Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 27.djvu/315

 THE

QUARTERLY JOURNAL

OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

PROCEEDINGS

OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

January 25, 1871.

Richard Atkinson Peacock, Esq., of St. Helier's, Jersey ; Arthur W. Waters, Esq., Davos Plaz, Canton of Grisons ; R. Koma, Esq., of University College, London ; and Ransom Franklin Humiston, Esq., M.A., Professor of Chemistry in Cleveland University, U. S., were elected Fellows of the Society.

The following communications were read : —

1. On the Physical Relations of the New Red Marl, Rhaetic Beds, and Lower Lias. By Prof. A. C. Ramsay, LL.D., F.R.S., &c.

If we look upon the Rhaetic beds of Europe as a whole, it is evident that they were formed under very different conditions in different areas. Thus this formation on the south side of the Alps, as described by Stoppani, contains a large and well- developed marine fauna, whereas in England, Germany, Sweden, and in other parts of the north of Europe, the strata are much less developed, and the fauna has dwindled, containing fewer forms of life, while most of them are small and some distorted in appearance.

In this paper I propose to inquire into the reason of these peculiarities with regard to the English beds, and to show their relations to the New Red Marl and the Lower Lias in a physical point of view.

I have for some years held that the New Red Marl is physically more intimately connected with the Rhaetic beds, and, in some respects, even with the Lower Lias, than it is with our own New Red Sandstone. The absence of the Muschelkalk in England probably attests a break in succession in our Triassic series. I say probably, because the opinion is every day growing stronger that our

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