VI.—On the Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous Rocks of the North—East of the Island of Arran

Abstract

In the Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society (vol. v, p. 316) will be found a notice of a section at Lochrim Burn, a quarter of a mile south of Corrie, where is exposed a bed of red sandy shale containing marine fossils. The catalogue contains fifteen species (certified by Mr. John Young, LL.D.), and every one of these is common in the Carboniferous Limestone series of the West of Scotland. This bed is overlain by another bed containing abundant plant-remains, of which a list of seven species is given. The Rev. D. Landsborough, of Kilmarnock, found here another, viz. Carpolithes sulcatus, L. and H. (“Fossil Flora,” pl. ccxx), which Mr. Kidston considers to be characteristic of the Calciferous Sandstone series. It seems to me, however, that the evidence is rather in favour of these beds belonging to the Limestone series. Then, as already noted, there are the fireclays, of which I have observed several distinct beds along the Corrie shore. There is also a bed of fireclay in the old quarry behind Corrie Hotel (within 100 feet of the Productus giganteus limestone); this overlies a bed of fine white sandstone. Fireclays also occur in the gap between the northern and the great eastern cliff.