THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
357 
In the western part of Malta the Clays crop out 
from the sides of the plateaux and along the 
valleys of the Binjemmas; indeed, but for the nu- 
merous parallel faults that intersect this part of 
Malta and the eastern half of Gozo, the Clays 
would form a continuous bed extending from Gebel 
Ciantar in the south-east of Malta to Giurdan in 
the north of Gozo. These faults have broken the 
continuity of the bed and have caused many parts 
of it to descend to lower levels. At St. Paul’s 
Bay the outcrop of the Clays is 150 feet lower 
than is that which occurs at the western extremity 
of the Great Fault of Malta; and in Melleha Val- 
ley the strata between the two faults that form the 
boundaries of the bay have been let down to such 
an extent as to completely submerge, not only the 
Clays, but also the beds that lie above them. These 
faults and the sections in the shafts at Boschetto 
and Gomerino, the road-sections at Gebel Imtarfa ' 
and the outcrops at Ckelmus, Madonna della Kala 
Ghain Toffiha, Chambray, and Giurdan are the 
places that are best adapted for studying the 
formation. 
The surface-contour of Gozo is more diversified 
than that of Malta and with the exception of the 
depressed area which lies to the south of the Gozo 
Great Fault the strata preserve a more uniform 
horizontality than they do in the sister isle. In 
both islands the Clays are usually overlain by the 
Greensand; but to this order there are several 
well-marked exceptions. At Chain Toffiha, in the 
north-west of Malta, the Clays are overlain by the 
Upper Coralline Limestone (bed 5), the Greensand, 
being entirely absent, and at Boschetto, Nadur, 
and Gebel Ciantar the same order is to be observed 
In Gozo the Clays invariably occupy their normal 
position between beds 4 and 2, except at Chambray, 
Dueira, and Marsa-el-forno, where the complete 
denudation of the Upper Coralline Limestone and 
of the Greensands has left the Clays exposed as the 
surface-deposit. Similar surface-exposures are to 
be observed in Malta at Karraba and Melleha. 
The thickness of the formation has been va- 
riously estimated. Both Hutton (l)and Adams (2) 
considered that it attained a maximum thick- 
ness of 100 feet and more, while Ur. John 
Murray says that it “probably rarely exceeds 20 
feet.” The result of the numerous measurements 
that I have made of the outcrops, of the cliff- 
sections, and of the sections in the well-shafts in 
the Binjemmas, proves that the latter estimate is 
much nearer the truth than the former. The foll- 
owing table of measurements will show the extent 
to which the thickness varies in different parts of 
the Islands: — 
No. 
Locality. 
Thickness. 
1. 
Ghain Toffiha, Malta. 
about 50 feet. 
2. 
Chambray, Gozo. 
30 „ 
3. 
Ras-el-Kammieh, Gozo. 
„ 50 ., 
4. 
Xaghra Hill, 
„ 40 „ 
5. 
Dabreni, „ 
11 40 ,, 
6. 
Chelrnus, „ 
„ 40 „ 
7. 
Dueira, „ 
„ 20 „ 
8. 
Giurdan, „ 
„ 40 „ 
9. 
Ghar lima, „ 
„ 40 „ 
10. 
Gebel Ciantar, Malta. 
„ 15 >1 
11. 
Boschetto Valley „ 
„ 25 „ 
12. 
Citta Vecchia, „ 
„ 20 „ 
13. 
Gebel Imtarfa, „ 
„ 14 „ 
14. 
Ta Binjemma, „ 
„ 15 „ 
15. 
Wardia, „ 
ii 20 „ 
16. 
Selmone, „ 
from 10 to 20 feet. 
17. 
Dingli, ,. 
„ 6 to 10 „ 
18. 
Gomerino, ., 
about 22 feet. 
19. 
Fom-ir-Rieh, „ 
55 ,J 55 
Remarks. 
These localities are in a line run- 
ning due N.E. and S.W. 
These localities lie west of the above 
mentioned line. 
These localities are in a line run- 
ning N.E. and S.W. 
These localities lie west of the above 
mentioned line. 
(1) 'Sketch of the Physical Geology of M<xila( Geol. Mag. for 1866 t p. 1J0-. 
(i) tywirt, Jo urn. Geol. Joe. vol. xxxv. (18 70) p. 51!). (To be continued. ) 
