2 
PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY.  [Feb.  1 893, 
November  23rd,  1892. 
W.  H.  Hxjdleston,  Esq.,  M.A.,  F.R.S.,  President,  in  the  Chair. 
John  Walker  Stather,  Esq.,  16  Louis  Street,  Hull,  was  elected  a 
Fellow  of  the  Society. 
The  List  of  Donations  to  the  Library  was  read. 
The  following  communications  were  read  : — 
1.  “Outline  of  the  Geological  Features  of  Arabia  Petraca  and 
Palestine.’’  By  Prof.  Edward  Hull,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S. 
[Abstract.] 
The  region  may  be  considered  as  physically  divisible  into  five 
sections,  viz. : — (i)  The  mountainous  part  of  the  Sinaitic  peninsula  ; 
(ii)  the  table-land  of  Badiet-el-Tih  and  Central  Palestine;  (iii)  the 
J ordan-Arabah  valley ;  (iv)  the  table-land  of  Edom,  Moab,  and  the 
volcanic  district  of  Jaulan  and  Hauran  ;  and  (v)  the  maritime  plain 
bordering  the  Mediterranean. 
The  most  ancient  rocks  (of  Archaean  age)  are  found  in  the  southern 
portion  of  the  region ;  they  consist  of  gneissose  and  schistose  masses 
penetrated  by  numerous  intrusive  igneous  rocks.  They  are  suc¬ 
ceeded  by  the  Lower  Carboniferous  beds  of  the  Sinaitic  peninsula 
and  Moabite  table-land,  consisting  of  a  bluish  limestone,  with  fossils 
which  have  their  counterparts  chiefly  in  the  Carboniferous  Lime¬ 
stone  of  Belgium,  and  of  a  purple  and  reddish  sandstone  (called  by 
the  Author  ‘  the  Desert  Sandstone,’  to  distinguish  it  from  the 
Nubian  Sandstone  of  Cretaceous  age),  lying  below  the  limestone. 
The  iNubian  Sandstone,  separated  from  the  Carboniferous  by  an 
enormous  hiatus  in  the  succession  of  the  formations,  is  probably  of 
Neocomian  or  Cenomanian  age,  and  is  succeeded  by  white  and  grey 
marls,,  and  limestones-with-flint,  with  fossils  of  Turonian  and 
Senonian  ages. 
The  Middle  Eocene  (Nummulitic  Limestone)  beds  appear  to  follow 
on  those  of  Cretaceous  age  without  a  discordance ;  but  there  is  a 
real  hiatus  notwithstanding  the  apjmrent  conformity,  as  shown  by 
tlie  complete  change  of  fauna.  In  Philistia  a  calcareous  sandstone, 
in  which  no  fossils  have  been  observed,  is  referred  to  the  Upper 
Eocene ;  for  the  Miocene  period  was  a  continental  one,  when 
faulting  and  flexuring  was  taking  place,  and  the  main  physical 
features  were  developed — e.  g .,  the  formation  of  the  Jordan-Arabah 
depression  is  referable  to  this  period. 
c  In  Pliocene  times  a  general  depression  of  land  took  place  to  about 
200-o00  feet  below  the  present  sea-level,  and  littoral  deposits  were 
or  mod  on  the  coasts  and  in  the  valleys.  To  this  period  belong  the 
ughci  terraces  of  ihe  Jordan-Arabah  valley.  The  Pliocene  deposits 
consist  of  shelly  gravels.  Later  terraces  were  formed  at  the  epoch 
of  ill c  glaciation  of  the  Lebanon  Mountains,  when  the  rainfall  was 
excessive  in  Palestine  and  Arabia. 
