File:The Quarterly journal of the Geological Society of London (14073210742).jpg

96
J. S. GAED^'ER OH THE TEETIAET
separated from each other, the first from the second by 4 feet and
the others by intervals of 3 feet each, of a more compact marl of an
almost stony character. The whole is capped by 30 feet of sandstone
withont plants. About a mile further east the lignites thin and are
only four in number and of less uniform thickness. The base is still
formed of greenish, indurated, sometimes ferruginous, sandy clay,
about 200 feet thick, passing towards the west into a basaltic breccia
at its lower part. The lowest bed of lignite is 18 inches thick, and
the other three 1 foot each, separated respectively by 16, 12, and
6 feet, and the uppermost surmounted by 14 feet of matrix, termi-
nating with a conglomerate of rounded pebbles. Half a mile beyond
this, to the east, the whole of the lignites dip below the sea-leveL
A mile further along the coast, at the angle of a chine, is the section
shown in fig. 1.
The fossiliferous beds rise inland, and cannot be traced more than
a few hundred yards up the chine. They are much faulted, — one
fault up the chine had a downthrow of 60 feet, — most of the faults
being in a JST.J^.E. direction or nearly parallel with the shore, pro-
ducing sometimes an apparent overlying of the shell-beds by the
lignites (fig. 2).
Fig. 2. — Fault causing Shell-beds to he apparently overlain hy
Lignites, near Husavik, Iceland.
w. w.
a. Lignites. h. Lignites concealed by debris. c. Shell-bed?,
Much of the matrix, especially towards the base, is exceedingly
like our London clay. The shells occur in bands, and particular
species are confined to particular horizons. Across the chine the
beds almost immediately dip out of sight (fig 3), and are succeeded
by higher and unfossiliferous beds, more compact and indurated, and
paler in colour. These are also much faulted.
I ceased to take notes beyond the Cape, but I subsequently rode
along the coast to the extreme point of Tjornes, where I understood
lignites had been met with ; but for ten miles the unfossiliferous
bed seemed to continue without any change.
I endeavoured to determine some of the species by comparison
at the Jermyn Street Museum, and submitted the list of names
which resulted, and the specimens, to Mr. Searles V. Wood and to
Dr. J. Gwyn Jeff'reys, who very kindly furnished me with the details
embodied in the accompanying table.