On the Lias about Radstock

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A recent writer* states that the geological history of Somersetshire has yet to be written; if this be true (and it is not for me to decide), what a marvellous tale will have to be told! if we may judge from the deeply interesting portions of that history already made known to us by Mr. C. Moore, some of the results of whose labours, which cover many years, are embodied in two communications to this Society†, and are illustrated by a most extensive and exquisite suite of fossils deposited in the Bath Museum. Without seeking to disparage the larger views set forth in the last-mentioned papers, yet I consider a modified interpretation of some of the phenomena is required; and calling to my aid an extended acquaintance with Liassic species and their distribution, I believe that I am in position to give a more complete account of the sequence of deposits, so far as relates to the Liassic rocks in the neighbourhood of Badstock, than has yet been done. Wherever the Lias has been critically studied, it is found that there is a parallelism in the succession of life, most especially in regard to the species of Ammonites —so much so that the strata admit of a grouping after their palæontological characteristics, and further into regions of Ammonites , a classification as much in harmony with facts as that of the Oolitic rocks into formations. The recognized divisions of the Lower and Middle Lias as follows:— M iddle L ias . Zones of Ammonites spinatus

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: