Societies and Academies

Abstract

LONDON. Geological Society, May 14.—Charles Barrington Brown: The geology of north-eastern British Somali-land. Geological results of four months' field work with the Anglo-Italian Boundary Commission in Somaliland. The area discussed is a belt of country along the 49th meridian east, from the coast to about 80 miles inland. There are three structural units: (1) The sunken block or belt of the Aden Gulf, bordered on the south by an important fault of 6000 feet throw, from the next unit, (2), the faulted upraised mass of the Al Hills, which continue as a bordering scarp along the south of the Gulf as the Aroru and Afaf Hills; on the south succeeds (3), the inland plateau-region at 2000 to 3500 feet elevation. This plateau is entirely un-faulted, but has been subjected to folding of a peculiar kind, resulting in gently undulating areas, unaffected areas, and numbers of small synclinal basins the origin of which is obscure. The Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks crop out on the face of the Al scarp fronting seawards. The Lower Eocene forms all the surface of the Al Hills, a splintered block tilted to the south. The Middle Eocene covers all the inland plateau. There is a group of faults in echelon in the mountainous country, each with a throw of nil to 2000 feet in a short distance. The Aden Rift Fault was traced for a distance of 48 miles.