CHAPTER VIII. 
PERMIAN SYSTEM. 
Introduction. — Explanation of the word Permian. — Eastern Limits of the Permian 
System along the Slopes of the Ural Mountains. — Lower Limestone and Gypsum 
near Perm. — Copper, Grits, Sandstones, fyc. — Ascending Series of Strata from the 
south-west flank of the Ural to the Environs of Orenburg. — Permian Rocks around 
Orenburg. — Limestones of Grebeni, Sc., shown to be the equivalent of the Zechstein, 
Sc. — ■ Conglomerates , Copper beds and Sandstones north and west of Orenburg . — 
Kargalinsk, Obschey Sirt, Sc. — Transverse Section from Sterlitamak, near the 
Ural, to the Volga on the west, including the Mines of Nijni Troitsk, Bielebei, Sc. 
— Country between Perm and Kazan. — Sections on the Kama, Volga and Sviaga . — 
Sections of Gypsum and Limestone on the Piana ( Barnakuva , Arzamas, Sc .). — 
Western Limits of the System. — Origin of the Copper Sands, Sc. 
Haying worked our way upwards through Silurian, Devonian and Carboni- 
ferous rocks, we have now to describe the next succeeding natural group. Spread 
out over a larger surface than any other Russian system, the rocks in question, 
with certain overlying red deposits which we cannot yet well separate from them, 
occupy the greater part of the governments of Perm, Orenburg, Kazan, Nijni Novo- 
gorod, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Viatka and Vologda, a region more than twice the size 
of the whole kingdom of France ! 
Very different opinions have prevailed concerning the age of these rocks, due 
doubtlessly to the varied aspect which the same strata assume in their range over 
so broad an area, and to the limited scale of observation from which conclusions 
have been drawn. The red sandstone and conglomerate of certain districts, with 
small seams of subordinate coal, have led to a comparison with the “ rohte-todte- 
liegende,” whilst the lighter- coloured sands have suggested the idea of the “ weiss 
liegende ” of German geologists. Again, the variegated marls and sandstone, with 
