Abstract
LONDON Geological Society, June 20.—J. W. Hulke, F.R.S., president, in the chair.—Henry Yorke Lyell Brown, Edward St. F. Moore, John Henry Nichols, and Henry Parker, were elected Fellows, and Baron F. von Richthofen, of Berlin, a foreign correspondent of the Society.—The following communications were read:—On the discovery of Ovibos moschatus in the, forest bed, and its range in space and time, by Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins. F.R.S. The specimen described by the author formed part of the collection of the late Rev. F. Buxton, and was obtained by a fisherman from the forest-bed of Trimingham, four miles from Cromer. The edges are sharp, and the red matrix adhered in places, so that the author regards its geological position as satisfactorily established. It is the posterior half of the upper surface of the skull of an adult female Ovibos moschatus. The author describes the range in space and time of this animal, mentioning the different instances in which its remains have been found in Britain. These are, in some cases, undoubtedly post-glacial; but he inclines to consider the lower brick-earth of the Thames Valley, where the musk-sheep has been found at Cray ford, as anterior to the boulder clay, which occupies the district to the north. This deposit at Trimingham, however, is certainly pre-glacial, and so Ovibos moschatus belongs to a fauna which arrived in our country prior to the extreme refrigeration of climate which characterised the glacial epoch, and afterwards retreated northwards to its present haunts, showing, with other evidence, that this epoch did not form a hard and fast barrier between two faunas.—On the relative age of some valleys in Lincolnshire, by A. J. Jukes-Browne, B.A.—On the section at Hordwell cliffs, from the top of the Lower Headon to the base of the Upper Bagshot Sands, by the late E. B. Tawney, M.A., and H. Keeping, of the Woodwardian Museum. Communicated by the Rev. Osmond Fisher, M.A. The authors, after a brief sketch of the literature of the subject and of the method which they have adopted in measuring the beds in the Hordwell section, passed on to describe these, viz. the freshwater Lower Headon series, and the so-called Upper Bagshot Sands of the Geological Survey. They make the whole thickness of the former 83^ feet. The bed numbered thirty-two in their section they identified with the Howledge limestone on the other side of the Solent. It is almost the highest seen in the section, and underlies the true Middle Headon which is now no longer exposed. The authors pointed out that in their opinion the late Marchioness of Hastings and Dr. Wright have somewhat misapprehended the position of these several beds. Details were then given of the remainder of the section, and comparisons made with the details published by former authors; after which the authors described the underlying estuarine series, or Upper Bag-shot Sands, which has a thickness of 171/2 On some new or imperfectly known Madreporaria from the Coral Rag and Portland Oolite of the counties of Wilts, Oxford, Cambridge, and York, by R. F. Tomes, F.G.S.—The geology of Monte Somma and Vesuvius, being a study in vulcanology, by H. J. Johnston-La vis, F.G.S. The author, after referring to the vast amount of literature which has appeared dealing with the same subject, stated that his object was to lay before the Society the results of his personal observations. The external form and general features of Monte Somma having been described, the origin of the present condition of the volcano was discussed in some detail, and the geological structure of the mountain and of the surrounding plain, as revealed by well-sections, was carefully considered. As the result of his observations the author believes that he is able to define eight successive phases in the history of the volcano; and the events which took place during these several periods, with the products of the eruption during each, were discussed in detail. The earliest certainly recognised phase in the history of the mountain was distinguished by chronic activity exhibited in outflows of lava and the ejection of scoria and ash. Possibly, however, a still earlier and paroxysmal stage is indicated by some of the phenomena described. Phase II. was a period of inactivity and denudation, which was brought to a close by the violent paroxysms of Phase III., followed by the chronic activity of Phase IV. Phase V. marks the return of a period of inactivity and denudation, which was again followed by the paroxysms of Phase VI. and the less violent outbursts of Phase VII., the last subsiding into the chronic activity which is the characteristic of Phase VIII., the modern period of the history of the volcano. The products of each of these periods of eruption were described in great detail. The eruptive phenomena which are illustrated by these studies of Somma and Vesuvius were then considered, together with the nature and result of the denudation which alternated with eruptive action in originating the present form of the mountain. The paper concluded with a statement of fifty propositions on the subject of vulcanology which appear to the authcr to be established by the studies detailed in the paper.—Note on “cone-in-cone ” structure, by John Young, F.G.S.-A geological sketch of Quidong, Manaro, Australia, by Alfred Morris, F.G.S.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 28, 310–312 (1883). https://doi.org/10.1038/028310b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/028310b0