On certain Eocene Formations of Western Servia

Abstract

The formation described, consisting of shales containing paraffin wax, is met with near the river Golabara,in the west of Servia, and is known to extend over about 30 square miles of country. It forms cliffs rising about 200 feet above the surrounding plains; these show numerous very thin layers of white and grey shale, sometimes separated by thin beds of whitish clay containing rock-salt. The whole geology of the district closely resembles that of the paraffin and salt districts of Galicia. The shales are very rich in paraffin, are entirely free from bituminous impurities, and have no odour. The paraffin in these deposits is probably of vegetable origin, produced by natural distillation of the old Brown Coals which abound in the vicinity. On analysis the paraffin shale gave by distillation 2 per cent. of a semisolid hydrocarbon, resembling ozokerite wax, which, when extracted with benzoline, gave 1·75 per cent. of wax. The analysis gave:— The old Brown Coals of the vicinity (which contain more or less rhombie iron pyrites, often in rather large macles) gave on analysis :— The quantity of ash amounts to between 5 and 7 per cent.; it consists chiefly of alumina, magnesia, lime, iron-oxide, and silica. The argillaceous deposits of' the neighbourhood, from which the paraffin shales were formed, are evidently of marine origin and contain abundance of fossils belonging to the genera Ostrea , Cerithium , Cyrena , Nautilus , and Voluta , besides numerous Nummulites and abundance of marine Diatomaceæ, the assemblage indicating an Upper Eocene age. Remains of