Additional Observations on the Neocomian Strata of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, with Notes on their Relations to the Beds of the same age throughout Northern Europe

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Conclusion We have thus seen that the Neocomian beds of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire are the most westerly development of a great mass of strata, of the same age, stretching over a wide area in Northern Europe. It is true that the beds of this age are neither so well exposed nor do they attain so great a thickness as in the south of Europe; but they nevertheless present us with a remarkably similar succession of faunas. At the eastern and western extremities of the area, in Brunswick and in Yorkshire respectively, the marine series is complete, and we have the three divisions of the Neocomian formation all developed; but in the intermediate districts of Westphalia, Hanover, and the Hartz, the marine beds represent only the Upper and Middle Neocomian, and these rest upon the freshwater strata of the North-German Wealden. The section at Speeton Cliff derives additional interest from the fact that it is by far the most complete exposure of the Neocomian beds over the whole of the great North-European area. The sections elsewhere are more or less isolated and fragmentary; but at Speeton we find the key by means of which they may be identified and correlated. We have seen that, over the North-European area, a remarkable uniformity of character is maintained among the Neocomian strata (and the same is, to a certain extent, true also of the Cretaceous and Jurassic), indicating that this district forms a natural province, not improbably representing an ancient sea-basin. The ridge of Palæozoic