of Bathgate, at Kirkton, we find that a very consider- 

 able outbreak of greenstone has occurred. Close to it on the west appears the lime- 

 stone of Kirkton. By this contiguity we are assured, that the limestone must, have 

 been elaborated within the immediate sphere and influence of an extensive volcanic 

 eruption. The consequence has been, that one of the most unique formations of 



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