On a Tertiary Deposit near Lixouri, in the island of Cephalonia

Abstract

The tertiary deposit here described occupies a considerable portion of the peninsula of Lixouri, on the western side of the Gulf of Argostoli. It forms a series of ridges, extending for two or three miles to the north and south of the village of Lixouri, and running parallel to the strike of the secondary rocks of the island of Cephalonia, as well as of the whole of the Ionian isles, which conform in their directions to the great mountain systems of the Apennines and of Dalmatia. The beds slope gradually to the eastward, and present a succession of steep escarpments towards the west. The width of this tertiary zone may be about four miles from the sea on the east to the mountainous ridge of secondary rocks against which they rest on the west. The beds are all perfectly conformable, dipping a few degrees to the north of east by compass, at an angle of from 45° to 55°. Their aggregate thickness may be estimated at about 900 feet. They are remarkable for the great number and variety of fossils which they contain, some of the beds being almost wholly composed of shells, in the most perfect state of preservation, many of which belong to species now existing in the Mediterranean. A large proportion of these shells are identical with species figured by Brocchi from the Subapennine beds, indicating that this deposit must be referred to the Pliocene epoch. This locality is also interesting from the great thickness of the