THE GEOLOGIST. 



elevated parts of the Kb on mountain as far as Reupert. Hence tlie mea- 

 sures extend tlirougli Saxe-Weimar again into Bavaria, where a seam is 

 known at Bauersberg. The eastern border of these measures stretches from 

 riadern through Saxe-Meiningen. Brov/n coal is met with to the north 

 of this, in the districts of Geisa, Lengsfeld, Tiefenort, Vacha, and Ger- 

 stungen. Some specimens are exhibited by proprietors of collieries in 

 Nassau, Hesse, and Bavaria. 



The brown coal of the eastern group reaches all the way from the Thu- 

 ringian basin, beginning at the foot of the Kyffhauser to the extreme Sam- 

 landic part of the Baltic coast, — a length of 470 by a width between 

 Domitz on the lower Elbe, and Franckenstein in Silesia, of 306 miles. 

 The deposits form bays and basins on the eastern and northern edges of the 

 hill-country, and spread thence under the diluvial formations of the low 

 country. These deposits belong to the Oligocene division of the Tertiary 

 period. On the left side of the Elbe, the brown-coal measures stretch 

 far into the hills of the Hercynian system, forming separate baj^s, which 

 are only partially connected with the large basin between Miessen and 

 Magdeburg, where the course of the Elbe recedes more and more from 

 the hills. The basin of Magdeburg extends from Helmstadt, in the Duchy 

 of Brunswick, in a southerly direction into the Prussian district of Neu- 

 haldensleben. In the district of Helmstadt the area is 18"8 miles by 47 

 miles, and the measures there have a lower group, which contains a seam 

 of 3^ fathoms, and an upper group, containing probably two seams — one of 

 one fathom thick and bad in quality, and another above 70 feet thick. 



The seam of the lower group is worked between Schoningen and 

 Hotensleben, where it is divided into six beds, three of which give 36 feet 

 of coal. Two seams near Strassfurth are from 24 to 40 feet. 



Another basin, separated from the Magdeburg by the river Saale, ex- 

 tends into Anhalt-Bernburg, and far into the flat country, and forms the 

 connecting link with the Thuringian basin by a great number of deposits 

 of brown coal scattered over that area. In the neighbourhood of Halle 

 the brown-coal deposits appear on the right bank of the Saale, and on the 

 left, at Langenbogen. in the lake-district of Mansfeld, the seam has a 

 thickness of 50 feet. The basin near Sangerhausen is very important ; 

 one seam, separated by intermediate rock into 5 divisions, giving an 

 aggregate of 20 feet of coal. 



In the district of Fraukenhausen one seam attains the considerable 

 tliickness of 73 feet, and in the basin between that place and Espernstadt 

 the coal attains to 84 feet in tlie middle, but decreases to 5 feet at the 

 edges. Other deposits advance to the southern foot of the Kyff^hauser. 

 Brown-coal measures extend from Zscherben, on the left bank of the 

 Saale, through the Merseburg and Weissenfels districts, to Skortleben 

 and Burgwerben, spreading out eastward into the district of Querfurt. 



The brown-coal seams on the right bank of the Saale extend from 

 Halle to Elster, where they are interrupted b}^ a broad plain, and begin 

 again near Wallendorf. One of the most important deposits covers a 

 field of ncarl}!^ 38^ square miles, from Hilperitz to Naundorf and Porsten. 

 The greatest development of brown-coal fields occurs in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Taucha, Wobau, Kopsen, Wohlitz, and Worschau, run- 

 ning out from this common centre in various directions. The measures 

 of Wallendorf and Schladebach continue to the eastward into Saxony, 

 Avhere two seams are found near Priestaeblick, one 7 fathoms, the other 

 about 6 feet thick. The same seam is found near Makrandstiidt about 4 

 fntlioms thick, and near Quesitz 27^ feet thick, below two others of, to- 

 getlier, 10| feet. More eastward, near Leipsic, a seam of about 2 fathoms 



