Elements of geology, or, the ancient changes of the earth and its inhabitants as illustrated by geological monuments / by Sir Charles Lyell.

  • Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elements of geology, or, the ancient changes of the earth and its inhabitants as illustrated by geological monuments / by Sir Charles Lyell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CHAPTER XXIV. THE COAL, OR CARBONIFEROUS GROUP. Carboniferous strata in the south-west of England—Superposition of Coal-measures to Mountain Limestone—Departure from this type in North of England and Scotland—Carboniferous series in Ireland—Section in South Wales—Under- clays with Stigmaria—Carboniferous Flora—Ferns, Lepidodendra, Equisetaceae, Calamites, Asterophyllites, Sigillariae, Stigmariae—Conifer®— Sternbergia — Trigonocarpon—Grade of Conifer® in the Vegetable Kingdom—Absence of Angiosperms — Coal, how formed—Erect fossil trees — Parkfield Colliery— St. Etienne Coal-field—Oblique trees or snags—Fossil forests in Nova Scotia— Rain-prints—Purity of the Coal explained—Time required for the accumu- lation of the Coal-measures—Brackish-water and marine strata—Crustaceans of the Coal—Origin of Clay-iron-stone .... . . page 463 CHAPTER XXV. care onifero us group—continued. Coal-fields of the United States—Section of the country between the Atlantic and Mississippi—Position of land in the carboniferous period eastward of the Al- leghanies—Mechanically formed rocks thinning out westward, and limestones thickening—Uniting of many coal-seams into one thick bed—Horizontal coal at Brownsville, Pennsylvania—Vast extent and continuity of single seams of coal—Ancient river-channel in Forest of Dean coal-field—Climate of Car- boniferous period—Insects in coal—Rarity of air-breathing animals—Great number of fossil fish—First discovery of the skeletons of fossil reptiles—Foot- prints of reptilians—First land-shell found—Rarity of air-breathers, whether vertebrate or invertebrate, in Coal-measures—Mountain limestone—Its corals and marine shells 493 CHAPTER XXVI. OLD RED SANDSTONE, OR DEVONIAN GROUP. Old Red Sandstone of the Borders of Wales—Of Scotland and the South of Ire- land-Fossil Devonian plants at Kilkenny—Holoptychius of the Middle and Cephalaspis of the Lower Old Red of Forfarshire— Fterygotus and supposed eggs of Crustaceans—Northern type of Old Red in Scotland—Classification of the Ichthyolites of the Old Red, and their relation to living types—Distinct lithological type of Old Red in Devon and Cornwall—Term Devonian—Organic remains of intermediate character between those of the Carboniferous and Silurian systems—Devonian series of England and the Continent—Upper Devonian rocks and fossils—Middle—Lower—Old Red Sandstone of Russia—- Preponderance of Brachiopoda—Devonian Strata of the United States and Canada—Coral reefs at the falls of the Ohio—Gaspc Sandstone—Vegetation of the Devonian period 520 CHAPTER XXVII. SILURIAN AND CAMBRIAN GROUPS. Silurian strata formerly called Transition—Term Grauwackc—Subdivisions of Upper, Middle, and Lower Silurians—Ludlow formation and fossils—Oldest known remains of fossil fish—Wenlock formation, corals, cystideans, trilobites— Middle Silurian or Llandovery beds—Lower Silurian rocks—Caradoc and Bala beds—Upper and Lower Llandeilo formations—Cystide®—Trilobites—Grapto- lites—Vast thickness of Lower Silurian strata, sedimentary and volcanic, in