On the occurrence of chalk-flints and Greensand fossils in Aberdeenshire

Abstract

In submitting for the inspection of the Edinburgh Geological Society the specimens of flints and greensand fossils now on the table, from the district of Buchan, in Aberdeenshire, I present also the following notes on their occurrence. The locality may be generally described as that part of the north-eastern portion of the county of Aberdeen lying between the mouth of the Ythan on the south and the town of Peterhead on the north, embracing portions of the parishes of Slains, Ellon, Old Deer, and Peterhead. The general features of the district are those usually exhibited when the primary or crystalline rocks predominate as the foundation rock. These rocks, mostly granite, are covered with a thick coating of gravels and clays, making their appearance chiefly on the coast lines. We have, however, presented to us here and there some interesting geological occurrences, which we may call anomalies, or at least what appear anomalies at present, though greater light and a wider observation may yet show them to be occurrences in the natural order of events. Running slightly to the south of west, there is a ridge of high ground, taking its rise nearly at Buchanness, and stretching across the country for eight or ten miles; at its eastern extremity it branches. One of the forks terminates south of Buchanness, in the mass of granite known as Stirling Hill. The other runs north of Buchanness and may be said to terminate in the granitic escarpment of the Black Hills. All along the