VI.—On the Geology of the Environs of Nice, and the Coast thence to Vintimiglia.

Abstract

Nice, the capital of the county of that name, stands on the Paglion torrent, on a small plain, bounded on the north by Mont Cao and its ramifications; on the south by the Mediterranean; on the east by the chain of Mont Moron, Mont Alban, Mont Venagrie, and Mont Gros; on the west by tertiary hills, generally fertile, and succeeded beyond the Var by high mountains. The Castle Hill of Nice rises out of this plain. The plain and adjacent slopes covered with gardens of peaches, oranges, lemons, and extensive olive-grounds, contrast strikingly with the rugged mountain summits which stretch from Genoa to Marseilles. This contrast I have endeavoured to represent in the annexed sketch of a view taken from Mont Moron*. M. Verany of Nice has determined, with a barometer of M. Gay Lussac’s construction, the heights of the principal mountains above the level of the sea;—they are as follows: | | English Feet. | |:-------- | ------------- | | M. Cao | 2800 | | M. Moron | 542 | | M. Alban | 731 | | M. Gros | 1187 | | Pacanaïa | 1950 | I was present when some of these measurements were taken, and suspect that they rather exceed than fall short of the true height. The accounts already given of the geology of this neighbourhood are enumerated in the sketch which M. Risso has prefixed to his Histoire Naturelle de l’Europe Meridionale , which, notwithstanding its title, treats of little more than the environs of Nice. The most valuable, of these are Faujas St. Fond’s paper in the Annales du Museum †, on the osseous breccias,