THE JURA. 
29 
that dry land existed here during the Eocene pe- 
riod.* 
The celebrated asphalt of 
the Val de Travers (Fig. 81) ^ 
comes mainly from Urgonian strata. 
The valley is a synclinal, bounded, 
however, on the S.E. by a fault, 
which brings the more recent 
strata, from the Portland Beds to 
the Mollasse, directly against the 
Malm. 
As already mentioned, during 
the Glacial period the grand sheet 
of ice which spread over the whole 
central plain of Switzerland, rose 
to a great height on the slopes 
of the Jura. The glacier even 
rose over more than one of the 
cols, and streamed into the inner 
valleys as, for instance, by Ro- 
mainmotier into the Val de 
Vaulion. The Val de Travers 
has long been celebrated for the 
number of erratic blocks which it 
* Muller, Beitr. s. Geol. K. d. Schw., L. I. 
1 
Fig. 81.— Profile ol the Val de Travers. After Jaccard. 
