116 



THE GEOLOGIST, 



bia and the Provinces by a barrier at the Isaktcha hills which the Danube has 

 since cut through. Capt. Spratt remarked that the lacustrine conditions of the • 

 OTcat area in Eastern Europe and Asia j\Iinor where he has indicated fresh- 

 water deposits were probably interfered with by Yolcanic outbursts, wiiich 

 opened a communication between the Euxine and Mediterranean, altering the 

 levels of the region, causing the formation of the great gravel-beds at the foot 

 of tiic Carpathians, and an outspreading of the brown parly superficial deposits 

 of the Steppe, which are locally impregnated with mineral or marine salts, in- 

 dicative either of the influx of the sea, or of mineral solutions set free by vol- 

 canic agencies. p m • 



Capt. Spratt also described the older rocks, some probably of Tnassic age, 

 and others Cretaceous, which are here conformably overlaid by the lacustiiue 

 deposits. These he saw in the hills, south of the Danube, near Tultcha and 

 Beshtepeh; also at the Rasehn Lagoon, where both Cretaceous shales and 

 marble containing Ceratites, &c., occur ; the latter at Popin Island. At Dola- 

 shina, a cape south of the Raselm Lagoon, the soft Cretaceous limestone is full 

 of small Inocerami. 



These indications of Secondary rocks are intimately connected with those 

 further south, at Cape Media and Kanara, formerly described by the author. 



Liverpool Geological Society. — January 10, 1860. 



" On the Basement-bed of the Keuper Eormation in "Wirral, and the South- 

 west of Lancashire." 



After referring to the subdivisions of the Trias, he described the cha- 

 racter of the upper red and variegated sandstone of the Bunter forma- 

 tion, showing that it had suffered a considerable amount of denudation previous 

 to the deposition of the Keuper. A bed of upper Bunter sandstone in Wii-ral 

 is found to be almost entirely denuded on the northern side of the Mersey, 

 oidy the faintest traces of it being visible. A slight unconformity seems very 

 probable, but the surface of the Bunter is so eroded and uneven, that it is very 

 difficidt to arrive at an exact and satisfactory conclusion upon that important 

 point. 



The base of the Keuper is very uniform in its lithological aspect throughout 

 the district, bcm^ a conglomerate or coarse sandstone containing quartz-pebbles 

 and nochdes of clay. In colour the bed varies, but it can always be distin- 

 guished by its hardness from the Bunter sandstone beneath. Eor these and 

 other minor reasons, the author of the paper stated that the Bunter had been 

 exposed to denudation for a long period prior to the deposition of the Keuper, 

 njul that most probably the surface of the former was diy land dui-ing the 

 time tliat the ]\Iuschelkalk was being formed in more southern and easterly 

 regions. With the exception of the well known footprints of Emydians and 

 Batraehians, not a trace of any animal or plant had been found in' either the 

 Bunter or Keujier formations of the neighbourhood. 



The examination of the three railway -tunnels under the town of Liverpool, 

 and of other artiticial opemngs, satisfactorily proves that the basement -bed of 

 the Keuper on the map of tfie Geological Survey is altogether misplaced, and 

 that that map requires correction, in order to render it an accurate guide to the 

 local geology. 



