PART III.
=GEOLOGY.=
* * * * *
SECTION IX.—GENERAL AND CLASSIFICATION OF STRATA.
The geology of the area[33] under consideration is almost entirely stratigraphical, the only igneous rocks being more or less local lava flows. The sedimentary rocks of the district have yielded an abundant fauna, both invertebrate and vertebrate; the latter is of unique interest, including as it does a number of highly interesting animal types quite new to science. An extended examination in the field, and comparisons with the stratigraphical succession in other parts of Egypt, checked by the determinations of the fossil molluscan fauna, make it possible to form a very fair estimate of the approximate age of the different rock-stages, although this may necessarily be subject to modification when the specific determinations of the entire collection of organic remains have been completed, and the development of vertebrate life has been correlated and compared with that in other parts of the world.
The depression is cut out in a great series of sedimentary rocks of Middle Eocene, Upper Eocene, and Oligocene age, and one of the features of the stratigraphy of the region is the constancy of many beds over wide areas. The dip of the beds throughout the area is nearly due north and at a very low angle, averaging 2° or 3°, but varying from 1° to 5°; this low dip is very constantly maintained except when locally affected by small faults. The structural geology and tectonics have already been discussed at some length in the previous sections.
The oldest beds found in the depression are the clays, marls, and limestones with _Nummulites gizehensis_, of Middle Eocene age. These are succeeded by a group of white marly limestones and gypseous clays, which largely underlie the cultivated alluvium of the Fayûm. They are followed by a series consisting of clays, sandstones, and calcareous grits, some beds of which are characterized by the abundance of small nummulites and _Operculina_. The latter series is followed by the uppermost truly marine Eocene beds, a group of alternating clays, sandstones and limestones, the “Qasr el Sagha Series” (or Carolia beds), characterized by an abundant invertebrate and vertebrate fauna, and equivalent to the Upper Mokattam beds of Cairo.
Above the Qasr el Sagha series, and well marked off from them both lithologically and palæontologically, is found a great thickness of variegated sands, sandstones, clays and marls, the “Fluvio-marine Series” (Jebel el Qatrani beds), divided near the summit by one or more thick intercalated lava sheets, the latter forming a convenient junction line. This series of variegated beds is of Upper Eocene—Lower Oligocene age.
No Miocene strata have been recognized within the area, but further north, as at Mogara, Lower Miocene deposits occur;[34] and it is probable that there is a continuous series of lithologically similar beds from the summit of the Fayûm escarpments (Lower Oligocene) to the Mogara Miocene.
The Pliocene is probably represented by the great terraces of gravel—raised beaches—which are such a marked feature in the geology of the district. Fossiliferous Pliocene deposits have also been recorded from the south part of the area by Schweinfurth.[35]
Pleistocene and Recent are abundantly represented by lacustrine clays, both ancient and modern, alluvial land and blown sand, the formation of which deposits is continuing at the present time.
The following table will show the sequence of strata and the classification adopted in the present memoir:—
TABLE SHOWING SUCCESSION AND CLASSIFICATION OF STRATA IN THE FAYUM.
-----------+---------+--------+-----------+--------------------------- | | |Approximate| | | | average | | | | thickness | | | | in metres,| | | | north part| | | | of Fayum. | | | +-----------| | | | | Alluvial soil, clays, | | | | sands, etc. RECENT | | | | AND | | | | Blown sand. PLEISTOCENE| | | | | | | | Lacustrine clays, | | | | extending to about 23 | | | | metres above sea-level. -----------+---------+--------+-----------+--------------------------- | | | | Gravel Terraces (? | | | | Pleistocene). | | | | (MIDDLE?) | | | | Shell-borings on rock PLIOCENE | | | | surfaces. | | | | | | | 50 | Fossiliferous deposits of | | | | Sidmant. -----------+---------+--------+-----------+--------------------------- | | | |_Fluvio-marine Series | | | |(Jebel el Qatrani beds)_. | | | | LOWER | | | 30 | Sandstones and OLIGOCENE |TONGRIAN | | | sandstone-grits with | | | | silicified trees and | | | | | | | | Basalt sheets, | | | | interbedded and | | | | contemporaneous. -----------+---------+--------+-----------+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - | | | | Variegated sands, | | | | sandstones, clays and | | | | marls, with | | | | limestone-grits and thin | | | | bands of limestone. The | | | | upper beds contain _Unio_ | | | | sp., _Lanistes | | | | bartonianus_, Blanck., | | | | _Turritella pharaonica_, | | | | Cossm., _Potamides | | | | scalaroides_, Desh., _P. | | | | tristriatus_, Lam., | | | | _Pleurotoma ingens_, | | | | May.-Eym. In the lower | | | | beds are large numbers of | | | | silicified trees | | | | associated with | | | | vertebrate remains | | | | including _Arsinoitherium | | | | Zitteli_, Beadn., _A. | | | | Andrewsii_, Lankester, UPPER | | | | _Palæomastodon EOCENE |BARTONIAN| | 250 | Beadnelli_, Andr., _P. | | | | minor_, Andr., | | | | _Mœritherium Lyonsi_, | | | | Andr., _M. trigodon_, | | | | Andr., _Megalohyrax | | | | eocænus_, Andr., _M. | | | | minor_ Andr., | | | | _Saghatherium antiquum_, | | | | Andr. and Beadn., _S. | | | | minus_, Andr. and Beadn., | | | | _S. magnum_, Andr., | | | | _Ancodus Gorringei_, | | | | Andr. and Beadn., | | | | _Geniohyus mirus_, Andr., | | | | _G. fayumensis_, Andr., | | | | _G. major_, Andr., | | | | _Phiomia serridens_, | | | | Andr. and Beadn., | | | | _Pterodon africanus_, | | | | Andr., _P. macrognathus_, | | | | Andr., _Eremopezus | | | | libycus_, Andr., _Testudo | | | | Ammon_, Andr., and | | | | frequent crocodilian and | | | | chelonian remains. -----------+---------+--------+-----------+--------------------------- | | | |_Qasr el Sagha Series | | | |(Carolia beds)_. | | | | | | | | Alternating limestones, | | | | marls, clays and | | | | sandstones with _Qerunia_ | | | | (_Hydractinia_) | | | | _cornuta_, May.-Eym., | | | | _Astrohelia similis_, | | | | Felix., _Echinolampas | | | | Crameri_, Loriol., | | | | _Ostrea Reili_, Fraas, | | | | _Ostrea elegans_, Desh., | | | | _Alectryonia Clot-Beyi_, | | | | Bellardi, _Exogyra | | | | Fraasi_, May.-Eym., | | | | _Carolia placunoides_, | | | | Cantr., _Cardita | | | | fajumensis_, Oppenh., | | UPPER | | _Macrosolen Hollowaysi_, | |MOKATTAM| 155 | Sowerby, _Turritella | | | | pharaonica_, Cossm., _T. | | | | carinifera_, Desh., | | | | _Mesalia fasciata_, Lam., | | | | _Rimella rimosa_, Sol. | | | | The vertebrate remains | | | | include _Mœritherium | | | | Lyonsi_, Andr., _M. | | | | gracilis_, Andr., | | | | _Barytherium grave_, | | | | Andr., _Eosiren libyca_, | | | | Andr., _Zeuglodon | | | | Osiris_, Dames, | | | | _Gigantophis Garstini_, | | | | Andr., _Pterosphenus | | | | Schweinfurthi_, Andr., | | | | _Psephophorus eocænus_, | | | | Andr., _Thallassochelys | | | | libyca_, Andr., | | | | _Podocnemis antiqua_, | | | | Andr., _P. Stromeri_, v. | | | | Rein., _Stereogenys | | | | Cromeri_, Andr., _S. | | | | podocnemioides_, v. | | | | Rein., _Tomistoma | | | | africanum_, Andr., with | | | | siluroids and _Propristis MIDDLE | | | | Schweinfurthi_, Dames. EOCENE |PARISIAN |--------+-----------+--------------------------- | | | |_Birket el Qurûn Series | | | |(Operculina-Nummulite | | | |beds)_. | | | | | | | | Sandstones and clays, | | | | with sandy limestones, | | | | and one or more well | | | | marked concretionary | | | | sandstones weathering | | | | into large globular | | | | masses. | | | | | | | | _Nummulites Fraasi_, de | | | | la Harpe, _N. Beaumonti_, | | | 50 | _Operculina discoidea_, | | | | Schwag., _Qerunia | | | | cornuta_, May.-Eym., | | | | _Plicatula polymorpha_, | | | | Bell., _Pectunculus | | | | pseudopulvinatus_, Orb., | | | | _Cardita Viquesneli_, | | | | d’Arch., _Cardium | | | | Schweinfurthi_, | | | | May.-Eym., _Venus | | | | plicatella_, May.-Eym., | | | | _Macrosolen Hollowaysi_, | | | | Sow., _Lucina pharaonis_, | | | | Bell., _Tellina | | | | scalaroides_, Lam., | | | | _Clavellithes longævus_, | | | | Sol., _Voluta arabica_, | | | | May.-Eym., _Turritella | | | | pharaonica_, Cossm., _T. | | | | carinifera_, Desh., with | | | | _Zeuglodon Osiris_, | | | | Dames, and _Z. Isis_, | | | | Beadn. | | LOWER +-----------+--------------------------- | |MOKATTAM| |_Ravine Beds._ | | | | | | | 70 | White marls and marly | | | | limestones with gypseous | | | | clays; _Nucularia_ sp. | | | | _Leda_ sp., _Corbula_ | | | | aff. _pixidicula_, Desh., | | | | _Lucina_ sp. (? | | | | _pharaonis_), _Tellina | | | | tenuistriata_, Desh., | | | | _Zeuglodon Isis_, Beadn., | | | | and scales and teeth of | | | | fish. | | |-----------+--------------------------- | | | |_Wadi Rayan Series | | | |(Nummulites gizehensis | | | |beds)._ | | | | | | | 130 | Limestones, marls, clays, | | | | etc., with _Nummulites | | | | gizehensis_, Ehrbg., _N. | | | | curvispira_, _Carolia | | | | placunoides_, Cantr. -----------+---------+--------+-----------+---------------------------
SECTION X.—MIDDLE EOCENE (PARISIAN).
_A._—=Wadi Rayan Series.=—(_Nummulites Gizehensis Beds_).
(A.I.e. Schweinfurth, I.b. Mayer-Eymar,[36] Lower Mokattam of Cairo).
Beds of this group are chiefly found in the south of the depression. The wadis Rayan and Muêla, as already shown by Schweinfurth and Mayer-Eymar[37], are cut out in clays and limestones of Lower Mokattam age; the upper beds of limestone, containing among other fossil[38] numerous examples of the large _Nummulites gizehensis_, form the greater part of the floor of the depression west of the Fayûm cultivation, stretching from Jebel Rayan to the foot of Gar el Gehannem,[39] 28 kilometres west of the western end of the Birket el Qurûn (Section XX). Near the latter hill examples of _N. gizehensis_ of inordinately large size occur.[40]
At the conical hill at the southern entrance to Wadi Muêla the following beds were noticed:—
_Top of hill._
1. Hard white limestone with small nummulites, _Lucina_, _Callianassa_, and echinids. Salt occurs in thin deposits along joint-planes. The lower part of this bed is largely composed of small nummulites and bryozoa. This generally white limestone passes down into
2. Brown, usually sandy, limestone with oysters and small nummulites. In it are intercalated thin beds of greenish brown sandstone and clayey sand with impressions of bryozoa. Some of the brown sandy limestones are full of small nummulites. _Ostrea_ and _Carolia_ numerous. The beds are not constant, the clayey sandstones passing insensibly into sandy limestones.
3. Softer beds with large nummulites, corals, _Ostrea_, _Nautilus_.
4. Soft green and brown clays, with occasional oyster-beds.
At the corner of the cliff 7½ kilometres N.N.W. of the monastery of Der el Galamûn, in Wadi Muêla, occur about 80 metres of hard white nummulitic limestones, with beds of argillaceous sandstone and sandy clays. Fossils are numerous and include nummulites of several species (_N. gizehensis_, etc.), _Carolia placunoides_, different species of _Ostrea_, with gastropods (among others _Terebellum sopitum_), bryozoa, etc. It is very noticeable that the nummulites, especially the small species, occur in remarkable profusion not only in the limestones but often in the clays.
The following section will give a good idea of the general alternations found in this area; it was measured at Jebel Rayan,[41] 24 kilometres west of the western end of the cultivation of Gharaq basin.
_Top of plateau._ Metres.
1. Hard snow-white limestone with occasional nummulites passing down into hard highly nummulitic limestone; _N. gizehensis_, _Ostrea_ sp., _Lucina_ sp., _Mitra_ sp., and _Carolia placunoides_ occur among others 31
2. Vertical-faced bed of greenish clayey sands and sandy clays (glauconitic) with _Carolia_, _Ostrea_ and _Nummulites_. Near top of bed there is much gypsum. The nummulites in this bed are often collected together so as to form hard concretionary masses; these masses, by becoming more numerous, finally form a hard bed of nummulitic limestone intercalated in the clays near the top. The junction of the clays with the limestone of Bed No. 1 is very irregular 16
3. Greenish shelly sands and sandy clayey bands, interbedded with impure chalky nummulitic limestones with _N. gizehensis_, _N. curvispira_, and a third smaller species; _Ostrea_ sp. This bed is much obscured by debris 11
4. Hard slate-blue shales, weathering to paper-shales 2
5. Brownish marls passing up into clays 2
Limestone band largely made up of small and large nummulites and echinids 1
Glauconitic (?) and clayey sands and sandy clays, with _Ostrea_, _Carolia_, and nummulites, weathering with a vertical face. In some bands large numbers of small and large nummulites lie embedded in every position, as if tossed about by currents during the process of becoming buried by sediment. Gypsum occurs in thin veins and often encloses the nummulites 36
6. Hard markedly-white nummulitic limestone full of _N. gizehensis_ and other species (_N. curvispira_, etc.); the rock usually has a dark brown colour when freshly fractured. A shelly band rich in corals occurs nine metres from the top. The upper part is more marly and less nummulitic than the rest of the bed. Base invisible 30 --- Total thickness of beds in the above section 129 ---
[Illustration: PLATE V.
ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS OVERLYING MARLY LIMESTONES (RAVINE BEDS) IN EL WADI, RAVINE NEAR QASR GEBALI.]
The following is a section of the beds exposed in Wadi Muêla compiled from a paper by Mayer-Eymar on this oasis:—
_Top._ Metres.
{ { White siliceous cavernous limestone with { { _Lucina globulosa_, Desh., _Gisortia_, { { _Rostellaria_, _Eschara Duvali_, { { Michelin., (Probably ≡ bed No. 1 of our { { J. Rayan section) 10 { { { { Greyish-yellow marl, rich in places with { Id. { _Ostrea Gumbeli_, _Pecten mœlehensis_, { { May.-Eym., _Vulsella chamiformis_, { { May.-Eym., _Velates Schmiedeli_, Chemnitz, { { _Cerithium fodicatum_, _Pleurotoma_, { { _Borsonia_, _Fusus_, _Rostellaria_, etc. 6 { { { { Yellowish sandy marl, with small { { nummulites. PARISIAN. { { { Yellowish marls, divided by one or two { { bands of red clay, with _Nummulites { { gizehensis_ 7 { { { Ic. { Hard bedded clay 1 { { { { Vari-coloured gypseous marls 4 { { { { (Probably ≡ beds 2, 3, 4 at J. Rayan). { { { Very hard, rich greenish-grey, siliceous { { limestone with _N. gizehensis_, _Pecten { { corneus_, J. Sow., and _Lucina_ (_L. { Ib. { consobrina_, Desh., and _L. Defrancei_, { { Desh.). 4 to 5 { { { { (Probably ≡ upper part of bed 5 at J. { { Rayan.)
There is a considerable difference in thicknesses between the above section and that of Jebel Rayan. Our heights agree closely with those of Schweinfurth, so that it is probable that Mayer-Eymar is in error, notwithstanding his challenge of Schweinfurth’s figures in the paper mentioned.
_B._—=Ravine Beds.=
The beds of this series, consisting of gypseous clays, clayey marls, and white marly limestones, are met with bordering the cultivation on the east, west and north sides; they pass under the alluvial soil of the cultivated land and are frequently seen in the bottoms of canals, and especially in the deep ravines known as El Bats, and El Wadi (Plates III and V). The relation of these beds to the Rayan series below is well seen at the prominent outstanding hill Gar el Gehannem (Fig. 2); here the plain to the east and south is formed of the uppermost member of the Wadi Rayan series, a limestone full of _Nummulites gizehensis_. In the hill itself the latter is directly overlain by gypseous and glauconitic sandy clays and marls, with hard intervening beds of yellowish, often marly, limestone. The upper beds consist of alternating clays, sandy limestone and sandstone, at the top being a thick bed of the latter passing up gradually into the sandstones of the Birket el Qurûn series. The following is the detailed section:—
_Summit of Gar el Gehannem._ Thickness in metres.
1. Hard yellow and white limestone crowded with } shells, chiefly large individuals of _Carolia } placunoides_ and _Ostrea Fraasi_. Numerous } nummulites in upper part } 25 } 2. Limestone full of _Turritella carinifera_, } _Ostrea Clot-Beyi_ } 1 } 3. Brown clays } Lower 6 } beds of 4. Shelly limestone with _Carolia_, _Turritella_, } Qasr el _Ostrea_, _Cardita_ and _Qerunia_ } Sagha (_Hydractinia_) } Series 1 } (45 5. Greenish clays } metres) 6 } 6. Nummulitic limestone with _Carolia_, _Qerunia_ } and four species of _Turritella_ } 1½ } Light blue clays } 2 } 7. Light green and brown sandstone with irregular } concretions } 2½
8. Brown shelly limestone full of _Carolia } placunoides_, _Ostrea Reili_, _O. Fraasi_, } _Turritella_, _Balanus_ and nummulites } 2 } 9. Yellow sandstone with bands of shelly } limestone crowded with nummulites, oysters, } Birket etc. Near top casts of _Cardita_, _Carolia_; } el Qurûn also _Cerithium_, _Teredo_, _Ostrea_, } Series _Pecten_, _Pinna_, and echinids. Calcareous } (50 concretions near base } metres) 18 } 10. Clays with much gypsum } 6 } 11. Yellow sandstone with _Balanus_. Bands } crowded with two species of nummulites and } occasional oysters. In places the } foraminiferal bands become highly } calcareous. Below similar, with hard } compact grey bands and occasional fish-spines } and teeth } 24
12. Similar to above, with numerous casts of } _Cardita_, etc., and small _Ostrea_ } 24 } Argillaceous sandstone with thick stockwork } of gypsum and calcareous nodules } 6 } 13. Light yellow, brown, and greyish gypseous clays } 3 } 14. Yellow-brown sandstones and sandy limestones, } often argillaceous. Fish-scales. } } Brown clays } } Yellow-white marls and marly limestone } Ravine 5 } Beds 15. Hard light yellow shelly limestone, in part } (10 marly, in part sandy } metres) 10 } 16. Ochreous-yellow, grey, and white clays and } marls with gypsum } 9 } 17. Hard yellow-white shaly marl with numerous } shell-impressions; much gypsum } 3 } 18. Yellow marly clays; soft yellow and grey-brown } clays, dark sandy glauconitic, yellow, and } black, clays. _Zeuglodon_ remains fairly } common. Shell impressions. Much gypsum } } Fairly hard yellow-white glauconitic marl } 10
Marly limestone with _Nummulites gizehensis_ forming top of Rayan beds.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.—Section at Gar el Gehannem, showing the relation of the Wadi Rayan Series to the Ravine Beds.]
The clays, marls, and limestones of the Ravine beds are generally found to contain fairly numerous shell-impressions, including _Nucularia_ sp., _Leda_ sp., _Cardita_ sp., _Corbula_ aff. _pixidicula_, _Lucina_ sp., _Oudardia ovalis_, Desh., _Tellina tenuistriata_,[42] numerous small fish-scales, and occasional large teeth of sharks; while the skeletons of the toothed-whale _Zeuglodon Isis_ are fairly common, although usually in poor preservation.
In the ravine of El Bats, about one kilometre west of Sêla, these beds (5-6 metres thick) are seen unconformably overlaid by 12 metres of false-bedded gypseous sands and clays passing up into the superficial cultivated loam. The junction of these alluvial deposits and the underlying Eocene is distinctly unconformable and an intervening pebble-bed is occasionally present (Fig 3).
In the large ravine known as El Wadi, which traverses the west side of the cultivation of the Fayûm, these beds are frequently well exposed; their lithological characters remain very constant. Here, as in El Bats, they are unconformably overlain by a varying thickness of Pleistocene and Recent clays. Their surface, a plain of subaerial denudation, represents the original floor of the depression before the entry of the sediment-carrying water from the Nile Valley through the Lahûn gap; its irregularity is seen in Plate V.
The plain bordering the cultivation to the east of Sêla and Rubiat likewise consists of these same white marls with fish-scales, etc.; they pass regularly under the cultivated land. Shaly marls, gypseous clays, and chalky limestones of the same age are seen in, and to the south of, the railway crossing the desert between Sêla and Medum. Eastwards they stretch into the Nile Valley, being found exposed along the desert-edge bordering the cultivation at Medum, Nawamis and Masaret-Abusia.
{ 1. Marsh and poorly cultivated land. { RECENT { 1a Cultivated loam. AND { PLEISTOCENE { 2. Sands and clays, with gravelly bands; { often concretionary and gypseous beds. { { 3. Pebble-bed marking unconformable junction.
MIDDLE } RAVINE { 4. Gypseous saliferous marly clays, white EOCENE } BEDS { marls and limestone with fishscales and } { _Tellina Corbula_, etc.
FIG. 3.—Sketch-Section across _El Bats_, 1 kilometre West of Sêla.]
The same beds are exposed immediately to the east of the village of Sersena, midway between Sêla and Tamia. They are again well seen in the ravine below the last named village, and forming the narrow strip of the desert projecting into the cultivation as far as the northern end of the Tamia lake; they also occur on the shore of the latter at El Tuba, about 2 kilometres south of the village. At Tamia their exposure measures 25 metres in thickness.
At various points along the north side of the Birket el Qurûn exposures of this series occur, the beds forming the lower sloping part of the cliffs overlooking the lake, as well as the base of the island “Geziret el Qorn,” although only the upper beds are visible above the water of the lake. Both here and along the northern shore of the lake they are for the most part hidden by the high level recent lacustrine clays, but where occasionally exposed their identity is certain, the characteristic small brown fish-scales being abundant, besides occasional teeth, with shell-impressions of the different genera enumerated above.
[Illustration: PLATE VI.
ESCARPMENT OF THE BIRKET EL QURUN SERIES NEAR THE WESTERN END OF THE LAKE.]
At the western end of the lake the Ravine beds form the lower part of the cliff as well as the plain to the south; the underlying _Nummulites gizehensis_ limestone not being exposed. The series consists of some 45 metres of white and grey shaly marls with harder bands of siliceous limestone intercalated throughout, one of which usually forms the uppermost bed. It is, in fact, the development in places of one or other of these hard beds of limestone near the top of the series that gives rise to the bold promontories, or horns, which occur on the north side of the Birket el Qurûn.
The greater part of the marls and clays met with from 18·5 to 112·5 metres below the surface in the boring at Medinet el Fayûm in all probability belong to the Ravine beds.
The maximum thickness of this series is 70 metres, measured at Gar el Gehannem.
_C._—=Birket el Qurun Series= (_Operculina-Nummulite Beds_).
The above designation is convenient and applicable to these beds, which form the escarpment immediately overlooking the lake on the north side throughout its length.
The group includes all the beds between those last described and the well-marked Qasr el Sagha series, homotaxial with the Upper Mokattam (the brown beds) of Jebel Mokattam, near Cairo. It thus appears to be the equivalent of the upper part of the white beds (quarried limestones) of the Mokattam section, although the lithological characters are entirely different, the massive limestones of Jebel Mokattam being represented in the Fayûm by an arenaceous and argillaceous series, deposited probably in water of far less depth. Where the different members of this series are well exposed certain beds are found to be characterized by the abundance of two foraminifera, the one a small thin-shelled _Operculina_ (_O. discoidea_)., and the other a small thick nummulite.[43] The tests of these foraminifera sometimes make up entire bands of rock. In addition, the series includes certain beds which at times become very fossiliferous, and contain a well-preserved molluscan fauna.
The series is well seen in the desert separating the Fayûm from the Nile Valley; on the south-east and east sides of the former; along the northern boundary of the cultivation and the Birket el Qurûn; and westwards in the cliffs to beyond the outlying hill-mass of Gar el Gehannem.
The following section was measured on the south-west of the Fayûm, from Ezba Qalamsha (on the confine of the cultivation) to the ridge summit 5 kilometres to the south-east.
_Top._ Metres.
Summit of ridge 5 kilometres south-east of Ezba Qalamsha.
Pliocene Raised Beach with occasional _Ostrea cucullata_, Born., made up of gravels with blocks of limestone.
{ 1. Ochre-coloured calcareous sandstone and sandy { limestone crowded with foraminifera { (_Nummulites Fraasi_, etc.), _Ostrea_, etc. 38 { { 2. Sandy limestone, largely made up of { foraminifera (_Operculina discoidea ?_) 2 { { 3. Sandy shale 2 { { 4. Sandstone, partly calcareous, with much { gypsum 3 { { 5. Calcareous sandstone with concretionary BIRKET { weathering 17 EL QURUN { SERIES. { 6. Shale with gypsum 2 { { 7. Calcareous sandstone 4 { { 8. Shale with gypsum 2 { { 9. Calcareous sandstone, hard and yellowish 2 { { 10. Gypseous shale with numerous small shells { (_Tellina_ sp.) passing down into sandy { limestone. (This bed is the uppermost member { of the Ravine beds) 6 -- Total thickness 78 -- _Base, cultivation level._
To the north of the Lahûn pyramid the beds agree generally with the above. The following are the chief divisions here:—
_Top of Hills._ Metres.
Gravel Terrace (Pliocene) 22 metres thick.
1. Calcareous sandstone and sandy limestones full of nummulites; also _Ostrea_, etc. 31
2. Ochre-coloured calcareous sandstone or sandy limestone, often crowded with _Operculina discoidea_ and some _Nummulites Fraasi_, etc. 12
3. Sandy limestone with small foraminifera at top and some shells. The upper part of this bed has been quarried 20
4. Shales and shaly limestone; gypsum — -- Total thickness 63 --
The foraminiferal sandy limestones of this series are seen at points in the desert bounding the eastern margin of the cultivation, notably east of Sersena and at the top of the hill 15 kilometres north-east of Rubiat.
The following section was measured at the prominent hills 17 kilometres 28° N. of E. (magn.) of Tamia:—
Metres.
1. Greyish laminated sandy clays with gypsum; _Ostrea_ band near top 7
2. White sandy limestone with numerous badly preserved _Ostrea_, _Pecten_, and other lamellibranchs 1
3. Dark-brown clayey sands with gypsum and grey sandy clays with obscure plant-remains. Occasional _Ostrea_ 14
4. Hard, white, sandy limestone with numerous _Ostrea_ at top; soft clays with gypsum 1
5. Greenish and brownish sands and sandy clays with } band of sandy limestone near top } } 14 6. Greyish-brown, impure, sandy limestone weathering } into large globular concretions. Shell impressions }
7. Sandy clays and marls alternating with impure } limestones; much gypsum. Occasional fish-remains and } small oysters } 22 } 8. Greenish sandy limestone with traces of shells }
9. Finely laminated grey-brown clays with black carbonaceous matter and fish-remains; saliferous 3
10. White sandy limestone 1
11. Soft yellow sandstones, etc. } } 12. White marls with fish-scales, etc.; base not seen. } 7 (This bed, and possibly also 9, 10, 11, should be } reckoned as belonging to the Ravine beds) } -- Total thickness 70 --
In the north of the Fayûm the series is characterized by the presence of one or more very constant well-marked beds of hard calcareous sandstone, which almost invariably weather into huge globular masses. These masses should be regarded as huge weathered-out concretions, rather than as water-rounded blocks, although no doubt in many cases their roundness has been increased by the action of the waters of Lake Moeris as the level of the latter gradually fell, and possibly still earlier during the invasion of the Pliocene sea; from the latter time also may date the millions of parallel vertical borings with which these and other exposed rocks are often perforated. In the various places where one of these beds forms the present surface of the desert the concretions may be seen in different stages of exposure, from the initial, where only just the tops are laid bare, to the final stage where the globes are left completely weathered out, as seen in the illustration (Plate VII). The appearance of the desert when covered for many square kilometres with thousands of these blocks is more easily imagined than described.
The lower beds of the Birket el Qurûn series form the island Geziret el Qorn, and consist of clays and sandstones containing a considerable number of organic remains. These beds were collected from and examined by Schweinfurth[44] in 1879, the mollusca being subsequently described by Mayer-Eymar,[45] while the vertebrate remains, which included cetacean bones and numerous fish-teeth, were submitted to Dames.
The following species were determined by Mayer-Eymar, who indicated that the fauna as a whole had a Bartonian aspect[46]:—
UPPER BED.
_Ostrea plicata_, Defr.
_Arca Edwardsi_, Desh.
_Lucina pomum_, Duj.[47]
_Lucina_ cfr. _tabulata_, Desh.
_Cardium Schweinfurthi_, May.-Eym.
_Cytherea Newboldi_, May.-Eym.
_Tellina pellucida_, Desh.
_Mactra compressa_, Desh.
_Corbula pyxidicula_, Desh.
_Calyptræa trochiformis_, Lam.
_Turritella angulata_, Sow.
_Ficula tricarinata_, Lam.
LOWER BED.
_Astrohelia similis_, May.-Eym.
_Goniastræa cocchii_, d’Achiardi.
_Heliastræa acervularia_, May.-Eym.
_Heliastræa Ellisi_, Defr. (_Astræa_).
_Heliastræa flattersi_, May.-Eym.
_Ostrea digitalina_, Dubois.
_Ostrea gigantea_, Sol.
_Ostrea longirostris_, Lam.
_Ostrea producta_, Delb. et Raul.
_Isocardia cyprinoides_, Braun.
_Turritella carinifera_, Desh.
_Turritella transitoria_, May.-Eym.
_Turritella turris_, Bast.
_Turbo Parkinsoni_, Defr.
_Pleurotoma_, sp.
The cetacean remains, belonging to the genus _Zeuglodon_, were described by W. Dames,[48] who compared them with the American species _Z. macrospondylus_ and _Z. brachyspondylus_, but did not then consider them to represent a new species; in a later publication,[49] however, the same author described similar but more complete remains, also collected by Schweinfurth (from beds belonging to our Qasr el Sagha series), as a new species, _Z. Osiris_. A considerable number of fish-remains from Geziret el Qorn are also described in the earlier publication. Although the difference in size of the bones of separate individuals was considered by Dames to be sexual, it seems probable that there are two distinct species of _Zeuglodon_, as the smaller type appears to have a much greater upward range than the larger[50]; both species, _Z. Osiris_, and _Z. Isis_ occur in the Birket el Qurûn series, and a very fine mandible of the larger was obtained from these beds in the cliffs near the west end of the lake.[51] More recently a third species has been discovered by Stromer and described under the name of _Z. Zitteli_.[52]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.—Profile of beds of Geziret el Qorn.
1. Hard brown sand-rock with large concretions of weathered globular sandstone on the summit; ferruginous nodular bands containing shell-casts occur near top. 2. Soft gypseous clays with bands of sand-rock and sandstone with _Ostrea_, _Cardium Schweinfurthi_, _Turritella_, corals, _Zeuglodon_, chelonian and fish-remains. 3. Brown sand-rock. 4. Soft gypseous clays and harder brown sandstones. 5. White shaly marl with fish-scales; hard band at top and soft sandy shaly clays below.
The surface-slope is much less than shown in sketch and is generally covered by a deposit of lacustrine clays containing freshwater shells and fish-bones.]
The accompanying profile (Fig. 4), measured during a hurried visit to the island for the purpose of correlating these beds with those of the mainland, shows the character of the lower beds of the Birket el Qurûn series at this point.[53]
[Illustration: PLATE VII.
WEATHERED CONCRETIONARY SANDSTONE (BIRKET EL QURUN SERIES) ON NORTH SHORE OF LAKE NEAR GEZIRET EL QORN.]
The upper beds of the Birket el Qurûn series in this part of the Fayûm are lithologically similar to those just described, consisting of alternating clays and sandstones, about 37 metres thick. They are, however, generally much richer in fossil remains, which are likewise usually better preserved than in the lower beds. Some of the brown sandstones of this series are literally crowded with perfect examples of many of the typical mollusca; and further west, near the end of the lake, foraminiferal bands again become noticeable. Near Dimê the escarpment of these and the lower beds is gentle and inconspicuous, but followed westwards it becomes a bold precipitous cliff, increasing in height towards the western end of the lake, where it is capped by the lower beds of the Qasr el Sagha series.
The following section was measured on the mainland[54] opposite the island Geziret el Qorn.
_Top._ Metres.
1. Gypseous clays, separated by a band of brown sandstone crowded with white well-preserved shells, including numerous individuals of _Plicatula polymorpha_, _Ostrea_, _Turritella_ and _Lucina pharaonis_. Large vertebrae of _Zeuglodon Isis_ occur on this horizon further to the north-east 8
2. Sandstones and gypseous clays. Although here the sandstones are not hard or predominant, this bed is equivalent to the hard sandstone full of borings capping the plain between the ruins of Dimê and the top of the escarpment overlooking the lake. Further north this bed often contains numerous _Carolia placunoides_ and _Ostrea_ 3
3. Gypseous clays 3
4. Clays, brown sandstones, and occasional beds of limestone, often very fossiliferous, containing _Ostrea Reili_, _Carolia placunoides_, _Cardita Viquesneli_, d’Arch., _Lucina_ sp., _Turritella pharaonica_,[55] _Clavelithes longævus_, _Qerunia cornuta_, etc., etc. 10
5. Clays with fossils as in last bed, capped by hard band of shelly sandstone 3
6. Alternating yellow-brown sandstones and gypseous clays 10 -- Total thickness 37 -- Bed with weathered-out sandstone concretions at top—upper bed of section at Geziret el Qorn.[56]
At the western end of the Birket el Qurûn the series is well marked, the sandstone beds forming the steep face of the bold precipitous cliffs which are so marked a feature at this end of the lake. The group has a thickness of some 50 metres and is overlain by the lower beds of the Qasr el Sagha series; it is more convenient here to give the entire section of the cliffs down to the base of the series under discussion:—
_Top of Cliffs._ Metres.
1. Hard grey sandstone and shelly limestone } passing up into calcareous sandstone } (forming surface of plain dipping north). } } 2. Impure sandstone with numerous fossils:— } _Qerunia cornuta_, corals, _Ostrea Reili_, } _O. Clot-Beyi_, _Carolia placunoides_, } _Plicatula polymorpha_, _Cardita_ } (? _fajumensis_) sp., _Clavelithes } longævus_, _Serpula_, etc. } } 3, 4. Clays with band of argillaceous } Lower part sandstone. Septaria bed near base. }(42 metres) Fish-remains. } of Qasr } el Sagha 5. Earthy limestone crowded with _Ostrea } Series. Clot-Beyi_, _O._ sp., _Plicatula } polymorpha_, _Pecten_ sp., _Lucina_ sp., } _Cytherea_ sp., _Turritella_ sp., } _Nonionina_ sp., _Oliva_ sp., _Pleurotoma_ } sp., _Vermetus_ sp., _Nautilus_ sp. } } 6. Thin-bedded clays, grey with yellowish band, } sandy clays interbedded with soft whitish } sandstones with small irregular concretions. } Clays, gypseous and sometimes carbonaceous. } } 7. Shelly sandstone, hard on upper surface and } very fossiliferous (forms similar to Bed 9). } } 8. Gypseous clays. }
9. Thin (·25 to ·5 metre) hard dark reddish-brown, very ferruginous, concretionary-weathering sandstone with nummulites and _Operculina_ and well-preserved examples of _Qerunia cornuta_, _Pecten_ sp., _Pectunculus_ sp., _Venus_ sp., _Cardita Viquesneli_, _Astarte_ sp., _Macrosolen Hollowaysi_, _Lucina_ sp., _Natica_ sp., _Cerithium_ sp., _Clavelithes longævus_, _Voluta_ sp., _Dentalium_ sp. 1
10. Hard purplish clays 7
11. Soft yellowish sandstone with _Ostrea_ sp., _Cardita ægyptiaca_, _Lucina_ sp., _Turritella_ sp., and sharks’ teeth. Upper surface tends to become dark, ferruginous, and concretionary 1
12. Purple clays, with strings of gypsum 6
13. Soft light-yellow sandstones with harder shelly bands and occasional concretionary beds, forming vertical cliff-wall 17
14. Grey and brown clays 18 -- _Ravine Beds._ Total 50 --
In the cliffs west of the end of the lake the upper bed No. 9 continues highly fossiliferous and yields the most perfectly preserved molluscan remains to be found in the Fayûm and probably in Egypt.
A few kilometres east of the end of the lake a band of large globular concretions occurs in the thick brown sandstone forming the vertical face of the cliff. In many places the effect of weathering of these rocks is of some interest, numerous “earth-pillars” having been formed; these are largely the result of the action of blown sand, assisted by rain, the concretions being left capping pillars of brown sandstone, the sides of which are sculptured by the wearing action of sand. The curious perforate or cellular appearance which the weathered surfaces of this sandstone assume after long exposure are particularly noticeable in this neighbourhood and in the Zeuglodon Valley further west.
In the well-marked hill distant 17 kilometres to the north-east of Gar el Gehannem, the soft fossiliferous sandstones of this series are crowded with _Operculina_, _Nummulites_, and many species of mollusca beautifully preserved.
At Gar el Gehannem the series is seen (Fig. 2 and detailed section page 36) forming part of the slope of the hill, underlain by the Ravine beds, and capped by part of the Qasr el Sagha series. It here consists of yellow sandstones divided by a bed of clay; the sandstones are often crowded with nummulites (of two species); also _Operculina_ (_discoidea?_), echinids, _Balanus_ sp., _Ostrea Reili_, _O. Fraasi_, _Carolia placunoides_, and species of _Pecten_, _Pinna_, _Cardita_, _Teredo_, _Turritella_, and _Cerithium_.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.—Section of cliffs, western end of the Birket el Qurun.
Pleistocene.—(_a_) Lacustrine clays and sands with freshwater shells and fish-remains; _Middle Eocene_, 1. 14 Clays, sandstones and impure limestones; 15 White shaly clays and marly limestones.]
In the Zeuglodon Valley, 12 kilometres W.S.W. of Gar el Gehannem, the brown sandstones of the Birket el Qurûn series are divided by a narrow band of fine-bedded grey clay. Most of the fantastically shaped hills on the south-west slope of the valley are carved out of the lower division of the sandstone. The concretionary beds of the Birket el-Qurûn series are not developed in this neighbourhood. Remains of _Zeuglodon_ of both species (_Z. Osiris_ and _Z. Isis_) are remarkably abundant and the skeletons of these cetaceans may be found in every stage of weathering. The larger species, _Z. Isis_, is the more common, and series of vertebrae, twelve to fifteen in number, can frequently be counted in situ. The remains are most abundant enclosed in the hard brown nodular bands of the series but in such cases it is almost impossible to extract specimens of any value. In one instance an almost complete skull of _Z. Isis_, measuring 116 cm. in length, was found enclosed in a large block of the nodular rock.[57] Bones are frequently to be observed protruding from the wind-worn sides of the small hills, while those portions of the skeleton already weathered out litter the ground below. Exposed they break up with rapidity, although where the enclosing rock is softer than the bone itself, parts of the skeleton beautifully preserved and perfectly free from matrix may sometimes be obtained.
The molluscan fauna is represented by very large numbers of pseudomorphs in sulphate of strontium (celestine) of the genera _Lucina_, _Turritella_, _Fusus_ and _Nautilus_, the profusion of individuals of a species of the latter being very marked. In the case of lamellibranchs the radiating bundles of crystals of celestine are seen to originate from a point placed centrally on one of the valves, so that on this side (of a slightly weathered example) a radiating mass of crystals is seen, while on the other appear numerous contiguous circular areas, representing the terminal ends of the bundles of crystalline fibres or needles. Apart from the quantities of organic pseudomorphs, masses of crystalline celestine occur in the sandstones throughout the valley, and altogether the quantity of sulphate of strontium present must be very great. The gigantic oysters and other fossils which occur in some of the overlying higher beds, and the numerous individuals of nummulites in the sandstone itself, never seem to be replaced by celestine.
Nummulites of two species are very abundant in some bands and the presence in the Zeuglodon Valley of occasional individuals of the large _N. gizehensis_ shows that in favourable localities this species persisted throughout the time represented by the deposition of the Ravine beds and ranged upward into the basal members of the Birket el Qurûn series.
In the higher hills within the valley, and in the hill-mass on the south side, the yellow sandstones of the Birket el Qurûn series pass up into the basal members of the Qasr el Sagha series. In their upper limits the sandstones become very nummulitic in places and at the top bands made up of _Carolia_ and _Ostrea_ occur. Above these, in the basal members of the Qasr el Sagha series, huge oysters and finely preserved specimens of _Qerunia cornuta_ are conspicuous.
The dip in the valley is 2° north.
The southern face of the hill-mass lying immediately to the south of the Zeuglodon Valley is an almost sheer cliff of over 100 metres, descending to the silt covered basin below which has already been noticed (page 23). On this escarpment the hard nodular marly limestones of the Ravine beds are seen near the base, overlain by a mass of grey shaly gypseous beds; above, forming as a rule a vertical wall of rock, lies the hard massive brown sandstone of the Birket el Qurûn series, here undivided by clays; at the top, highly fossiliferous alternating clays and limestones are found forming the summit of the hills.
The exact junction between the Birket el Qurûn series and the overlying Qasr el Sagha beds is naturally perfectly arbitrary, many of the fossils being common to both groups. _Carolia placunoides_, which is perhaps the most abundant fossil in the Qasr el Sagha series, is sometimes very common in the upper beds of the underlying group, and, as shown before, is common enough in the still lower _Nummulites gizehensis_ beds of Wadi Rayan. So that, though this fossil itself is no criterion, its relative abundance in the upper series justifies those beds being called the “Carolia beds,” the additional name of the Qasr el Sagha series being taken from the old ruin of that name where these beds are fully seen.
[Illustration: PLATE VIII.
MIDDLE EOCENE ESCARPMENT (QASR EL SAGHA SERIES) 12 KILOM. WEST OF QASR EL SAGHA.]
_D._—=Qasr el Sagha Series= (_Carolia Beds_).
This division is strikingly developed in the north of the Fayûm, where it forms a bold escarpment of great length, consisting of an alternating series of very fossiliferous clays and limestones, with sands and sandstone in the upper beds, of a total thickness of 175 metres.
This series is the equivalent of the well known Upper Mokattam beds of Jebel Mokattam, immediately to the east of Cairo. The cliffs of this hill are among the best known in Egypt and have been studied by many geologists, including Zittel, Schweinfurth, Mayer-Eymar, etc.; these authors have classified the whole of the Upper Mokattam of Cairo as equivalent to the Upper Parisian (Middle Eocene) of Western Europe. The series is far better developed in the Fayûm than at Jebel Mokattam, where the total thickness is only some 70 to 80 metres.
In consequence of the discovery in these beds of a highly interesting vertebrate fauna, including land animals, the series becomes of the greatest importance. As already mentioned, as long ago as 1879, Schweinfurth, during a journey across the Fayûm, obtained remains of _Zeuglodon_ in the underlying series from the island in the Birket el Qurûn. Subsequently[58] he obtained additional remains of the same cetacean in a violet marl belonging to the present series, from a locality 12½ kilometres west of Qasr el Sagha[59]; these remains, as already mentioned, were described by Dames as _Z. Osiris_. Since then important finds of land and marine mammals and reptiles have been made in different beds of this series; these will be referred to later.
The outcrop of the Qasr el Sagha series occupies a large part of the northern desert of the Fayûm. The beds are, however, best seen in the cliffs about 8 kilometres north of the Birket el Qurûn, where they form a steep double escarpment, running east and west, nearly parallel to the northern shore of the lake. The dip of the series being northward at a very low angle, and the upward slope of the ground being in the same direction, this cliff dies out a few kilometres north-east of Qasr el Sagha. A little further north, however, a N.W.-S.E. fold and fault again exposes nearly the whole of the beds of the series, forming prominent cliffs as before.
In the conspicuous hill 17½ kilometres 28° N. of E. (magnetic) of Tamia the series consists of innumerable alternations of clays and sandy limestone. The calcareous beds nearly always contain numerous examples of _Carolia placunoides_, _Ostrea_ and _Turritella_ of several species, but other well-preserved fossils are rare. The exposed beds here have a thickness of about 55 metres, and are underlain by the Birket el Qurûn beds with a well-marked band of concretionary sandstone, the thickness of the two series together being 127 metres. The upper beds of the former series are not here exposed, the top of the hill being formed of well-rounded flint and quartz pebbles embedded in a base of finely crystalline gypsum (2 metres thick), a deposit of Pleistocene times.
To the north of Tamia a large area of desert is occupied by the beds of this series; the district has the character of an undulating plain with occasional groups of hills and low irregular escarpments. At the groups of hills 12 kilometres N.N.E. of Tamia, and just to the east of Garat el Faras, the Qasr el Sagha beds are found to consist as usual of an alternating series of sands, sandstones, clays, marls and limestones, with numerous individuals of _Ostrea_, _Carolia_ and _Turritella_, besides vertebræ, teeth and spines of large fish.
We may pass now to the locality where this series shows its best development and exposure, the beds being all concentrated in one bold escarpment, generally divisible into an upper and a lower cliff. These cliffs overlook the Birket el Qurûn, although distant usually about 8 kilometres, being separated from the lower escarpment of the Birket el Qurûn series (immediately above the lake shore) by a broad plain, the surface of which is usually the dip-slope of a hard bed of sandstone. From Qasr el Sagha (6½ kilometres N.N.E. of Dimê) these cliffs trend westward, keeping approximately the same distance from the north shore of the lake; they have been followed and mapped for a distance of 70 kilometres to a point 13 kilometres N.N.W. of Gar el Gehannem, whence they could be seen still trending in a direction slightly south of west (see Plate XVII).
Small faults are of frequent occurrence along these escarpments, but are not of other than local interest; they almost invariably have their downthrow to the north, and it seldom exceeds a few metres. Fig. 5 shows a section through one of these faults near Qasr el Sagha.
The following detailed section (Plate XXIII) will show the character of the beds forming this division. As might be expected in such a series, although the calcareous bands are fairly constant, there is a continuous change of character among the sandy and clayey sediments from point to point; the false-bedding is in places very striking.
The main part of the section was measured 3½ kilometres north-east of Qasr el Sagha, but the lower beds not being exposed at that point, they were added from the cliffs at the ruin itself. The total thickness is 154 metres.
Thickness _Top._ in metres.
1. Hard, white, grey-weathering, sandy limestone with numerous shell-casts: _Echinolampas Crameri_, Loriol, _Plicatula Bellardi_, May.-Eym. 2
2. False-bedded sand and sand-rock with grey and green clays; concretions and bands of ironstone.
Hard, dark-brown or purplish ferruginous sandstone band. Occasional vertebrae of _Zeuglodon Osiris_, Dames, _Pterosphenus_ (_Mœriophis_) _Schweinfurthi_, Andr., crocodilian and fish- remains; coprolites 16
3. Hard, calcareous, ferruginous, clayey sandstone with brown ironstone concretions. Occasional fish- spines.
Clays with massive veins of gypsum forming a stock-work, and left weathered out above surface. _Cardium Schweinfurthi_, May.-Eym., _Cardita fajumensis_, Oppenh., (_Cossmannella ægyptiaca_, May.-Eym[60]), _Crassatellithes_ sp. 9
4. Hard, yellow, gypseous sandy limestone or calcareous sandstone 1½
5. Sandy, glauconitic clays with gypsum; oyster-bed at base in places. _Alectryonia Clot-Beyi_, Bellardi, _Exogyra Fraasi_, May.-Eym. 10
_2nd escarpment._
6. Hard or friable limestone, sometimes sandy, full of _Carolia placunoides_, Cantr., and _Exogyra Fraasi_, also _Ostrea_ aff. _heteroclyta_, Defr., _Ostrea Reili_, Fraas., _O. elegans_, Desh., _Plicatula Bellardi_, May.-Eym., _Pectunculus (?) ægyptiacus_, Oppenh., _Qerunia_ (_Hydractinia_) _cornuta_, May.-Eym. 2
7. Purplish clays interbedded and remarkably current- bedded with ash-grey sands, with both ferruginous and highly carbonaceous bands with plant-remains, lignite and natural charcoal. Vertebrate remains fairly common, the mammalian including _Zeuglodon Osiris_, _Eosiren libyca_, Andr., _Mœritherium Lyonsi_, _Barytherium?_ Andr.; the reptilian _Stereogenys Cromeri_, Andr., and _Tomistoma africanum_, Andr., with numerous coprolites; also frequent remains of siluroid and other fish. Masses of coral, _Astrohelia similis_, Felix, in places 12
8. Hard grey, close-grained, concretionary sandstone, frequently weathering into huge elongated rounded masses; _Turritella pharaonica_, Cossm.
Hard, purplish clays with grey sandy clays, sandrock, etc. Occasional crocodile and fish- remains 4
9. Hard ripple-marked sandstone. False-bedded sandstones with clay partings; ferruginous and lignitic bands with lumps of lignite. Occasionally coprolites and remains of Sirenia and Crocodilia are numerous 7
10. Hard or friable brown sandy limestone with shell- casts filled with scalenohedra of calcite. _Carolia placunoides_, _Turritella_ sp. ½
11. Gypseous clays, with red ferruginous band; weathering to paper-shales below 4½
12. Light-yellow limestone and calcareous sandstone with sharks’ teeth, _Mesalia fasciata_, Lam., _Cassidaria_ sp., _Rimella rimosa_, Sol., _Trachelochetus bituberculatus_, Cossm., _Turritella carinifera_, Desh., _T. Lessepsi_, May.-Eym., _Cardita fajumensis_, Oppenh. _Goniopora?_ 1
13. Slate-blue and brown gypseous clays with band containing _Mesalia_ sp., _Cassidaria nilotica_, Bell., _Exogyra Fraasi_ and _Goniaræa elegans_ 3
14. Sandstone and sandrock, light yellow 1
15. Yellow sandy friable limestone with casts of shells and _Mesalia fasciata_, _M. oxycrepis_, May.-Eym., _Turritella Lessepsi_, _T. pharaonica_, Cossm., _Alectryonia Clot-Beyi_, _Ostrea Reili_ ½
16-17. Sands, sandy clays and clays with a double band of limestone containing _Ampullina hybrida_, Lam., _Melongena nilotica_, var. _bicarinata_, May.-Eym., _Tudicla_ aff. _umbilicaris_, May.-Eym., _Turritella Lessepsi_, _T. parisiana_, May.-Eym., _Solarium_ sp., _Alectryonia Clot- Beyi_, _Plicatula polymorpha_ (occasional), _Lucina fortisiana_, Defr., _L. pharaonis_, Bell., _Mytilus affinis?_ J. and C. Sowerby, _Astrohelia similis_, _Goniaræa elegans_, Mich.; numerous vertebrate remains both above and between limestones including _Zeuglodon Osiris_, _Eosiren libyca_, _Barytherium grave_, Andr., _Moeritherium Lyonsi_, _M. gracile_, Andr., _Gigantophis Garstini_, Andr., _Pterosphenus Schweinfurthi_ and _Tomistoma africanum_, Andr. The remains of a siluroid fish are abundant; also _Propristis Schweinfurthi_, Dames. Large numbers of coprolites. Silicified wood 12
18. Brown sandy limestone with casts of shells, _Akera_ aff. _striatella_, Lam., _Ampullaria_, n. sp., _Gisortia gigantea_, Munst., _Lanistes antiquus_, Blanck., _Melongena nilotica_, var. _bicarinata_, _Mesalia_ sp., _Cassidaria nilotica_, _C._ aff. _nodosa_, _Solarium_ aff. _bistriatum_, Desh., _Alectryonia Clot-Beyi_, _Cardium Schweinfurthi_, _Exogyra Fraasi_, _Lucina pharaonis_, Bell., _Macrosolen Hollowaysi_, J. Sowerby, _Meretrix nitidula_, Lam., _M. parisiensis_, Desh., _Ostrea flabellula_, Lam., _Tellina_ sp., overlying clays with gypsum 4
19. Sandy limestone with numerous _Carolia placunoides_ and _Turritella imbricataria_, Lam. 1
20. Greyish-blue and brown ferruginous, sandy, and other clays. Plant remains 13
21. Friable shelly limestone with occasional small calcite veins ½
22. Clays 4
23. Hard yellow sandy limestone with _Ostrea_ and _Anisaster_ (_Agassizia_) _gibberulus_ ½
24. Clays with thin bands of fibrous gypsum 6
25. Hard friable shelly limestone with numerous fossils, including _Dictyopleurus Haimi_, Dunc. and Slad.; _Akera_ aff. _striatella_, _Turritella carinifera_, _T. imbricataria_, _T. pharaonica_, _Alectryonia Clot-Beyi_, _Arca tethyis_, Oppenh., _Cardita_ aff. _carinata_, J. Sowerby, _C._ aff. _depressa_, Locard., _C._ aff. _triparticostata_, Cossm., _C._ cf. _gracilis_ and _depressa_, Locard., _Cardita fajumensis_, _Cucullæa_ aff. _crassatina_, Lam., _Exogyra Fraasi_, _Glycimeris_ (_Pectunculus_) _pulvinatus_, Lam., _Ostrea_ aff. _Reili_, _Spondylus ægyptiacus_, Bull. Newt., _Pecten solariolum_, May.-Eym., _P. moelehensis_, May.-Eym., _Qerunia cornuta_, _Euspatangus cairensis_, Loriol, _Linthia_ sp., _Anisaster gibberulus_, _Schizaster_ aff. _africanus_, Loriol; bryozoa ½
26. Sandy clays with gypsum 7
27. Friable, gypseous, impure limestone with _Exogyra Fraasi_, _Carolia placunoides_, _Turritella_ sp., _Qerunia cornuta_, _Alectryonia Clot-Beyi_ ½
28. Sandy gypseous clays 3
29. Friable sandy limestone with _Carolia placunoides_, _Exogyra Fraasi_, _Turritella_ sp. (The ruin of Qasr el Sagha is built on this bed) 1
30. Gypseous sandy clays with occasional oyster- limestone with _Qerunia cornuta_; ferruginous sandstone band, etc. 27 --- Total 154 --- Hard grey sandstone with _Zeuglodon_ and numerous _Carolia_, _Ostrea_, etc., in places, capping plain to south of Qasr el Sagha and forming the top of the “Birket el Qurun series.”
The chief divisions of the series remain fairly constant and can be recognized and followed for many kilometres westwards.[61] The lower beds form the summits of Gar el Gehannem and the neighbouring hills (see Fig. 2 and section p. 36), the upper beds of the series being exposed in the higher escarpments to the north.
Although vertebrate remains are more common on some horizons[62] than on others, they are occasionally met with in most of the beds. The most prolific bone horizon is, however, about half-way down, i.e., those beds numbered 16 and 17 in the above section; bed 7 also yielded a number of remains. At the point where the upper part of the section was measured, 3½ kilometres north-east of Qasr el Sagha, the beds 16 and 17 yielded a considerable number of land-animal remains, all of which occurred within a fairly confined space, suggesting that they had been carried out from the land to this point by a strong river-current and deposited when the latter became too feeble to carry them further out to sea. The same beds were also examined in the faulted bay 8 kilometres to the north, but no bones, or at most a very occasional fragment or two, were obtained here. This is easily explained by the greater distance of this locality from the land-mass to the south. Westwards the same beds were always found more or less bone-bearing, isolated detached mandibles, limb-bones and vertebræ of _Mœritherium_, being of frequent occurrence, although no such complete remains were found as those from near Qasr el Sagha. Reptilian and fish bones are very widespread throughout the area. An extensive and detailed examination of these beds over a large area can hardly fail to yield important results, as other localities where skeleton-carrying currents came out from the land would very likely be discovered.
That the Qasr el Sagha series was deposited in fairly shallow water at no great distance from land seems certain, not only from the general lithological character of the beds but from the number of land-animal remains and the frequency of river and shore-frequenting whales, dugongs, crocodiles and turtles. The clays, moreover, are found to abound with impressions of plants, and in some cases are highly lignitic, being made up of compressed masses of vegetation including solid twigs, now found in a state more resembling charcoal than ordinary dense lignites; some bands approximate to an impure brown coal. In certain beds of the series further to the west, very thin seams of true coal occur; they were, however, never seen to exceed one or two millimetres. The intercalated bands of limestone are generally impure and do not indicate any great conditions of depth, but only rather a temporary cessation in the supply of sand and clay. Corals, moreover, abound along many horizons.
[Illustration: PLATE IX.
UPPER BEDS OF FLUVIO-MARINE SERIES WITH BASALT CAP, LOOKING WEST FROM THE EASTERN EXTREMITY OF JEBEL EL QATRANI.]
SECTION XI.—UPPER EOCENE (BARTONIAN)—LOWER OLIGOCENE.
_E._—=Fluvio-Marine Series= (_Jebel el Qatrani Beds_).
Throughout the north of the Fayûm depression the Qasr el Sagha beds, forming the uppermost Middle Eocene, are followed by an unique series[63] of variegated[64] sands and sandstones, with alternating beds of clay and clayey marl. The ever-recurring bands of limestone, so common to the underlying marine beds, have now almost completely disappeared, being represented by only an occasional bed of calcareous grit, marl, or thin band of limestone. In the upper part of the series occurs a horizontal sheet of basalt,[65] in all probability contemporaneously interbedded; this forms a convenient datum line and may perhaps be provisionally taken as an arbitrary junction between the Eocene and Oligocene. Although as a rule remarkably barren of organic remains, certain bands, especially in the upper part, yield numerous individuals of a few species of mollusca, including _Lucina_, _Arca_, _Mutela_, _Spatha_, _Unio_, _Lanistes_, _Turritella_, _Melania_, _Potamides_, _Cerithium_ and _Pleurotoma_. From such an assemblage we may without doubt conclude that the conditions under which the series was deposited were estuarine or fluvio-marine, and this is further proved by the non-marine lithological character of the beds. The enormous quantities of silicified wood which occur in certain beds, in the shape of hundreds of trees of great length and girth, together with the numerous remains of land-animals, crocodiles, tortoises and turtles, indicate that rivers of considerable size emerged from the land to the south, the coast-line of which was probably not far distant. In fact the retreat of the sea, which as already mentioned, had probably already begun in Middle Eocene times, was now still further continued, although the cause of this was apparently not so much due to elevation of the land as to the continued deposition of sediment from south to north beyond the land-shore. We may in fact regard the series as a huge delta deposit in an area of local depression, in which the great accumulation of sediment brought down from the land continually caused the gradual retreat of the sea to the north.
The same conditions would even appear to have continued on to Pliocene times, as from the Fayûm northwards stretches an immense plain of lithologically similar rocks, evidently accumulated under similar conditions, and which appear to contain newer and newer faunas from south to north. Thus, while in the Fayûm the remains are of Middle and Upper Eocene and Lower Oligocene age, when the latitude of Mogara is reached, some 70 kilometres further north, a fauna distinctly Lower Miocene in aspect occurs; further north again, as at Wadi Natrûn, Pliocene remains are abundant. We may hope therefore that this otherwise barren desert, when carefully and systematically explored, will yield us a continuous record of the vertebrate life of the northern part of the African continent from Eocene to Pleistocene times.
In the Fayûm, over a length of 80 to 90 kilometres, the basal beds of the Fluvio-marine series, at a height of only a few metres above the top of the Qasr el Sagha series, are frequently found to contain the remains of land-animals, often in sufficient quantities to form in places a true “bone-bed.” Besides land-mammals, remains of large tortoises, turtles and crocodiles, are very common, some of the latter being identical with those of the Qasr el Sagha series below. Chelonian and crocodilian remains are to be found on various horizons, but so far none but fragmentary mammal remains have been observed in the higher parts of the series. It is interesting to note that the bones in these beds appear to be most common near the accumulations of fossil trees, thus suggesting that they were floated out from the land at the same time and by the same river-currents. The porous character of the sands and sandstones of this group has resulted in the remains not being in nearly so hard or durable a condition, except when coated with ferruginous sand, as those in the series below, although the actual state of preservation is even more perfect.
Analysis shows that these bones, with the exception of the loss of all organic matter, have undergone very little change. A sample examined by Mr. Lucas was taken from a typically preserved pelvis of _Arsinoitherium_ and gave the following result:—
DETERMINED. CALCULATED.
Silica 0·57 Silica 0·57
Oxide of Iron 1·98 Oxide of Iron 1·98
Lime 51·40 Calcium Phosphate 76·11
Magnesia trace Magnesium Phosphate trace
Phosphoric Acid 34·86 Calcium Sulphate 4·64
Sulphuric Acid 2·74 Calcium Carbonate 14·75
Loss on ignition, Organic Matter nil being Carbon dioxide 6·13
Chlorine trace Sodium Chloride trace
Not determined 2·32 Not determined 1·95 ------ ------ 100·00 100·00
The following composition of the bones of an ox, from an analysis by Berzelius, is
appended for comparison:—
%
Phosphate and Fluoride of Calcium 57·35
Carbonate of Calcium 3·85
Phosphate of Magnesium 2·05
Soda and a little Sodium Chloride 3·45
Organic Matter 33·30 ------ 100·00 ------
It is curious that these Eocene bones should have so completely preserved their original composition considering the almost universal silicification of the trees deposited in the same beds.
Most frequently the vertebrate remains are found in an unconsolidated false-bedded clean quartz sand, the grains of which are semi-rounded or angular; in some layers the sand is very coarse and polished, and mixed with fine gravel. These deposits of sand, apparently brought down by river floods, are not continuous along any particular horizon, but are intercalated here and there in the ordinary sandstones, clays and marls of the series; they occur chiefly, however, as local lenticular masses along a more or less constant horizon near the base of the series. The bone-remains are not absolutely confined to these deposits of river-sand, but like the silicified trees are far more common in them than elsewhere. Scattered mammal bones occur in the lower clays, marls, and hard concretionary sandstones, while the remains of aquatic animals, such as turtles and crocodiles, may be found almost anywhere.
From an examination of the series in the field, there is no doubt that, in at least the centre of the area, the deposition of the lowest beds was continuous with those of the Qasr el Sagha (Middle Eocene) series below. Followed away from the centre (i.e. the district round Widan el Faras, the eastern extremity of Jebel el Qatrani) the series gradually thins out, and eastwards, at Elwat Hialla, some 23 kilometres north of Tamia, has a thickness of only 40 metres, the basal beds being apparently laid on to a bed of limestone of the Qasr el Sagha series about the horizon of Bed 12 in Section XXIII. The junction here is apparently one of perfect conformity as far as the individual beds go, and the peculiar sequence does not seem to be due to ordinary overlap; it appears as if the change from marine to estuarine conditions had set in earlier here than further to the west, with the result that the upper Qasr el Sagha beds are wanting. Moreover, the accumulation of estuarine beds went on so slowly in this locality that the series does not attain to nearly its normal thickness, while further east it dies out altogether. The slight dip to the north is identical in both series, their lithological characters being, however, very different.
Although the Qasr el Sagha series contains numerous bands of clay and sandstone, the continual recurrence of thick beds of limestone at once gives it a distinguishing feature from the group under discussion; the latter is in fact characterized by the highly-coloured sandy, and to less extent clayey, character of its beds. While the Middle Eocene is essentially marine, the succeeding formation marks the retreat of the sea and the incoming of estuarine and brackish water conditions.
Before discussing the age of the Fluvio-marine series it will be well to describe its development in the field. The beds of the complex are throughout the district always found following on above the Qasr el Sagha beds, although their thickness varies considerably, as might be expected in a series of this nature. The most easterly locality to which the formation was mapped is the scarp 23 kilometres due north of Tamia, known as Elwat Hialla. Here the beds form a separate escarpment, consisting of only about 40 metres of sands and sandstone grit (sometimes silicified) with pieces of silicified wood: some of the beds of sandstone have a concretionary stem-like weathering. From this point these beds extend westwards far beyond the western end of the lake, always forming the highest escarpments of the Fayûm depression. A kilometre or two from our most easterly point the first basalt sheets are seen, and these, preserving the same level as far as can be observed, continue some 60 kilometres further west, to a point nearly due north of the western end of the Birket el Qurûn. The series, only 40 metres thick at the eastern end, gradually thickens as it is followed westward, until it reaches its maximum development in the cliffs of Jebel el Qatrani, north-west of the temple of Qasr el Sagha, where a thickness of some 210 metres is attained.
Just 29 kilometres N.N.E. of Tamia (6 kilometres N.W. of the prominent western scarp of Elwat Hialla), a long hill offers a good section of these beds, which consist of a variegated group of green sands, red clays, coarse sandstones, red and yellow sand and sandstone, etc., capped by a band of hard impure yellowish limestone with numerous enclosed sand-grains (calcareous grit). Near the same place is an interbedded sheet of basalt, which is sometimes followed by another band of impure limestone and the latter by false-bedded sandstone. Huge logs of weathered-out silicified trees are seen strewn about.
The following is a detailed section of the series, measured from a point 3½ kilometres W.N.W. of Elwat Hialla, and about 28 kilometres N.N.W. of Tamia, to the top of the escarpment 4 kilometres further north:—
Undulating sandy, gravel-covered desert[66] stretching northwards.
_Top of escarpment._ Metres.
1. False-bedded sandstones } } 2. Band of impure limestone } } 8 3. Interbedded basalt sheet } } 4. Sandstone }
_(Section continued in hill ¾ kilometre further north-east)._
5. Hard yellow limestone with enclosed sand-grains; cavities full of calcite 1
6. Greenish-white sand-rock 1
7. Hard reddish-brown stem-weathering sandstone 1½
8. Greenish or white sand and sand-rock 3
9. Variegated sandy clays; sand-rock with occasional fragments of bone 6
10. White sand-rock 1
11. Rose-coloured sandstone 2
12. Hard grey white marly clays 2½
13. Coarse yellow sandstone 5
14. Reddish, white, and variegated sands and sand-rock 8
15. Grey, reddish and yellowish clays, with bands full of plant-remains 3½
16. Brown clayey, sandstone 2
17. Greenish sandstone 1
18. Sandy grey clay 1½
19. Hard grey sandstone ½
20. Greenish sand-rock and clayey sandstone 3
21. Dark red clay 1
22. Sands, etc.; outcrop of bed covered with silicified trees of large dimensions, 12-15 metres long 10
23. Clays with hard grey false-bedded sandstone and showing fine mammilary weathering at top. Silicified logs on surface 8
24. Red clays, sandy clays and argillaceous sands 4
25. Reddish sand-rock 1
26. Yellowish sand-rock, in part false-bedded 2
27. Red clays with thin sandy bands 1½
28. Coarse grey sandstone 2
29. Red and green sandy clays with thin band of hard white sandstone at top 1
30. Bright red clay 4
31. Red clays with thin green sandy bands 3
32. Greenish sand-rock with thin red clayey bands 1
33. Reddish white mottled clayey sandstones passing up into red and white mottled clays and sandy clays 8
34. Fine white sand } } 3 35. Black ferruginous silicified sandstone } -- Total thickness 90 -- _Base._
Junction with Middle Eocene (Qasr el Sagha series).
[Illustration: PLATE X.
EL QATRANI RANGE FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.]
A little further west, at a point 25 kilometres north of the eastern end of the Birket el Qurûn, thick beds of white coarse sandstone form the upper part of the escarpment. Below comes a bed of yellowish impure limestone and below this an interbedded sheet of basalt 21 metres thick, underlaid by more white sandstone.
The series has almost always a constant dip of two or three degrees to the north. Silicified trees are very commonly found strewn over the surface both near the base and high up in the series.
At a point about 14 kilometres north of Qasr el Sagha definite organic remains other than bone-fragments were for the first time met with in the series. Here a fragment of ochreous-coloured grit containing numerous specimens of a small _Melania_ was picked up and similar rocks were afterwards found _in situ_. Calcareous grits and impure limestones occurred at the same spot, and one of the harder more compact bands of limestone was found to contain casts of _Cerithium_.
Also at a point 9 kilometres north of Qasr el Sagha hard grey limestones, generally compact and cherty, and sometimes semi-crystalline, are present, containing casts of _Melania_, frequently filled with calcite. These overlie variegated sandstones, and occur at about 40 metres below the basalt near the top of the escarpment.
Blanckenhorn has determined my fossils from these localities as follows:—
_Melania_ nov. sp., allied to _M. Nysti_ of the Oligocene.
_Potamides scalaroides_, Desh., an important guiding form of the Middle Beauchamp Sands of the Paris Basin, and thus Upper Eocene.
_Potamides tristriatus_, Lam., of the Parisian (_Cerithium crispum_, Desh.,) is nearly related to the frequent Middle and Upper Eocene _C. perditum_, Bay, between which, according to Cossmann, transitions exist.
_Cerithium tiarella_, Desh., of the Middle and Upper Eocene, but more especially in the latter.
Blanckenhorn considers these determinations as certain, and thus marking the complex as Upper Eocene, on the level of the “Beauchamp Sands” of the Paris Basin, and consequently of the Lower Headon Hill beds and Barton Clay of the South of England.
The following section was measured from the base of the series, 2½ kilometres N.N.W. of Qasr el Sagha, to the summit of the escarpments, 2 kilometres N.N.W. of Widan el Faras. The series has its maximum thickness at this point.
Summit of escarpment of Fayûm depression, 2 kilometres N.N.W. of Widan el Faras.
_Top._ Metres.
1. Sandstones with band of coarse dark ferruginous grit; silicified logs occur weathered-out of this bed 18
2. Coarse sandstone-grit with yellowish calcareous base } } 1 } 3. Greyish clay, possibly a product of decomposed basalt }
4. Basalt sheet, soft friable, grey or bright green, and decomposed at base 5
5. Hard yellow calcareous-grit with calcite-filled cavities, passing into semi-compacted yellowish sand, hardened at junction with basalt 1
6. White and red sands } } 7. Greenish sandstones and yellow concretionary sands } with 2·5 cm. layer of calcareous grit, with gastropods } 27 including large _Cerithium_, _Melania_ sp., } _Turritella pharaonica_, _Pleurotoma ingens_, } May.-Eym., occasional lamellibranchs and also } _Callianassa_ }
8. White, green and brown sands and sand-rock 17
9. Hard yellow calcareous grit } } 10. Red and white clayey sand and sandy clays; some pebbly } 10 bands; _Lucina_ sp., _Unio_ sp.,[67] preserved in } brown ironstone, common in places on this horizon }
11. Coarse grey and white sand (2 metres) } } 12. Red clayey sands (1 metre) } 5 } 13. White and yellow sand and sand-rock }
14. Red clays 7
15. Sandy ferruginous band with lamellibranchs and gastropods of genera _Unio_, _Pseudodon_, _Mutela_, _Spatha_ and _Lanistes_, indicating fluviatile or fresh water conditions of deposition 5
16. Green clay (1 metre) passing into a red variety } } 17. White sandy clay (2 metres) } } 18. Red clays } 6 } 19. White, brown, and red sands, partly consolidated } } 20. Bright red clay }
21. Hard coarse sandstone 3
22. Hard compact light yellow limestone enclosing sand- } grains (½ metre) } } 23. White and yellow sands } } 5 24. Greenish clays (1 metre) } } 25. Coarse white sands with _Unio_ and _Cardium_-like } lamellibranchs preserved in brown ironstone }
26. Grey clay 2
27. Hard yellow impure limestone (forms a small platform) } } 2 28. Grey clays }
29. Red and yellow sands with hard base of grey sandstone 15
30. Grey sandstones. Base of basalt-capped escarpment 7
_(Section continued ¾ kilometre south-east)._
31. Hard blue-grey compact cherty limestone (½ metre) with casts of _Melania_; hollows often filled with calcite 18
32. Variegated (red, white and yellow) sands, sand-rock } and sandy clays } } 33. Hard compact close-grained limestone } 18 } 34. Red and white variegated sands and sand-rock, with } some bands of red clay }
35. Hard yellow impure limestone (⅓) } } 36. Grey clays } } 14 37. Coarse white sand } } 38. Brown calcareous sandstones }
39. Greenish and grey sandy clays (3 metres) } } 8 40. Alternating white and red sands }
41. Coarse yellow calcareous grit (½ metre) } } 42. Light green sandstone } 2 } 43. Reddish clays }
44. White sand 2
45. Alternating white and bright red sands } } 19 46. Grey sandstone with silicified wood; occasional } crocodilian and other bones }
47. Hard red clays 5
48. Grey and brown clays, sandy clays, and thin beds of sandstone with some silicified wood 19
49. Grey sandstones and loose false-bedded sandy clays with many silicified trees and remains[68] of _Arsinoitherium Zitteli_, Bead., _Palæomastodon Beadnelli_, Andr., _Mœritherium_ sp., _Phiomia serridens_, Andr. and Beadn., _Saghatherium antiquum_, Andr. and Beadn., _S. minus_, Andr. and Beadn., _Megalohyrax eocænus_, Andr., _Ancodus Gorringei_, Andr. and Beadn., _Pterodon africanus_, Andr., _Crocodilus_ sp., _Tomistoma africanum_, Andr., and large and numerous tortoises (_Testudo Ammon_, Andr.)[69] and turtles[70], and very rarely fragmentary fish-remains 5
50. Thin bands of limestone } } 51. Yellow sand-rock } } 52. Grey sandstone with fragments of bone (½ metre) } 25 } 53. Brown calcareous-grit (½ metre) } } 54. Light green sand-rock and sandstone }
Approximate total thickness in metres 271
The specimens collected from Bed 15, on about the same horizon as the fossils mentioned from the locality 14 kilometres north of Qasr el Sagha, were examined by Blanckenhorn, who has published the following notice of them:—
“I should first mention the fresh-water shells found by Beadnell in brown sandstone 1 kilometre north of Camp 19 (i.e. at Widan el Faras), which, in the absence of special literature on the Palaeogene fresh-water shells of North Africa and nearer Asia, I have compared with the fauna of to-day, in which I was most kindly helped by Professor v. Martens, Director of the Conchological Collection of the Natural History Museum. The greater number of the forms have a distinctly tropical, and more especially Central African, character.
_Unio_ sp., small, related to the recent _U. Nyassænsis_ of Lake Nyassa.
_Unio_, related to _U. Homsensis_[71] Lea, from Syria, and _U. Bonneaudi_ from Cochin China, with many radial folds behind the umbo which run obliquely from the blunt edge backwards towards the hinge-border.
_Unio_, related to _U. teretiusculus_, Phil. (_Caillaudi_, Fer., _lithophagus_, Ziegli.) of the Nile.
_Pseudodon?_ sp.
_Mutela_ (a genus of tropical Africa) sp., long, with a straight finely-toothed hinge-border which very much recalls that of _Barbatia_ (a sub-genus of _Arca_).
_Spatha_ sp. related to _S. dahomeyensis_ and _S. Droueti_ of Assinia in West Africa.
_Lanistes carinatus_,[72] scarcely distinguishable from the Nile form.
The _Melania_ occurring in mass in the uppermost calcareous bed appears to be a new species[73] whose nearest relation must in any case be _M. Nysti_ of the Oligocene, not _M. muricata_ of the Eocene, amongst forms at present known.
_Turritella angulata_, Sow. A marine form, occurring below the basalt and indubitably this species, as it is well preserved and easily determined[74]; _T. angulata_ ranges from the Middle Eocene to the Lower Oligocene of the East and occurs in the Upper Mokattam of Syria.”
From Widan el Faras the series continues westwards, forming several escarpments, the uppermost that of Jebel el Qatrani, and maintaining the same general characters. The tripartite character of the series, already noticeable between Qasr el Sagha and Widan el Faras (see foregoing section) becomes still more marked. The lowest division is very largely composed of fluviatile sands and sandstones, frequently coarse-grained and usually markedly current-bedded, divided by clays and containing an abundance of silicified trees and quantities of vertebrate remains. These soft beds, some 60 metres in thickness, have as a rule an extensive outcrop, forming an undulating plain averaging two or three kilometres in width. They are overlaid by some 17 metres of harder dark red sandstones, which invariably form a well-marked escarpment capped by a very constant two or three metres band of hard white or pinkish calcareous grit. This grit varies in composition, frequently passing into a marl; and one of the characteristics of this and the underlying red beds is the abundance of nodular masses of calcite and gypsum. In some localities, as for instance 3 kilometres W.N.W. of Qasr el Sagha, numerous spherical nodules of beekitic chalcedony occur in the beds of this division, and some of these when broken are found to be geodes lined with beautiful crystals of quartz and calcite.
The next division consists of some 60 metres of alternating sandstones and clays with occasional thin calcareous bands in the upper part, and capped by a well-marked hard cherty limestone, frequently passing into a dense tabular chert or flint. This exceptionally hard band generally forms a dip-slope plain of some width, before the softer basal members of the third and highest division overlie it. The siliceous bed caps many of the most notable hills in the district; among others may be mentioned the big isolated hill 9 kilometres north-west of Garat el Esh, and the hills five kilometres N.N.E. of the same point. This is the only horizon throughout the Eocene succession of the Fayûm on which an abundance of flint is met with; that it was well known and exploited in early times is evident from the old pits met with on the summits of the hills overlooking the main bone-pits, a few kilometres north of Garat el Esh. As no worked flints were noticed round the workings it is probable that the material was excavated and carried away to the borders of the lake, there to be fashioned into the harpoons, saws and other implements which are so commonly found scattered at the present day near the margin of the old lake site.
The uppermost division of the Fluvio-marine series consists of over 100 metres of variegated sediments and forms the escarpment of Jebel el Qatrani itself, capped by the conspicuous band of hard black basalt, which is itself overlain by a further 20 metres of similar sediments. The basalt has a thickness of over 20 metres in places, though its average is considerably less; at the base it is frequently decomposed, soft, and of a brown colour.
At a point due north of the western end of the Birket el Qurûn the interbedded basalt sheet terminates, and no further flows were seen as far as the point up to which the series was mapped, nearly due north of Gar el Gehannem. As far as could be seen on a traverse through the Zeuglodon Valley to the south-western limits of the depression no further basalt flows occur.
Section from the base of the Fluvio-marine series, 2 kilometres north of Garat el Esh, to the summit of Jebel el Qatrani 5½ kilometres north of the bone-pits. (See Plates XVIII and XXIV).
Approximate thickness in _Summit of plateau._ metres
1. Coarse sandstones and grits 13
2. Basalt 25
3. Yellow sands and sandstones, capped by 3 m. of hard concretionary grey sandstone with occasional mammalian bones (underlying basalt in scarp and capping outlying hill) 15
4. Hard sandstones with clayey bands 8
5. Sandy and clayey beds 5
6. Hard yellow calcareous grit 5
7. Clays and clayey marls 7
8. Sandy beds 15
9. Hard sandstone (forms connecting ridge between ½ hill and escarpment)
10. Clays with thin sandstone bands } } 40 11. Variable sandy and marly red clays with a hard } yellowish sandstone band ten metres from base }
_Base of isolated hill._
12. Soft sands with chelonian and crocodilian remains 4
13. Sandy clays with chelonian and mammalian } (_Arsinoitherium_) bones, capped by coarse grit, } in part ferruginous silicified grit and quartzite } 1 } 14. White calcareous grit and marly limestone. Band } of flint in places
_Summit of hill overlooking bone-pits._
14. Sandstone, becoming calcareous and passing up 10 into 3 m. of hard white calcareous grit, and yellowish white bedded marly limestone with calcite druses. Capped by ¼ m. hard tabular chert and flint
15. Finely laminated grey shaly clays, sandy and } marly clays, capped by 2 m. of mottled yellow and } red sandstone and sandstone-grit } 10 } 16. Hard red, green, and brown sandstone }
17. Variegated grey, green and red clays, marly clays and sandy beds, with thin bands of sandstone. More arenaceous towards top 21
18. Hard grey sandstone; greenish sandy clays; hard dark red marls and marly clays at top 6
19. Thin band of hard yellow limestone, capping salty red clays and sandy clays 6
20. Soft greenish clayey sandstone capped by ½ m. of hard false-bedded concretionary sandstone with numerous enclosed coprolites 3
_Base of hill overlooking bone-pits._
21. Pink calcareous grit (forming summit of lowest escarpment), with small flint and quartz pebbles in some layers. An abundance of calcite and gypsum 3
22. Mottled red and green clayey sandstone, clays and clayey marls. Passing up into a hard sandy (or clayey) dark red marl with greenish mottlings 7
23. Light yellow finely-laminated sandrock passing up into dark red sandrock. Some clayey bands 10
24. Coarse unconsolidated false-bedded sands, with occasional bands of clay and consolidated sandstone bands. Numerous silicified trees and abundant mammalian and reptilian remains. (See list in Bed 49 of Widan el Faras section). Bone-pits are in this bed 40
25. Thin band (½ m.) of hard sandstone with sometimes } impure calcareous grit } } 10 26. Hard light yellow sandstone, often very coarse, } and with red bands }
27. Soft brick red and light yellow sands and sandstones, (seen on plain and overlying uppermost limestone of the Middle Eocene) 20
_Base of Fluvio-marine Series._
[Illustration: PLATE XI.
SILICIFIED TREES OF FLUVIO-MARINE SERIES, 4½ KILOMETRES NORTH OF QASR EL SAGHA.]
In some localities pebbly bands occur in the sandstone-grits, especially in some of the beds above the basalt: the pebbles are mostly quartz or flint, subangular or rounded, the layer averaging perhaps two cm. in diameter, although occasional specimens three or four times that size are met with. Silicified trees of two distinct types[75] occur, and they are met with chiefly on two horizons; usually large numbers of trees occur together, completely covering the surface in places; they lie as a rule scattered about in every direction, although occasionally a large proportion may show considerable parallelism of deposition, as if arranged by the direction of the current which floated them to the spot. They always occur in a horizontal position or parallel to the dip of the bed, and it seems quite certain that none of them ever grew near where they are now found. The trees never bear attached branches, the latter having always been broken off at or near the point of junction with the trunk, where the scars are often plainly seen; this points to the trees having been drifted a considerable distance. Many trees over 25 metres[76] in length have been met with, but this by no means represents the original height, as the trunks have lost considerably in length during transport to their present localities. Although, as a rule, found completely weathered-out and exposed on the surface, in numerous localities these silicified trees are to be observed firmly embedded in the sandstones in which they were deposited, many being met with in our excavations for bones.
As the Fluvio-marine series is followed westwards from the central part of the area, the different divisions become more and more attenuated and the outcrops more and more obscured by superficial gravel. North-west of the Zeuglodon Valley an escarpment capped by a conspicuous bed of white calcareous grit occurs and perhaps represents the lower beds of the series. The higher are lost on the gravelly undulating plateau above.
_F._—=Age of the “Fluvio-Marine Series”.=
The beds in question being as a whole remarkably unfossiliferous, a determination of their exact age on palaeontological grounds is an undertaking of some difficulty. The series, however, in certain beds is very rich in vertebrate remains; a considerable number of new and important forms have already been obtained and further additions are probable. Until the survey of the area in 1898 it appears that the only fossils obtained from these rocks were a few casts and badly-preserved specimens of mollusca from the highest beds above the basalt, collected by one or two observers from localities between the summit of the Fayûm escarpments and the Pyramids of Giza.
The Rohlfs Expedition did not visit this part of Egypt, and Zittel[77] tabulated the beds, which he called the “Schichten von Birket el Qurûn” as doubtfully Oligocene; probably the beds referred to are those of the island Geziret el Qorn, which, as already mentioned, belong to the lower division of the Birket el Qurûn series, and are therefore of Middle Eocene age. Mayer-Eymar[78] states that he was able to subdivide the series under discussion into Upper and Lower Ligurian and Lower Tongrian. Schweinfurth[79] considered the series as Miocene, comparing them with the lithologically similar _Scutella_ beds of Der el Beda to the east of Cairo. Blanckenhorn, on the evidence of the writer’s fossil collections, states, as already mentioned, that the upper part is certainly to be regarded as Lower Oligocene and the lower part as Upper Eocene.
First as to the stratigraphical position of the series. There is no doubt that the lowest beds of the group were deposited (at any rate in the central part of the area) in practical continuity with the Qasr el Sagha series, which, as shown, is certainly of Middle Eocene age. A great change in the lithology of the beds, however, makes the junction a perfectly natural one. We pass from a truly marine series into an estuarine or fluvio-marine set of beds, and such a change near the summit of the Eocene is not an uncommon one in some parts of Europe. The stratigraphical position in the field, therefore, favours an Upper Eocene age for the lower beds. The dip being northwards, newer and newer beds are met with from south to north on the great undulating, but more or less level, desert north of the escarpment summit. The occurrence of Lower Miocene beds at Mogara, some 100 kilometres north or north-west, also points to a somewhat younger, or Oligocene, age for the underlying beds, (i.e., those between the Fayûm escarpment and Mogara). The actual relations, however, of the beds in the two localities have not yet been determined, but it is probable younger beds are continually met with from south to north.
Until the entire collection of fossils has been examined and determined, it is somewhat premature to attempt to fix the age of the series on palaeontological grounds. Up to the present the foregoing lists show the species which have been provisionally or finally determined. Some of these appear to be identical with species which have been recorded from Upper Eocene deposits of Europe, such as _Potamides scalaroides_, _P. tiarella_, while others, such as _Melania_ cf. _Nysti_, _Natica crassatina_ (found below the basalt in the so-called Sandberger Hills north-east of the Fayûm escarpment), are typically Lower Oligocene. Other forms, such as _Turritella angulata_, are common to both Eocene and Oligocene elsewhere.
If Blanckenhorn’s determinations of these forms are confirmed, we may regard the upper beds, i.e., those immediately above the basalt, as undoubtedly of Lower Oligocene age. The beds below the basalt mark the transition from the Eocene to Oligocene, while the base of the series, so far unfossiliferous as far as molluscan remains are concerned, must be regarded as of Upper Eocene (Bartonian) age.
We may hope that when the important vertebrate fauna occurring chiefly in the basal part of the series has been thoroughly exploited, and the remains systematically determined, confirmatory evidence will be obtained. At present the only forms described and determined, beyond pointing to a pre-Miocene age, do not indicate any definite horizon. Probably most of the animals will prove to be new, and although on that account more interesting from one point of view, will probably not assist us greatly in the exact determination of the age of the beds in question.
_G._—=The Position of the Land-mass from which the Mammal Remains were Derived.=
The existence of remains of land animals throughout the larger part of the Qasr el Sagha series and in still greater quantity in the basal beds of the overlying Fluvio-marine series, and occasionally in the highest beds also, points to the presence of continental land within no great distance of the area in which these deposits were laid down. That the animal-remains were carried out from the land by river currents is almost certain, and although in some cases such currents are known to persist to great distances from their points of emergence, it seems probable from the quantity and mode of distribution that the Fayûm bones were deposited within a moderate distance of land. Moreover, the silicified trees, by which the bones are so often accompanied, occur together in very great quantities, and we should imagine that the individual trees would have been far more scattered if they had been floated to considerable distances from land. On the other hand the fact that among the hundreds of trees examined, in no single case were branches found attached to the trunk, points to the conclusion that these trees had travelled great distances; probably the branches were lost during their river journey, from constant jamming together of a great number in a more or less constricted space, and not after they had left the river mouth.
The exact position of this land-mass is a highly interesting and important question. There is no reason to suppose that land of any extent occurred to the north, except possibly an occasional island, such as that of the Cretaceous massif of Abu Roash,[80] west of Cairo, which probably formed an island in the sea at that time; without doubt the great Eocene sea which covered the area stretched northwards, and was continuous with that in which the southern European deposits of this period were laid down. To the west also there was certainly no land-mass within approximate distances. Eastwards, possibly part of the Red Sea Hills igneous range may have formed a restricted land-area, but even this is not probable; in fact, it seems certain that we must look to the south for the nearest land of any extent. In supposing the land lay in this direction we are confronted at the outset with the fact that the Lower Eocene limestones stretch southwards for several hundred kilometres. In Egypt the Lower Eocene consists of a great mass of nummulitic limestones, some 400-500 metres thick, with no intercalated clays or sandstones except at the base, and was evidently formed in water of considerable depth. The thickness of, and superficial area covered by, these limestones show that they were formed in a truly open sea, in contra-distinction to a littoral area; the nummulitic sea in fact covered an enormous part of Europe, North Africa and Asia. To the south of this sea lay the African continent, a land-mass dating possibly from Palæozoic times. Since, and possibly partly during, the deposition of the Lower and Middle Eocene formations, a gradual elevation of the land or lowering of the sea, resulting in a retreat of the latter, took place; this continually brought the shore-line further northwards until, during the deposition of the beds of the Qasr el Sagha series of the Middle Eocene, we may surmise that it was not very far to the south, though the exact distance is extremely doubtful; while in Upper Eocene times it was still further north. We may assume therefore that the Upper Eocene bone-bearing strata of the Fayûm represent sediments transported by rivers and currents from a fairly adjacent continental land-mass to the south and laid down as littoral and delta deposits beyond the margin of the land. That at least one large river emerged from the land in the neighbourhood of the Fayûm is certain; drainage was then, as now, from south to north, although not probably confined to a single channel like the present Nile.
Apart from broader considerations a minute examination of the more typically fluviatile beds favours the conclusion that the currents were from the south or south-west. The general dip of the strata, probably the natural inclination of the sediments at the time of deposit, is from south to north; the most frequent lamination in the current-bedded arenaceous deposits is also from south to north. In our excavations for fossil bones it was noted that of seven tortoise shells exposed at the same time in different parts of the pit, six lay with their long axes similarly orientated and were distinctly tilted to the north-east, or exactly away from the point of the compass from which, as will presently be shown, the main river probably came. As a rule, however, the scattered fossil bones and trees in these beds give no definite clue as to the direction from which they were floated. The existence of separate accumulations of fluviatile sand at different horizons, but lying one above the other in the series and along a north and south line, is of importance as indicating the continued appearance of a river current from the same quarter.
Blanckenhorn has published[81] diagrams showing what he supposes to have been the relative areas occupied by land and sea in Upper Mokattam, Lower Oligocene, Middle Pliocene and Pleistocene times. Various lines of drainage are shown, the main river, which he calls the Ur-Nil, being placed some 70 kilometres to the west of the modern Nile, although closely following the trend of the latter. We have been unable to ascertain on what evidence Blanckenhorn relies for assuming rivers in Upper Mokattam and Lower Oligocene times to have occupied the positions shown on his diagrams; the number and positions of such rivers must remain more or less problematical. In this connection however it is interesting to recall[82] the lacustrine ferruginous grits which were brought to notice by the writer in 1900 as having been deposited in a lake, occupying in post-Middle Eocene times a shallow depression in that part of the Libyan desert now occupied by the oasis-depression of Baharia. Similar deposits were found forming the hills of Gar el Hamra a few kilometres east of the extreme north end of the depression. Finally, during a traverse through the unexplored country south-west of Gar el Gehannem in the winter of 1902-1903, hills capped with dark hard ferruginous silicified grits and puddingstone were met with in the extreme south-west of the Fayûm depression at a point nearly midway, and in the direct line, between the hills of Gar el Hamra and the chief bone-bearing localities in the north of the Fayûm. The deposits in question—at Baharia, at Gar el Hamra and in the hills to the south-west of the Fayûm—are evidently of lacustrine and fluviatile origin; and we may infer, with some degree of probability, that they were laid down along the course of a river which flowed in a north-easterly direction and formed extensive delta deposits in what is now the northern part of the Fayûm. That this river had its origin in the interior of a well-wooded continent hundreds of miles to the south of Baharia is not to be questioned; its size, length and exact position must remain matters of doubt, but of its existence we can be as certain as if in times of flood we had stood on its banks and watched the passage northwards of its turbid swollen waters, laden with matted rafts of forest trees and bearing seawards the carcases of those curious Eocene animals, the remains of which are so abundant in the Fayûm of to-day.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.—Probable Course of chief river of Upper Eocene and Oligocene times.]
In the Middle and Upper Eocene beds we first obtain an idea of the animals which inhabited Africa in Tertiary times, and the collecting and working out of this fauna will throw much light, not only on our actual knowledge of the African vertebrata of the Eocene period, which was practically nil until the discovery of the remains here described, but also on other wider biological questions, such as the origin of certain groups of animals, some of which were evolved in this part of the world.
As recently pointed out by a writer in the Field (No. 2605, Nov. 29, 1902) many years ago the late Prof. Huxley, to account for the present distribution of the mammalian fauna of Africa and Magadascar, advanced the theory that in the early part of the Tertiary period Madagascar was connected with Africa, and Africa with Europe or Asia, a connection which allowed of the immigration into Africa and Madagascar of numerous small types of European and Asian mammals. Madagascar later becoming separated from the mainland, its fauna, undisturbed by the larger carnivora, was able to develop to its present remarkable extent. Subsequently to the isolation of Madagascar the ancestors of the modern fauna were presumed to have invaded the African continent from the north.
The extinct fauna of the Fayûm, however, shows that in early Tertiary times Africa already had its own mammalian fauna, which, besides containing some remarkable large types of somewhat doubtful position, such as _Arsinoitherium_, _Barytherium_, etc., certainly in _Mœritherium_ and _Palæomastodon_ included the earliest known elephants, the forbears of the Mastodon and the modern elephants. There is little doubt therefore that in Upper Eocene and Oligocene times these early members of the elephant group ranged northward and eastwards into Asia and India, and since in the Upper Tertiary deposits of India and eastern Asia the extinct transitional types between the mastodons and modern elephants appear to have been found, it is not unlikely that during the later phases of the evolution of this group of animals the radiation was back towards Africa, so that the African elephant may be, as it has usually been regarded, an immigrant from the Oriental region. Further research among the later deposits of the Fayûm and the deserts to the north may, however, throw an entirely new light on the subject and it is somewhat premature to theorise at present.
[Illustration: PLATE XII.
RAISED BEACH UNCONFORMABLY OVERLYING MIDDLE EOCENE LIMESTONES (BIRKET EL QURUN SERIES) IN THE DESERT EAST OF SIRSENA.]
In this connection it is interesting to notice the observation of so eminent a palæontologist as Prof. H. F. Osborn. In two recent addresses[83] to the New York Academy of Sciences he pertinently points out his belief that the African continent has been a great centre of radiation of certain groups of the mammalia, and especially mentions the Proboscidea as likely to have been evolved in the Ethiopian region. Our discoveries in the Fayûm and Andrews’s determinations, made subsequently to these addresses, so completely confirm this view, at any rate with regard to the elephants, that it may not be out of place to give here a somewhat lengthy extract of his “_Theory of Successive Invasions of an African Fauna into Europe_” (op. cit. pp. 56-58). “In Europe there are in the Upper Eocene two classes of animals, first those which have their ancestors in the older rocks; second, the class including certain highly specialized animals which have no ancestors in the older rocks, among these, perhaps, are the peculiar flying rodents or _Anomaluridæ_, now confined to Africa, and secondly the highly specialized even-toed ruminant types the anoplotheres, xiphodonts and others, the discovery of which in the gypse near Paris Cuvier has made famous. It is tempting to imagine that these animals did not evolve in Europe but that they represent what may be called the first invasion of Europe by African types from the Ethiopian region.
“It is a curious fact that the African continent as a great theater of adaptive radiation of Mammalia has not been sufficiently considered. It is true that it is the dark continent of palæontology for it has no fossil mammal history; but it by no means follows that the Mammalia did not enjoy there an extensive evolution.[84]
“Although it is quite probable that this idea has been advanced before, most writers speak mainly or exclusively of _the invasion of Africa by European types_. Blanford and Allen, it is true, have especially dwelt upon the likeness of the Oriental and Ethiopian fauna, but not in connection with its antecedent cause. This cause I believe to have been mainly an invasion from south to north, correlated with the northern extension of Ethiopian climate and flora during the Middle Tertiary. It is in a less measure due to a migration from north to south. Let us therefore clearly set forth the hypothesis of _the Ethiopian region or South Africa as a great center of independent evolution_ and as the source of successive northward migrations of animals, some of which ultimately reached even the extremity of South America, I refer to the Mastodons. This hypothesis is clearly implied if not stated by Blanford in 1876 in his paper upon the African element in the fauna of India.
“The first of these migrations we may suppose brought in certain highly specialized ruminants of the Upper Eocene, the anomalures or peculiar flying rodents of Africa; with this invasion may have come the pangolins and ard varks, and possibly certain armadillos, _Dasypodidæ_, if M. Filhol’s identification of _Necrodasypus_ is correct. A second invasion of great distinctness may be that which marks the beginning of the Miocene when the mastodons and dinotheres first appear in Europe, also the earliest of the antelopes. A third invasion may be represented in the base of the Pliocene by the increasing number of antelopes, the great giraffes of the Ægean plateau and in the upper Pliocene by the hippopotami. With these forms came the rhinoceroses with no incisor or cutting teeth, similar to the smaller African rhinoceros, _R. bicornis_. Another recently discovered African immigrant upon the Island of Samos in the Ægean plateau is _Pliohyrax_ or _Leptodon_, a very large member of the Hyracoidea, probably aquatic in its habits, indicating that this order enjoyed an extensive adaptive radiation in Tertiary times.
“It thus appears that the Proboscidea, Hyracoidea, certain edentata, the antelopes, the giraffes, the hippopotami, the most specialized ruminants, and among the rodents, the anomalures, dormice and jerboas, among monkeys the baboons, may all have enjoyed their original adaptative radiation in Africa; that they survived after the glacial period, only in the Oriental or Indo-Malayan region, and that this accounts for the marked community of fauna between this region and the Ethiopian as observed by Blanford and Allen.
“Against the prevalent theory of Oriental origin of these animals are: first, the fact observed by Blanford and Lydekker in the Bugti Beds (Sind) that the Oligocene or lower Miocene fauna of the Orient is markedly European in type; second, that if these animals had originated in Asia some of them would have found their way to North America; third, the fact that all these animals appear suddenly and without any known ancestors in older geological formations. These are the main facts in favor of the Ethiopian migration hypothesis.”
That Professor Osborn’s main contention has already been partly proved by the Fayûm mammal discoveries is apparent, and how far his detailed remarks are confirmed will be seen when the new fauna has been more completely explored and examined.
The following is a list of the new species already obtained:—
----------------------------------+---------------------------------- UPPER EOCENE. | MIDDLE EOCENE. ----------------------------------+---------------------------------- _Mammalia_
Arsinoitherium Zitteli, Beadnell.|Barytherium grave, Andr. | „ Andrewsii, Lankester. |Mœritherium Lyonsi., Andr. | Palæomastodon Beadnelli, Andrews.| „ gracile, „ | „ minor, „ | „ sp., „ | Mœritherium Lyonsi, „ |Eosiren libyca,„ | „ trigodon, „ |Zeuglodon Osiris, Dames. | Megalohyrax eocænus, „ | „ Zitteli, v. Stromer. | „ minor, „ | „ Isis, Beadn. (M.S.). | Saghatherium antiquum, Andr. and | Beadn. | | „ minus, „ „ | | „ magnum, Andr. | | Ancodus Gorringei, Andr. and | Beadn. | | Geniohyus mirus, Andr. | | „ fayumensis, Andr. | | „ major, „ | | Phiomia serridens, Andr. and | Beadn. | | Pterodon africanus, Andr. | | „ macrognathus, Andr. and | another much smaller and | imperfectly known creodont. | ----------------------------------+---------------------------------- _Birds._
Eremopezus libycus, Andr. | ----------------------------------+---------------------------------- _Reptiles._
Testudo Ammon, Andr. |Gigantophis Garstini, Andr. | Pelomedusa progaleata, v. |Pterosphenus (Mœriophis) Reinach. |Schweinfurthi, Andr. | Podocnemis fayumensis, Andr. |Psephophorus eocænus, Andr. | „ Blanckenhorni, v. Reinach. |Thalassochelys libyca, Andr. | „ „ var. ovata, v. Reinach.|Podocnemis antiqua, „ | Stereogenys libyca. Andr. | „ Stromeri, v. Reinach. | Tomistoma sp. | „ „ var. major, v. Reinach. | Crocodilus sp. |Stereogenys Cromeri, Andr. | | „ podocnemioides, v. Reinach. | |Tomistoma africanum, Andr. ----------------------------------+---------------------------------- _Fish._
Occasional fragments of |Propristis Schweinfurthi, Dames. siluroids and rays. | ----------------------------------+----------------------------------
_H._—=The absence of Miocene deposits in the Fayûm.=
No traces of deposits of this age having been met so far south as the Fayûm we may presume that in Miocene times the area had become land, the sea margin having receded northwards. The slight depression of Mogara, some 100 kilometres further north-west, is however cut out in Lower Miocene beds, lithologically somewhat similar to the Upper Eocene and Oligocene deposits of the Fayûm. Probably similar conditions obtained throughout, and the existence of vertebrate remains indicates the persistence of river-currents from the south. The fauna of the Mogara beds has only as yet been very incompletely examined, the locality being rather inaccessible.[85]
SECTION XII.—PLIOCENE.
We have presumed that in Miocene times the Fayûm remained land, no traces of deposits of that age having been recorded; possibly the area underwent considerable denudation during the Miocene and early Pliocene periods, but of this it is difficult to adduce definite evidence. The records of Pliocene times in the Fayûm may be classed as follows:—
(J). _Marine deposits_ of Middle Pliocene age.
(K). _Borings_ on rock surfaces, exact age doubtful.
(L). _Gravel Terraces_, probably late Pliocene. } (or early } Pleistocene). (M). _Gypseous Deposits_, probably latest Pliocene. }
_J._—=Marine Deposits: Middle Pliocene.=
In Middle Pliocene times the area, which had probably undergone considerable denudation, was again invaded by the sea, and we find at Sidmant el Jebel, on the south-east side, definite evidence of deposits of this age in the shape of sands containing such well known forms as _Ostrea cucullata_ and _Pecten benedictus_.
The beds in question reach an altitude of from 60 to 70 metres and were first brought to notice by Schweinfurth. Although they are in reality on the Nile Valley side of the separating ridge or saddle, there is little doubt that the same beds will, when looked for, be found within the Fayûm depression in places where they have been preserved. As has already been mentioned this south-eastern side of the Fayûm yet remains to be examined and mapped in detail, and the determination of the relation of these marine sands to the gravel terraces shortly to be described is a matter of primary importance for the proper interpretation of their relative ages.
_K._—=Borings on Rock surfaces; of doubtful age.=
There are within the Fayûm depression numerous rock-surfaces pierced by borings, apparently the work of marine boring mollusca but naturally offering no exact evidence as to their age and origin. These borings are found at two distinct levels, approximately from zero to 20 metres above sea-level, and at 112 metres above sea-level.
(α) _Low level borings._
Between Tamia and Dimê, near the eastern end of the Birket el Qurûn, the lowest ground, consisting of poor sandy land with tamarisk scrub, bordering the lake and cultivation, is bounded by a low escarpment of beds of the Birket el Qurûn series. Along certain horizons one or more beds of calcareous sandstone weather into large globular masses, which as already pointed out are in reality huge concretions, but which may have been further rounded by water-action. The chief point is, however, the fact that these blocks are honey-combed in the most remarkable way by beautiful examples of borings; their presence was first noticed by Schweinfurth. The globular masses of sandstone, often several feet in diameter, are worn on the surface into a number of parallel ledges, each of which is perforated with countless numbers of vertical holes, averaging 10 millimetres in diameter (maximum 15 millimetres), placed at right angles to the ledges; these holes are not, as a rule, connected from one ledge to another. They occur in every stage of perfection, from hollows as small as the finger tips and only a few millimetres deep, to long completed chambers which generally show considerable tapering, and are often placed so close together that the dividing wall is pierced.
Fig. 7 and Plate XIII show the appearance of these bored rocks.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.—Block of sandstone pierced by numerous borings.]
At El Kenîsa, a promontory jutting out into the lake, sandstones showing shell-borings occur at a height of 14 metres above sea-level. Between Dimê and the lake a calcareous sandstone contains many borings, 66 metres above the lake-level, or about 22 metres above sea-level.
[Illustration: PLATE XIII.
BORINGS IN FALSE-BEDDED SANDSTONE, TWO KILOMETRES SOUTH OF DIMÊ.]
(β) _High level borings._
Further west, but at a considerably higher level, borings are again met with. In this case a hard compact limestone, forming a dip-slope surface on the top of the lower cliff of the Qasr el Sagha series, was found pierced with borings, similar in character to those of the lower level. The exact locality where these high level borings were observed is 14 kilometres west of the western end of the lake and 16 kilometres north-east of the eastern extremity of Gar el Gehannem. The height was determined as 156 metres above the Birket el Qurûn, or 112 metres above sea-level, and we have every reason to believe these figures to be approximately correct. Up to the present time borings at this altitude have not been met with in any other locality.
At first sight it seems surprising that the occurrences should be so limited, but it should be remembered that only in those cases where borings were made in the very hardest and most durable rocks could they have been preserved to the present time. Considering the amount of denudation which has taken place in the area since the Pliocene period it is surprising that any of the rocks which formed the actual surface of the country at that date should still be preserved; and in all probability the comparatively few records that exist to-day owe their preservation to the protection afforded by superficial deposits. Under the present rigorous desert conditions, when the whole surface is subjected to continual and rapid changes of temperature, and every exposed rock is being worn down by the natural sandblast, it must be admitted that in a comparatively short time every trace of the borings now exposed will have been removed. At the same time the denudation of superficial deposits will probably lay bare other bored rock-surfaces, and the conserving nature of drift sand itself where accumulated to even a limited degree must not be forgotten.
_L._—=Gravel Terraces: ? Upper Pliocene.=
On the north, east, and south-east sides of the Fayûm, well marked terraces of gravel are found at certain levels up to a maximum of about 170-180 metres above sea-level. Nine kilometres east of Sêla the summit of the ridge separating the Fayûm and the Nile Valley is formed of thick deposits of gravel, laid irregularly and unconformably on the top of limestones belonging to the Birket el Qurûn series. The lowest terrace occurs only 15 metres above the canal[86] running along the outside of the cultivation. The main deposit of gravel is laid on the top of the limestones and marls at 70 metres above the canal; it is some 50 metres thick (summit 120 metres above canal) and consists of a mass of well-rolled flint and quartz pebbles, with blocks of limestone (frequently full of well-known Eocene fossils such as _Carolia placunoides_). Large well rounded blocks of grey quartzite and pebbles of black quartzite also occur, besides rounded blocks of silicified wood. A certain amount of false-bedding occurs and false-bedded sand was noticed in places. Numerous derived rolled fossils are present, but no contemporaneous remains were found. On the summit of the ridge is situated the remnant of an old pyramid-like building.
Fig. 8 shows the relation of these gravels to the underlying rocks.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.—_Sketch showing relations of Middle Eocene to Pliocene Gravel Terraces on the east side of the Fayûm._
_Birket el Qurun series._—(_a_) Clays, marls and limestone; (_b_) Limestones with _Operculina_ (_O. discoidea?_). Pliocene (to Pleistocene); (_c_) Coarse deposits of gravel, etc., with huge blocks of derived Eocene limestone with _Carolia_, etc.; (_d_) sands and sandrock with leaves of hard sandstone; (_e_) sand, gravel and conglomerate.]
At the spur of the cliff immediately to the east the terrace is laid on to limestones of the Birket el Qurûn series at a height of 32 metres above the canal. Enormous blocks of _Carolia_-limestone, some exceeding 3 × 2 × 1·5 metres in measurement, are included in this deposit; such blocks cannot have been transported far, and were doubtless derived from formerly-existing higher beds in the immediate neighbourhood. The matrix of the deposit is usually crushed limestone with sand and gravel. Occasional fragments of silicified wood (and further west large logs), evidently derived from the Fluvio-marine beds, also occur.
In favoured localities the relation of the gravels to the Eocene is still better seen; the lower beds of the terrace here are sometimes formed of sands and sandy beds dipping 10° eastward.
At the little promontory 9 kilometres east of Sersena the same deposits reach an altitude of 157 metres above the canal below.
Further north another cake of gravel caps the summit, attaining here 60-70 metres above the canal-level. Probably these deposits were originally more or less connected and continuous, but since their deposition denudation must have removed the greater part, as they are now only found here and there capping the highest points of the escarpment along the east side of the Fayûm. Such isolated gravel-capped hills occur notably 12 kilometres east of Roda, 16½ kilometres east and 17½ kilometres north-east of Tamia.
Along the north side of the Fayûm the same deposits are found, in some cases covering large areas.
Twenty-five kilometres N.N.E. of Tamia the Eocene beds, here an alternating series of clays and limestones, are capped by a deposit consisting of coarse rolled gravel, with blocks of silicified wood enclosed in a sandy gypseous base, some 10 metres thick. A larger and similar deposit caps the next high ground four kilometres to the west, and about 9 kilometres N.N.E. of Garat el Faras; in this case it forms a round-topped gravelly hill-range, attaining a height of about 165 metres above the canal to the south-east. The loose gravel at many points passes into hard conglomerate, notably in the hills 9 kilometres east and 4 kilometres north-east of Garat el Gindi. At the former spot the conglomerate is composed of blocks of limestone, with round pebbles of flint and quartz, sandstone and quartzite, and fragments of silicified wood, cemented by sand and calcareous material. Blocks of silicified wood also occur strewn on the surface of these gravel deposits.
In the hills north-east of Garat el Gindi the gravel deposits do not occupy the summit of the escarpment but occur laid on to a platform of beds belonging to the Qasr el Sagha series. Behind, another escarpment, that of the Fluvio-marine series, rises to the plateau summit.
Fig. 9 will show the general relation of the different formations in this part of the district.
Near Elwat Hialla the deposits contain numerous blocks of basalt in addition to the usual constituents. The basalt is derived from the sheets interbedded at the base of the Oligocene a little to the north. As these gravels are here close to that formation, blocks of sandstone, basalt, and silicified wood now form a large proportion of the constituents.
Along the north side of the Fayûm depression, to the west of Elwat Hialla, the gravel terraces are almost absent, having been removed nearly completely by denudation. That the terraces once existed throughout this region is however shown by the small patches met with to the north-east of Widan el Faras, the eastern extremity of Jebel el Qatrani, and at several points high up on the escarpments as far west as the western end of the lake. Beyond the latter point these terrace gravels have not been noticed; the slopes of the depression become more and more obscured by loose superficial flints washed down from the plateau, and the existence of underlying terrace gravels could only be shown by detailed mapping.
[Illustration:
PLIOCENE (TO PLEISTOCENE) —1. Terrace of gravel and conglomerate.
UPPER EOCENE-OLIGOCENE —2. Sands and sandstones.
MIDDLE EOCENE —3. Clays, marls and limestones of the Upper Mokattam.
FIG. 9.—Sketch-Section through summit of Fayûm Escarpment at Elwat Hialla.]
Near Widan el Faras the terrace occurs at a level of about 220 metres above the Birket el Qurûn, or 175 metres above sea-level, and consists of a 10-metre thickness of a semi-consolidated mass of boulders and pebbles of sandstone, limestone, and basalt, with fine gravel and sand, unconformably laid on to the variegated sandstones of the Fluvio-marine series.
In the neighbourhood of the Survey’s main excavations for fossil bones, to the north of Garat el Esh, several local remnants of the formerly more or less continuous gravel terrace were detected[87]. The height was probably more accurately determined here than elsewhere and the upper limit of the deposits was found to lie at approximately 170 metres above sea-level; this figure may indeed be taken as the average height of the Pliocene terraces throughout the Fayûm.
[Illustration: PLATE XIV.
PLEISTOCENE LACUSTRINE CLAYS WITH TAMARISK STUMPS IN SITU AT 50 METRES ABOVE PRESENT SURFACE OF THE BIRKET EL QURUN.]
Briefly then we have shown the existence of the well marked remains of a gravel terrace 170-180 metres above sea-level, throughout the south-east, east, and north sides of the Fayûm depression, and the first question that suggests itself with regard to these deposits is, whether they are of marine or of freshwater origin? From their position in part capping and in part perched on the flanks of the escarpments, it is evident that the depression of the Fayûm must have been partly formed before their deposition; probably it had approximately obtained to its present form and dimensions, except as to depth. The terrace certainly marks the shoreline of the sheet of water in which its constituents were deposited, and the surface of this water must have attained a height of nearly 200 metres above present sea-level. It is not unlikely that some of the extensive plains of the Fayûm may owe their existence in part to the presence in Pliocene times of the sea or of a large inland lake, that they may in fact be plains of denudation. The plain above the escarpment of the Qasr el Sagha series, lying between 150 and 200 metres above sea-level, and stretching throughout a large part of the north of the Fayûm, has characters which tend to support this idea.
Unfortunately the gravels are entirely barren of contemporaneous organic remains, with one exception; near Ez. Qalamsha some examples of _Ostrea cucullata_ were discovered, and these we believe to have truly belonged to the lower beds of the terraces and not to have been derived from the undoubted marine Middle Pliocene beds of Sidmant. If the existence of _O. cucullata_ in these terraces could be confirmed we should undoubtedly class them as marine and of Middle Pliocene age. But the single evidence of the Qalamsha shells is not sufficient, and confirmatory occurrences must be obtained and, if possible, the relation of the terraces to Schweinfurth’s marine Sidmant beds determined, which has not been yet done.
_M._—=Gypseous deposits, probably dating from the close of the Pliocene Period.=
Of distinctly later date than the gravel-terraces are the widely distributed gypseous deposits of the Fayûm and Nile Valley. These deposits are found covering the plain which separates the Nile Valley cultivation from the Fayûm depression, gradually rising from the level of the former until they overlie the gravels capping the summit overlooking the Fayûm (Section XXI).
Near the Pyramid of Medum the following beds are seen at the edge of the desert plain:—
_Top._ Metres.
Pure, gravelly, or marly gypsum 1-2
Clayey shales with gypsum and salt 1-1½
White marly limestone with much salt } probable { and fish-remains (fish-scales, etc.) } part of { 2 } Ravine beds. { Yellow sandstone with fish-scales, etc. } { 3
The gravel deposits along the east side of the Fayûm are always capped by a gypseous bed. The latter is often 2 metres thick and frequently occurs as solid and almost pure white crystalline gypsum; sometimes it is calcareous and is frequently deposited in a tufaceous manner, especially resembling a tufa on the weathered surface. At other times it passes into a yellowish compact mass and may be very saliferous.
Frequently the deposit is full of rounded pebbles, the latter being often in the greater proportion and forming a sort of gypsum-cemented conglomerate. Not unfrequently it is impossible to draw any divisional line between the terrace gravels and the gypseous gravels above. Probably they are both closely connected and of Upper Pliocene age.
_N._—=Summary of the Pliocene Period.=
From the above descriptions it is probable that the Pliocene period is represented in the Fayûm by the following:—
(1) Marine beds of Sidmant, undoubtedly of Middle Pliocene age and reaching a level of from 60 to 70 metres above present sea-level.
(2) Borings on exposed rock-surfaces at two distinct levels, the lower 0-20 metres, the higher some 112 metres, above sea-level. These borings appear to be the work of marine boring mollusca, and although those on the lower level may perhaps be of Middle Pliocene age with the Sidmant beds, the similar examples discovered at a much higher altitude (112 metres), point to the sea having attained a much higher level in later, perhaps Upper Pliocene, times.
(3) An extensive beach or terrace of gravel on the south-east, east, and north sides of the Fayûm, attaining a maximum level of about 170 to 180 metres above sea-level.
All the known facts seem to be satisfied if we imagine that in the Middle Pliocene the sea occupied the area, depression probably continuing until the 112 metre level with the highest borings was reached. Perhaps the lowest part of the terraces was formed during this time. In the later Pliocene times we may infer that the area was occupied, up to 180 metres above present sea-level, by a vast inland lake, perhaps of brackish water, connected with the sea on the one hand and the fiord or lakes of the Nile Valley on the other, the deposits of which have been described elsewhere[88].
Along the margins of this gigantic lake, these great accumulations of gravel might well have been formed, chiefly of material derived from the immediate shores, augmented perhaps by a certain amount of sediment brought by river-currents from the south.
Finally, from the way in which the gypsum and gypseous deposits are laid on the terrace gravels, and from their extension and thickness, we may presume that they were deposited on the bottom of just such a lake on evaporation of its water, when the sulphate of lime in solution, becoming more and more concentrated, may have been finally precipitated.[89]
SECTION XIII.—PLEISTOCENE.
The course of events in Pleistocene times is at present obscure. As far as can be judged it was during this period that a freshwater lake, the precursor of the great Mœris, came into existence. It might be thought that the early Pleistocene prehistoric lake was a relic of the still older body of water of Pliocene times, in which the gravel terraces and gypseous deposits were laid down. But such a remnant would have been of a high degree of salinity and could not have given rise to the fresh water Mœris. Most probably at the close of the Pliocene period, after the formation of the gypseous deposits, the area became elevated and cut off from the sea and from the Nile Valley marine fiord; probably an extensive body of water remained as an isolated lake, but this, cut off from external supply, would have gradually evaporated, its salt being left as a superficial deposit on the dried up bed. In early Pleistocene times we may presume the area became dry and was gradually eroded to its present shape and depth. The superficial deposits of salt and gypsum were for the most part removed as the depression was deepened, while the continuous terrace of gravel laid round the greater part of the rim was broken through, except where protected in favourable localities, the constituents being washed down and spread out over the lower ground. In course of time the region was moulded to its present form and dimensions, or rather to what it would be if the local alluvial deposits were stripped off and the water of the lake baled out. The area was an inland depression, probably sparsely vegetated like the rest of the higher country and separated from the Nile Valley by a low rocky ridge surmounted by a more of less continuous terrace of gravel of considerable height and thickness. In our opinion desert conditions had already set in before the early Nile broke down the ridge and formed a lake in the Fayûm; the date when this important event first took place is a matter of considerable doubt, as has already been mentioned (pp. 24, 25). We know that at the close of the Pliocene period the Nile Valley was a marine fiord (connected with the Fayûm and the Mediterranean) which was replaced in Pleistocene times, probably in consequence of slight elevation, by a series of fresh water lakes throughout the valley. These lakes were probably two or three in number and drained one into the other; the exact position of the barriers is as yet a matter of conjecture. Within these lakes thick lacustrine deposits were accumulated, so that the basins eventually became to a great extent silted up. In later Pleistocene times drainage down the Nile Valley appears to have become more pronounced, the barriers between the lakes were broken down and the river cut for itself a channel through the lacustrine beds, filling up the old lake basins. From this time onwards to early prehistoric times the bed of the river would appear to have steadily fallen, as it eroded its channel deeper and deeper. That this early Nile was a river of considerable size is evident from the amount of erosion it accomplished in the trough of the valley, whence the older lacustrine beds have been almost completely removed. Probably in the lower part of its course it swept against the base of the dividing ridge between the Nile Valley and the Fayûm depression. If, as we imagine, the river was at that time flowing some 20 metres higher than at present its currents would have met with little resistance from the loosely cemented terrace of gravel which formed the upper part of the dividing ridge. Once this was broken down the waters must have poured into the depression behind, until a lake of considerable size was formed. The sediment spread out over the floor in the shape of a fan, while at the same time deposits of sands and fine clays, blown and washed into the waters from the surrounding shores, were being slowly accumulated in the quieter and more remote parts of the lake.
For some time subsequent to the first connection between the Fayûm depression and the Nile, the latter continued to fall in level owing to continued erosion along its course, possibly the Fayûm again became completely isolated for a time. Subsequently in the earliest historic times under changed conditions the river commenced to carry and lay down the modern alluvial deposit of “Nile mud”, and from this time to the present day its bed has gradually risen. This is shown by the high Nile flood-readings on the early gauges of the Nile Valley; the nilometer at Roda shows a difference of 1·22 metres in 1026 years, or an annual rise of 0·12 centimetre, which is equivalent to 12 metres in 10,000 years[90]. Whether there was ever complete disconnection between the Nile and the originally formed lake in Pleistocene times is uncertain, but even so it was probably only during a comparatively short period: in early historic times the rise of the Nile bed must have brought about a reconnection.
The geological evidence for the existence of a great freshwater lake in Pleistocene and prehistoric times is afforded by the well-marked lacustrine clays and sands which are found over such a large area of the northern and western deserts of the Fayûm; the great extent of this lake will be seen by an examination of the accompanying maps. Its area must have been about 2250 square kilometres or about ten times the size of the modern Birket el Qurûn. The western limit may even have been further west than shown on fig. 10.,[91] as some of the desert in the neighbourhood of Gar el Gehannem is very low-lying; or there may have existed subsidiary lakes in that direction. The upper limit of these ancient lacustrine clays is between 22 and 23 metres above sea-level, which exactly agrees with the figure adduced by Sir Hanbury Brown as the height of the more modern Lake Moeris from the evidence of levels. That Lake Moeris was simply the older prehistoric lake placed under artificial control admits of no doubt; the difficult question being as to when the lake first came into existence in prehistoric times.
The clays abound in freshwater shells and semi-fossil fish-bones of exactly the same species of fish (siluroid, etc) as still inhabit the Birket el Qurûn; probably some are even hardly different specifically from the Middle Eocene forms of the district. In addition remains of large animals are common, and include _Hippopotamus_, _Elephas_, _Bubalis_, sheep or goat, and _Canis_, with crocodiles and turtles, etc.[92]
[Illustration: PLATE XV.
ISOLATED SAND-DUNE NEAR GAR EL GEHANNEM.]
Martens[93] has described the following species of mollusca from Schweinfurth’s collections:—
_Unio abyssinicus_, Mart.
_U. Schweinfurthi_, Mart.
_Corbicula fluminalis_, var. _consobrina_ Caill.
_Neritina nilotica_, Reev.
_Valvata nilotica_, Jick.
_Cleopatra pirothi_, Jick.
_C. pirothi_, var., _unicarinata_, Mart.
_Bithynia_ aff. _Boissieri_, Charp.
_Melania tuberculata_, Müll.
_Limnaea natalensis_, Krauss.
_L. mœris_, Mart.
_L. palustris_, Müll.
_Planorbis subangulata_, Phil.
Blanckenhorn has pointed out[94] that this fauna is of special interest and differs from all fossil and living faunas in Egypt. It might be compared with the _Melanopsis_-fauna of the Nile Valley if the exceptional _Limnaea_ were replaced by _Melanopsis_ or _Paludina_. Its _Unio Schweinfurthi_ recalls the youngest alluvial deposits of the Nile Valley, 2nd Cataract, Kom Ombo and Silsila; at these places, however, the beds containing the species in question are at least 20 metres above mean water level of the present day.
The sub-fossil fauna of the Fayûm alluvium, in addition to those forms everywhere met with in the Nile Valley, includes _Neritina nilotica_ and _Melania tuberculata_, which are common forms of the _Melanopsis_ stage, as well as _Unio abyssinicus_ and _Valvata nilotica_. In common with the present fauna of the Birket el Qurûn it has the five forms belonging to the genera _Corbicula_, _Neritina_, _Valvata_, _Melania_, and _Planorbis_. The sub-fossil fauna, which passes into the modern fauna of the Birket el Qurûn, shows connection with the Mediterranean and Blue Nile, but has a total absence of White Nile forms such as _Ampullaria_, _Lanistes_, _Cleopatra bulimoides_, _Spatha_ and _Aetheria_. Moreover _Limnæa palustris_, although identical with the form found on other Mediterranean coasts, is as yet entirely unknown from the Nile Valley. Blanckenhorn concludes that the diluvial subfossil deposits of the Fayûm were produced when the climate of Egypt was damper and more Europæan, the Nile carrying more arenaceous sediment in place of the mud of to-day and running at higher level, as it did when the shells of _Unio Schweinfurthi_ were enclosed in the deposits of Jebel Silsila. Blanckenhorn thinks the Nile obtained access to the depression during the last European ice period. This last supposition, coupled with the above comparison of the Fayûm fresh-water fauna with the Melanopsis stage of the Nile Valley Pleistocene series, shows that in regarding the early Fayûm lake as dating from prehistoric times Blanckenhorn and the writer are in agreement.
SECTION XIV.—RECENT.
We may divide the Recent period into two epochs, Prehistoric and Historic, always remembering that the line of demarcation is not much more distinct than that between Recent and Pleistocene.
_O._—=Prehistoric.=
The abundance of worked flints on the desert just within and around the site occupied by the Fayûm lake in late Pleistocene and prehistoric times, shows that the shores were eventually inhabited by people who made and used these primitive tools. That the edge of the lake was abundantly wooded is shown by the thousands of well preserved tamarisk stumps met with at the present day in situ (Plate XIV) in the clays throughout the former margin of the lake.
The implements occur chiefly along the margin of the highest level of the old lake, and have probably in many cases been buried in the lake clays until the present time, which would account for their beautiful state of preservation. We have not, however, yet actually detected them enclosed within the clays, although commonly found lying on the clean wind-worn surface. From the fine degree of workmanship we may undoubtedly refer these flint implements to the Neolithic or later stone-age, although the exact date is doubtful. That they were made and used while the lake still stood at its highest level seems certain, but as we have shown above, the lake, as a sheet of water up to 23 metres above sea-level or thereabouts, probably existed far anterior to the Egyptian historic period. They might, on the other hand, as far as the evidence from the position of the lake goes, have been used by the inhabitants of the lake-margin down to the great reclamation which took place in Ptolemaic times. As it seems impossible to date them by comparison with flints of known age from any Egyptian period, we may perhaps conclude that they are at least of older date than the earliest Egyptian records.[95]
_P._—=Historic.=
In historical times, under conditions almost identical with those of the Nile of to-day, there would have been an annual inflow during the flood and outflow back to the Nile when the latter subsided; during the inflow a constant supply of Nile mud was brought into the lake and deposited on the surface of the earlier alluvium, continually augmenting the thickness of the latter and raising its surface, until in the central area marshy land began to appear. In the XII Dynasty this natural backwater of the Nile, which acted as a more or less efficient regulator of high and low floods, was brought under human control by Amenemhat I, and a considerable area of land reclaimed from the shallowest part of the lake, or that part of the country now lying near Edwa, Medinet el Fayûm, etc. The new artificially controlled lake was called Moeris, and its wonders are mentioned by Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo and Pliny.
The actual position of Lake Moeris has been the subject of much discussion, the late Linant de Bellefonds[96] having asserted that it was a high-level lake, quite distinct from the Birket el Qurûn, occupying the gap in the hills by which the Bahr Yusef enters the Fayûm, its encircling bank commencing at Edwa and passing through Biahmu, Medinet, etc. Sir Hanbury Brown has,[97] however, completely demolished Linant’s theory, which is shown to be absolutely untenable; and has proved conclusively that the ancient Mœris occupied the greater part of what is now the cultivated land, as well as the area covered by the present lake and a considerable part of the surrounding desert, the reclaimed land being in fact part of the very district Linant supposed the lake to have occupied. Since the publication of Brown’s work complete corroborative evidence has been forthcoming from two distinct sources, one archæological, the other geological. The latter has already been mentioned.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.—Sketch Map showing approximately the site of Lake Moeris.]
It was clear from the map of Claudius Ptolemy that the route through the Fayûm to the Oasis Parva left Bacchias near the north end of the lake, and passing between Arsinœ and Lake Mœris, reached Dionysias near the other end. The archæological researches of Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt[98] have shown that Bacchias occupied the site of the modern Um el Atl close to one end of the Birket el Qurûn, while Dionysias was probably in the neighbourhood of Qasr el Banat or Qasr el Qurûn. Thus the Ptolemaic Lake Mœris was almost identical with the modern Birket el Qurûn. Neither did the sites excavated yield a trace of anything older than the third century B.C. Theadelphia and Philoteris were founded in the reign of the second Ptolemy, when a great reclamation of the land from the lake took place, and probably Euhemeria, Dionysias, Karanis and Bacchias date from the same reign.
The archæological evidence is thus briefly summed up by Grenfell and Hunt: “Originally the lake filled the whole basin of the Fayûm, the first reclamation being carried out by Amenemhat I, who built the great dam at El Lahûn, where the Bahr Yusef enters the province, and recovered the high ground near the entrance as far as Biahmu, and a point between Abshawai and Agamiin. This remained the Pharaonic province until the time of Herodotus, when the water still came up to the colossi at Biahmu. Subsequently all the land now cultivated below the level of the Pharaonic province was reclaimed, chiefly in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, when Lake Mœris was reduced nearly to the size of its modern representative, the Birket el Qurûn”.
[Sidenote: Present day Fauna of the Birket el Qurûn.]
As mentioned above, the Pleistocene fauna of the Fayûm differs in one or two particulars from the fauna of the present day. The commonest living molluscan forms include the following:—
_Corbicula fluminalis_.
_Neritina nilotica_.
_Cleopatra bulimoides_.
_Hydrobia stagnalis_.
_Valvata nilotica_.
_Melania tuberculata_.
_Planorbis Ehrenbergi_.
_P. marginatus_ var. _subangulata_.
Blanckenhorn[99] has pointed out that in this fauna _Hydrobia stagnalis_, as a typical brackish water form is of special interest. The species appears to have established itself in the Birket el Qurûn in modern times, as it has not been found in the youngest alluvium of the lake, nor is it known in the modern Nile fauna.
[Sidenote: Modern Deposits: Blown Sand and Erosion.]
Except for the gradual accumulation of silt over the bed of the Birket el Qurûn—sand and clay carried in by the wind and the fine sediment borne by the feeder canals—the only modern deposits of any importance are those of blown sand. The extensive arenaceous deposits of younger Tertiary age, forming the greater part of the continent from the latitude of the Fayûm to the Mediterranean shores, yield as a result of the action of denudation a constant and abundant supply of the raw material. The sand carried southwards by the prevailing winds accumulates as dunes in the lowest parts of the depressions, on the slopes of cliffs, and in all the less exposed localities. Wind swept areas remain free or are only gradually encroached on by slowly growing linear dunes originating in the wind-shadow of some protecting hill or ridge. An unique example of such a dune is to be seen at the south end of the well-marked ridge a few kilometres east of Gar el Gehannem (Plate XV).
The main accumulations of blown sand are in the southern part of the Fayûm; large areas of the floors of Wadis Rayan and Moêla are covered with dunes, while in their immediate neighbourhood the material has accumulated to such an extent as to blot out entire cliffs and valleys; immediately to the west of Gharaq a considerable area is covered with small but steep dunes; and finally must be mentioned the great linear belt of sand, known as the Ghart el Khanashat, which starting from a point about midway between the Wadi Natrûn and Mogara comes to an abrupt termination some 24 kilometres before gaining the northern escarpment of the Fayûm depression (see page 23).
As might be expected in an area like the Fayûm, where sedimentary rocks of every type are met with, and where the wind never wants for a sufficient supply of the necessary sand, superficial erosion is everywhere well marked. We do not propose to study here the action of wind-borne sand and it will be sufficient to mention two localities where the effects are best seen; one is in the neighbourhood of Garat el Esh, where the most remarkable scoring and grooving is to be seen on the two beds of limestone capping the upper and lower cliffs of the Middle Eocene; the other is the Zeuglodon Valley, and here the sculpturing of the sandstone of the Birket el Qurûn series is of the finest and most unique description.
[Illustration: PLATE XVI.
THE BIRKET EL QURUN NEAR THE WESTERN END.]
* * * * *
[Footnote 33: BEADNELL, _The Fayûm Depression; a Preliminary Notice of the Geology of a district in Egypt containing a new Palæogene Vertebrate Fauna_. Geol. Mag. Dec. IV, Vol. VIII, No. 450, Dec. 1901, pp. 540-546.]
[Footnote 34: ANDREWS, _Fossil Mammalia from Egypt_, Geol. Mag. 1899, No. 425, pp. 481, 482; and BLANCKENHORN, _Neues zur Geologie und Paleontologie Ægyptens_, III, “Das Miocän,” Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. geol. Gesellschaft. Jahrg. 1901, pp. 98-101.]
[Footnote 35: SCHWEINFURTH, _Reise in das Depressionsgebiet im Umkreise des Fayum_, Zeitschr., Ges. f. Erdkunde, Berlin, No. 122, 1886, p. 100.]
[Footnote 36: Op. cit. pp. 108-110.]
[Footnote 37: _L’Oasis de Moëleh_, Bull. de l’Institut Égypt., Fasc. 3, Ap. 1892.]
[Footnote 38: The following may be mentioned; _Euspatangus_ (_formosus?_ and _Blanckenhorni_), _Schizaster_, _Lobocarcinus_ (? _Paulino Wurtembergicus_), _Nautilus_ sp. etc.]
[Footnote 39: El Haram el Bahrl of Schweinfurth.]
[Footnote 40: Individuals of 60 mm. diameter are not uncommon.]
[Footnote 41: Cape Rayan of Schweinfurth.]
[Footnote 42: BLANCKENHORN, _Neues zur Geologie und Palæntologie Ægyptens_ (II. Das Palæogen) Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Geolog. Gesellschaft, Jahrg. 1900, p. 446, has determined this as _T. tenuistriata_. He refers to these beds as corresponding to the Tafla of Jebel Mokattam, but I regard them as probably representing a considerably lower horizon.]
[Footnote 43: The nummulites from the Birket el Qurûn series have not yet been critically examined. There appear to be several species present, including _N. Beaumonti_, _N. Sub-Beaumonti_, _N. Fraasi_ and _N. Schweinfurthi_. In the Zeuglodon Valley, 12 kilom. W.S.W. of Gar el Gehannem, occasional individuals of _N. gizehensis_ occur in the basal beds. As there appears to be some doubt whether the four smaller nummulites mentioned above are specifically distinct we shall not attempt to discriminate too closely in the present report.]
[Footnote 44: SCHWEINFURTH, op. cit. p. 139.]
[Footnote 45: ZITTEL, Palæontographica N.F.X. 3 (XXX) _Die Versteinerungen der tertiäre Schichten von der westlichen Insel im Birket el Qurun See_, von Prof. Karl Mayer-Eymar.]
[Footnote 46: It must be mentioned here, however, that more recently Mayer-Eymar speaks (_Nouvelles Recherches sur le Ligurien et le Tongrien d’Égypte_, Bull. Inst. Égypt., April, 1894, p. 216) of the Mokattam beds above Qasr el Sagha, some 100 metres higher in the series, as Parisian, but does not explain these two conflicting determinations. It seems quite certain, however, that these island beds are of Parisian age, and not Bartonian as stated by him.]
[Footnote 47: _Lucina pharaonis_, Bell., (_L. pomum_, May. Eym. not Dujardin) see Oppenheim, _Zur Kenntnis alttertiärer Faunen in Ægypten_, Palaeontographica, Bd. XXX, III, p. 124.]
[Footnote 48: DAMES, _Uber eine Tertiäre Wirbelthier Fauna von der westlichen Insel des Birket el Qurun in Fayum (Ægypten)_, Sitzungsber. Akad. Wissensch., Berlin, 1883.]
[Footnote 49: _Uber Zeuglodonten aus Ægypten und die Beziehungen der Archæoceten zu den übrigen Cetacean_, Palæontologische Abhandlungen von W. Dames und Kayser, I. V. 5, Jena, 1894.]
[Footnote 50: We propose to refer to this species as _Z. Isis_. See Geol. Mag. No. 479, Dec. V, Vol I, No. V, May 1904, p. 214.]
[Footnote 51: See also, Stromer von Reichenbach, _Zeuglodonten-Reste aus dem oberen Mitteleocän des Fayum_, Bayer Akad. Wissensch. Bd. XXXII, 1902, pp. 341-352.]
[Footnote 52: ERNEST VON STROMER. _Zeuglodon-reste aus dem oberen Mitteleocän des Fayum_, Beiträge zur Paläontologie und Geologie Osterreich-Ungarns und des Orients. Band XV. Heft II and III, p. 82.
Also _Einiges über Bau und Stellung der Zeuglodonten_, Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. geolog. Gesellsch. Jahr. 1903.
Compare Fraas _Neue Zeuglodonten aus dem Unteren Mitteleocän vom Mokattam bei Cairo_, Geol. u. Palæont. Abhand. Neue Folge Band VI Heft 3. Jena 1904.]
[Footnote 53: As the fossils occurring in these beds had been collected and described by Schweinfurth, Dames, and Mayer-Eymar, the writer did not spend further time on the island than was necessary for correlating the beds with his classification.]
[Footnote 54: Cossmann has recently described some Middle Eocene shells collected from the same locality, near Dimê, in a publication entitled _Additions à la Faune Nummulitique d’Égypte_, le Caire, 1901.]
[Footnote 55: _T. pharaonica_, Cossmann. A new species; apparently this is the form quoted by Blanckenhorn and Mayer-Eymar as _T. angulata_. According to Cossmann, however, _T. pharaonica_ differs from _T. angulata_ in several particulars, especially in being more thickset.]
[Footnote 56: Blanckenhorn, thinking that the bed capping the island of Geziret el Qorn is identical with that forming the plain around and to the north of Dimê, has, in a section recently published (_Neues zur Geol. u. Palænt. Ægyptens, IV. Das Pliocän_, etc., Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. geol. Gesellsch., Jahrg. 1901, Taf. XIV, fig. 2), inserted a number of faults letting the beds down continually to the south. The beds however are not identical, and no faults occur.]
[Footnote 57: This block was far too large to transport by camel, but it may be feasible to effect its removal to Cairo by cart when opportunity offers.]
[Footnote 58: SCHWEINFURTH, op. cit. p. 139.]
[Footnote 59: A ruin discovered by Schweinfurth in 1886 and hence often spoken of as “Schweinfurth’s Temple.” Nothing certain is known as to its age or former use, but we may infer from its situation just beyond the limits of the high-level lacustrine clays, that it was built and inhabited only while Lake Mœris stood at its highest level.]
[Footnote 60: See OPPENHEIM, op. cit. p. 105.]
[Footnote 61: Details of a section of the lower beds of this group near the end of the lake have already been given on p. 44.]
[Footnote 62: As might be expected, vertebrate remains occur chiefly in the sandy and clayey beds. Skeletons of marine animals such as _Zeuglodon_ and _Eosiren_ may, however, be frequently observed embedded in the hard intercalated limestones. Limestone cranial-casts of these animals are thus sometimes found, and one of these has already been figured and described (Elliot Smith, _The Brain of the Archæoceti_, Proceedings Royal Society, Vol. 71, pp. 322-331. Some most beautifully formed casts from one of the limestone beds were eventually determined by Andrews to be casts of the air passages of crocodile skulls.]
[Footnote 63: Schweinfurth appears to have been the first to examine these beds.]
[Footnote 64: One would imagine that there must have been a considerable amount of ferruginous matter in the water at the time of deposition of the Fluvio-marine series, the prevailing colours of the deposits being red and yellow.]
[Footnote 65: Mayer-Eymar appears to believe the depression of the Fayûm is the result of the volcanic activity which produced these basalt flows. He says (op. cit. _Nouvelles recherches, etc._, p. 218.) “Or, de cette extension extraordinaire du phénomène volcanique dans l’ouest du grand désert, il est, en premier lieu, permis de conclure que c’est par suite de son action excavante qu’a eu lieu l’effondrement rempli de nos jours, en partie par le lac de Fayum.”
Personally, we cannot see the slightest evidence in support of this. Where the basalt occurs as a hard band it usually causes steep cliffs as at Widan el Faras, owing to its protecting the underlying beds from denudation. To the west, in Jebel el Qatrani, its thickness and hardness determine the character and steepness of the escarpment below.]
[Footnote 66: Pebble bands are occasionally met with in the coarser sandstones of the Fluvio-marine series, and it would seem that from them are derived the pebbles of quartz and flint which so invariably strew the desert-surface to the north to beyond the latitude of Cairo. Those flints on the surface are largely broken up and flaked by changes of temperature, but show comparatively little shaping by blown sand; the white quartz pebbles on the other hand, while seldom or never broken or flaked, are invariably more or less facetted, frequently into typical “dreikanter” or pyramid-pebbles; below the surface both varieties are perfectly water-rounded.]
[Footnote 67: Many of the fossils mentioned in this profile were only discovered after long search, and had to be inserted in the measured section afterwards. Their position therefore is only approximate, as individual beds could not always be correlated at the different points where fossils were collected.]
[Footnote 68: It is not intended to convey the impression that remains of all these vertebrates were found at the point where the actual line of section runs. As a matter of fact at that particular point only _Palæomastodon_ remains were observed, while most of the others were obtained some distance further west. Remains of _Mœritherium_, probably identical with _M. Lyonsi_, of the Qasr el Sagha series, in the shape of a beautifully-preserved and almost complete skull, associated with _Palæomastodon_ and _Arsinoitherium_ in these same beds, I only discovered in January 1903, at a point nearly due north of the western end of the Birket el Qurûn. A preliminary description of this skull has been published by Andrews, _Further Notes on the Mammals of the Eocene of Egypt_; Geol. Mag. Dec. V. Vol. I. No III. March 1904, pp. 109-115.]
[Footnote 69: ANDREWS and BEADNELL, _A preliminary notice of a Land Tortoise from the Upper Eocene of the Fayûm, Egypt_, P.W.M. report, Cairo, 1903.]
[Footnote 70: In addition to those described from the Survey and British Museum collections, some additional species are described by von Reinach from von Stromer’s collection: _Schildkrötenreste aus dem ägyptischen Tertiär_; Sonderabdruck aus den Abhandlungen der Sendeenbergischen naturforschenden Gesellschaft, Band XXIX, Heft I. Frankfurt 1903.]
[Footnote 71: Op. cit., p. 455-456. Vide Blanckenhorn, _Zur Kentniss der Süsswasserablag. u. Mollusken Syriens_. Palaeontographica XLIV, 1897, S. 97, t. 8, f. 2.]
[Footnote 72: More recently Blanckenhorn in a paper entitled _Nachträge zur Kentniss des Palaeogens in Ægypten_, (Centralbl. f. Mineralogie ch. 1901, No. 9, p. 272) has named this species _Lanistes bartonianus_ (spelled _bartoninus_ in same paper).]
[Footnote 73: It has 4-5 flat spiral rows, the uppermost of which on the last whorls is often more strongly developed but not keel-shaped as in _M. muricata_. There are longitudinal ribs to the number of 8-12 over the whorls; the largest example was 9 millimetres long and had 8 whorls.]
[Footnote 74: See Note 2, p. 43.]
[Footnote 75: The majority belong to the genus _Nicolia_, but more rarely specimens, apparently referable to a species of conifer, are met with.]
[Footnote 76: The largest trunk noticed had a length of 28 metres.]
[Footnote 77: ZITTEL, _Beitr. z. Geol. u. Palaeont. d. Libysch. Wüste_, I Th. (Palaeontographica, Vol. XXX) p. XCIII.]
[Footnote 78: MAYER-EYMAR, _Quelques mots sur les nouvelles recherches relatives au Ligurien et au Tongrien d’Egypte_. Bull. de l’Inst. Egypt. (3) N. 4, 1894. Mayer-Eymar’s division of the lower beds into _Ligurien inférieur_ and _Ligurien supérieur_ is hardly convincing, especially as no fossils were found by that observer. The correlation of strata in widely separate areas by their lithological similarity is at least open to question, especially with beds of this type, which can indeed be exactly matched again and again at many levels in the same vertical succession. His diagnosis of the beds immediately below the basalt as _Tongrien inférieur_, rests, however, on firmer grounds, as this basalt sheet can be traced across the desert to beyond the latitude of Cairo, and is probably everywhere of approximately the same age.]
[Footnote 79: SCHWEINFURTH, op. cit., _Reise in das Depression Gebiet_, etc.) p. 41.]
[Footnote 80: BEADNELL, _The Cretaceous Region of Abu Roash, near the Pyramids of Giza_. Geol. Survey, Egypt, Report 1900, Pt. II. 1902, p. 44.]
[Footnote 81: _Zur Geologie Aegypten_, Pt. II, p. 458; _Die Geschichte des Nil-Stroms in der Tertiär und Quartärperiode_, etc., Z. d. Ges. f. Erdk. Z. Berlin, 1902, Tafel 10.]
[Footnote 82: BEADNELL, _Découvertes Géologiques Récentes dans la Vallée du Nil et le Désert Libyen_, Compte rendu. VIIIe Congr. Géol. Internat. 1900, Paris, 1901, p. [Blank]; also BALL and BEADNELL, _Baharia Oasis: Its Topography and Geology_; Survey Depart. P.W.M. report. Cairo. 1903, pp. 61-62.]
[Footnote 83: _Correlations between Tertiary Mammal Horizons of Europe and America_, Annals N.Y. Acad. Sci., Vol. XIII, No. 1, July 21, 1900, pp. 1-72.]
[Footnote 84: Compare _Afrika als Entstehungszentrum für Säugetiere_, Stromer, Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Geolog. Gesellsch. Jahr 1903. Also _Betrachtungen über die Geologische geschichte Aethiopiens_, do. do., 1901.]
[Footnote 85: The locality has been briefly examined by Dr. Blanckenhorn and more recently by Mr. T. Barron, who was accompanied by Dr. Andrews; the writer spent a few days collecting in the neighbourhood in April, 1903.]
[Footnote 86: Approximately 10 metres above sea-level.]
[Footnote 87: It is worth recording here that a single worn specimen of _Chicoreus anguliferus_, Lam., was found on the desert surface in the neighbourhood of the bone-pits and at about the level of the highest gravel terrace. This determination was made by Bullen Newton, who informs me the species occurs in the marine Pleistocene beach deposits of the Red Sea.]
[Footnote 88: BEADNELL, _Découvertes Géologiques Récentes dans la Vallée du Nil et le Désert Libyen_, VIIIe Congrès Géol. Intern. 1900. Paris 1901, pp. 25-27.]
[Footnote 89: Doubt has recently been thrown by American writers on the possibility of large or thick deposits of gypsum being formed by precipitation. See R. S. SHERWIN. _Notes on the theories of origin of gypsum deposits_, Kansas Acad. Sci. Trans. Vol. 18. 1903, pp. 85-88.]
[Footnote 90: Egyptian Irrigation (1899), p. 32.]
[Footnote 91: The southern limits of the site (broken line) are taken from the maps of Brown and Willcocks.]
[Footnote 92: The mammalian remains collected from these lacustrine clays have not yet been systematically examined. Dr. Andrews has however determined some of the genera present: see, “_Notes on an Expedition to the Fayum, Egypt_”, Geol. Mag. No. 470 Aug. 1903, pp. 337-343.]
[Footnote 93: MARTENS _Subfossile Süsswasser-Conchylien aus dem Fajum_, Sitz. Ber. Gesell. naturforsch. Freunde, Berlin July, 1879, S. 100 u. Oct. 1886, S. 126.]
[Footnote 94: _Geologie Ægyptens_, pp. 444-446.]
[Footnote 95: For figures and details of these flints see a paper by the writer, _Neolithic Flint Implements from the Northern Desert of the Fayûm, Egypt_, Geol. Mag., Dec. IV., Vol. X., pp. 53-59, Febr. 1903.]
[Footnote 96: _Mémoires sur les principaux travaux d’utilité publique exécutés en Egypte depuis la plus haute antiquité jusqu’à nos jours_. 1872-1873, Chap. II.]
[Footnote 97: Op. cit. pp. 28-40.]
[Footnote 98: “_The disposition of the Lake Mœris_,” in the Archæological Report of the Egypt Explor. Fund 1898-1899, Pt. I. D., pp. 13-15.]
[Footnote 99: BLANCKENHORN, op. cit. p. 463.]
APPENDIX I.
=PREVIOUS LITERATURE RELATING TO THE FAYUM.=
* * * * *
ANDREWS C. W.—_Extinct Vertebrates from Egypt_. Parts I, II, Geol. Mag. N.S. Dec. IV. Vol. VIII, Sept. and Oct, 1901.
_Notes on an Expedition to the Fayûm, Egypt, with description of some new Mammals_, Geol. Mag. N.S. Dec. IV. Vol. X. Aug. 1903.
_Further Notes on the Mammals of the Eocene of Egypt_, (Pts I, II, III), Geol. Mag. N.S. Dec. V. Vol. I. March, April, May, 1904.
_A note on the occurrence of a Ratite Bird in the Upper Eocene beds of the Fayûm, Egypt_. Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1904, Vol. I.
ANDREWS, C. W. AND BEADNELL, H. J. L.—_A preliminary note on Some New Mammals from the Upper Eocene of Egypt_, Survey Dept., P.W.M., Cairo, 1902.
_A preliminary Notice of a Land Tortoise from the Upper Eocene of the Fayûm, Egypt_. Survey Dept., P.W.M., Cairo, 1903.
BEADNELL, H. J. L.—_Découvertes Géologiques Récentes dans la Vallée du Nil et le Désert Libyen_, VIII. Congr. Géol. Intern. 1900. Paris, 1901.
_The Fayûm Depression; a Preliminary Notice of the Geology of a district in Egypt containing a new Palaeogene Vertebrate Fauna_. Geol. Mag. Dec. IV. Vol. VIII No. 450, Dec. 1901.
_A preliminary note on Arsinoitherium Zitteli, Beadn._, Survey Dept., P.W.M., Cairo, 1902.
_Neolithic Flint Implements from the Northern Desert of the Fayûm, Egypt_. Geol. Mag. Dec. IV. Vol. X. Febr. 1903.
BLANCKENHORN, M.—_Geologie Ægyptens_ (Pts I-IV) Zeitsch. Deutsch. Geol. Gesell. Berlin, 1901.
_Neue geologisch-stratigraphische Beobachtungen in Ægypten_, S.-Ber. d. math.-phys. Classe d. Kgl. bayer. Ac. d. Wiss. Bd. XXXII, 1902, Heft III, München, 1902.
_Die Geschichte des Nil-Stroms in der Tertiär- und Quartär periode, sowie des Palaeolithischen Menschen in Ægypten_. Z. d. Ges. f. Erdk. Z. Berlin, 1902.
_Nachträge zur Kenntniss des Palaeogens in Ægypten_, Centralb. f. Mineral. No. 9. 1903.
BROWN, SIR HANBURY.—_The Fayûm and Lake Mœris_, London, 1892.
COSSMANN, M.—_Additions a la Faune Nummulitique d’Egypte_, Cairo, 1901.
DAMES, W.—_Uber eine Tertiäre Wirbelthier Fauna von der westlichen Insel des Birket-el-Qurûn in Fayûm (Ægypten)_. Sitzungsber. Akad. Wissensch., Berlin, 1883.
DAMES, W. AND KAYSER.—_Uber Zeuglodonten aus Ægypten und die Beziehungen der Archæoceten zu den übrigen Cetacean_. Palaeont. Abhand. I. V. 5, Jena, 1894.
EDITOR GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE.—_A New Egyptian Mammal (Arsinoitherium) from the Fayûm_. Geol. Mag. N.S., Dec. IV, Vol. X, Dec. 1903.
ELLIOT SMITH, G.—_The Brain of the Archaeoceti_, Proc. Roy. Soc. Vol. 71.
FLINDERS PETRIE.—_Hawara, Biahmu and Arsinœ_, Egypt. Explor. Fund Reports, 1889.
GARSTIN, SIR WILLIAM.—_Report upon the Basin of the Upper Nile_, Cairo, 1904.
GRENFELL AND HUNT.—_The disposition of the Lake Mœris_, Archaeol. Rep. Egypt. Exploration Fund. 1898-99. Pt. I. D.
LIERNUR, WESTERN AND SCOTT MONCRIEFF, SIR COLIN.—_Notes on the Wadi Rayan_, Cairo, 1888.
LINANT DE BELLEFONDS.—_Mémoires sur les travaux publics en Egypte_, Paris, 1873.
_Mémoires sur les principaux travaux d’utilité publique exécutés en Egypte depuis la plus haute antiquité jusqu’à nos jours_, 1872-1873.
LUCAS, A.—_A preliminary Investigation of the Soil and Water of the Fayûm Province_, Survey Dept., P.W.M., Cairo, 1902.
MARTENS. E. V.—_Subfossile Süsswasser-Conchylien aus dem Fajum_. Sitz. Ber. Gesell. naturf. Freunde, Berlin, 1879.
MAYER-EYMAR,—_L’oasis de Moëleh_, Bull. de l’Inst. Egypt., April, 1892.
_Nouvelles Recherches sur le Ligurien et le Tongrien d’Egypte_, Bull. de l’Instit. Egypt., April, 1894.
_Die Versteinerungen der tertiären Schichten von der westlichen Insel im Birket-el-Qurûn See_, Paleontogr. N.F.X., 3, (XXX).
OPPENHEIM, P.—_Zur Kenntnis alttertiärer Faunen in Aegypten_, (I). Palaeontographica, Dreif. Band. III, Public Works Ministry reports, 1889-1904. Abt. Erst. Lief. Stuttgart, 1903.
REINACH, V.—_Schildkrötenreste aus dem ägyptischen Tertiär_. Sonderabd. aus d. Abhand. d. Senckenb. natur. Gesellsch. XXIX, I. Frankfurt, 1903.
SCHWEINFURTH, G.—_Reise in das Depressionsgebiet im Umkreise des Fajûm_, Zeitschr. Ges. F. Erdkunde, Berlin, 1886.
_A note on the Salt in the Wadi Rayan_, Appendix II, Egyptian Irrigation (Willcocks), London, 1899.
SCOTT MONCRIEFF, SIR COLIN—_Note on the Wadi Raian Project_, Cairo, 1889.
STROMER, E.—_Zeuglodonten-Reste aus dem oberen Mitteleocän des Fayûm_, Bayer. Akad. Wissensch., Bd. XXXII, 1902.
_Einiges über Bau und Stellung der Zeuglodonten_, Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Geolog. Gesellsch. 1903. See also Beiträge zur Paläont. u. Geol. Osterr.-Ungarins u. des Orients. Band XV. Heft II and III.
_Afrika als Entstehungszentrum für Säugetiere_, Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Geolog. Gesellsch. 1903.
WHITEHOUSE, COPE.—_Bull. of the American Geographical Society_, 1882.
WILLCOCKS, SIR WILLIAM.—_Perennial Irrigation and Flood Protection in Egypt_, P.W.M. Report, Cairo, 1894.
_Egyptian Irrigation_, 2nd Edit. London, 1899.
_The Assuan Reservoir and Lake Mœris_, London, 1904.
ZITTEL, K. V.—_Geologie u. Palaeontologie der Libyschen Wüste_, Cassel, 1883.
* * * * *
APPENDIX II.
* * * * *
_Paul Oppenheim has recently published[100] a description of a large collection of Egyptian lamellibranchs; the following is a list of the species of which examples have been collected in the Fayûm (including Rayan and Moêla). Figured species are marked by an asterisk._
*Gryphaea pharaonum, Oppenh Lower Mokattam.
*Ostrea (Gryphaea) Whitehousei, May.-Eym. „
*O. „ Edmondstonei, May-Eym. „
*O. „ histris, May.-Eym. „
*Gryphaea (?) arabica, May.-Eym. „
*O. elegans, Desh. Upper (and intermediate) Mokattam.
*O. Fraasi, May.-Eym. Lower and Upper Mokattam.
*O. Stanleyi, May.-Eym. „ „
*O. Cailliaudi, May.-Eym. Upper Mokattam.
*O. ramosa, May.-Eym. Lower Mokattam.
*O. plicata, Sol. Mokattam Series.
O. paucicostata, Oppenh. Lower Mokattam.
O. Reili, Fraas. Lower and Upper Mokattam.
O. Schweinfurthi, May.-Eym. Upper Mokattam.
O. Sickenbergeri, May.-Eym. „
*O. Hessi, May.-Eym. Lower and Upper Mokattam.
*O. qeruniana, May.-Eym. Mokattam Series.
O. gigantica, Sol. Upper (and intermediate) Mokattam.
*O. (Alectryonia) Clot-Beyi, Bell. Lower and Upper Mokattam.
*O. ( „ ) Bellardi, May.-Eym. Lower Mokattam.
O. ( „ ) semipectinata, Schafh. „
*O. ( „ ) Mehemeti, May.-Eym. „
Carolia placunoides, Cantraine Lower and Upper Mokattam.
*Pecten moëlehensis, May.-Eym. Lower Mokattam.
*P. Cailliaudi, Oppenh. Lower and Upper Mokattam.
Plicatula pyramidarum, Fraas Upper Mokattam.
P. Bellardi, May.-Eym. Mokattam Series.
P. indigena, May.-Eym. „
*P. Schweinfurthi, Oppenh. Lower Mokattam.
*Spondylus ægyptiacus, Newton Mokattam Series.
*S. Rouaulti, d’Arch. Lower and Upper Mokattam.
*S. perhorridus, Oppenh. Lower Mokattam.
*Vulsella crispata, Fischer Lower and Upper Mokattam.
*V. lignaria, Oppenh. Lower Mokattam.
*V. moëlehensis, Oppenh. „
*V. chamiformis, May.-Eym. „
*Nucula Mœridis, Oppenh. Upper Mokattam.
*Cucullaea dimehensis, Oppenh. „
*Arca subplanicostata, Oppenh. Upper Mokattam.
*A. Tethyis, Oppenh. Mokattam Series.
*A. uniformis, Oppenh. Upper Mokattam.
*A. tenuifilosa, Cossm. Mokattam Series.
*Pectunculus juxtadentatus, Cossm. Upper Mokattam.
*P. aegyptiacus, Oppenh. „
*Cardita Viquesneli, d’Arch. Lower and Upper Mokattam.
C. acuticostata, Lk. „ „
*C. mokattamensis, Oppenh. Upper Mokattam.
*C. fayumensis, Oppenh. „
*C. fidelis, May.-Eym. „
*C. Mosis, Oppenh. Mokattam Series.
*Crassatella fajumensis, Oppenh. Upper Mokattam.
C. Junkeri, May.-Eym. „
C. puellula, May.-Eym. „
*C. trigonata, Lk. Mokattam Series.
*Lucina pharaonis, Bell. Lower and Upper Mokattam.
*L. Rai, Oppenh. Mokattam Series.
*L. polythele, Oppenh. „
*L. calliste, Oppenh. „
*L. gibbosula, Lk. Upper Mokattam.
*L. fajumensis, Oppenh. „
*L. sinuosa, Bell. „
*Diplodonta cycloidea, Bell. Mokattam Series.
*D. inflata, Bell. „
*Lucina (Diplodonta) corpusculum, Oppenh. „
*Cardium desertorum, Oppenh. Upper Mokattam.
*C. Schweinfurthi, May.-Eym. „
*Cyrena (Corbicula) Blanckenhorni, Oppenh. „
*Cyprina aegyptiaca, Oppenh. „
* * * * *
[Footnote 100: _Zur Kenntnis alttertiärer Faunen in Ägypten_. Pt. I. _Der Bivalven, erster Teil_. Palaeontographica Bd. XXX, III.]
INDEX
* * * * *
A
Abshawai—30-31, 84.
Abu Roash as an island—65.
Acacias—25.
Adaptive radiation of Hyracoidea, &c.—69.
Aegean plateau, Giraffes, &c. of—69.
_Aetheria_—81.
Africa with Europe or Asia, Connection of—68.
Africa as centre of mammalian radiation—68, 88.
Agamiin—84.
_Agassizia gibberulus_—52.
Ain Warshat el Melh—20.
Air passages of crocodile skulls, as casts—52.
_Akera_ aff. _striatella_—51-52.
_Alectryonia Clot-Beyi_—35, 50-52.
Allen—69.
Alluvial deposits—23, 25-26, 29, 39, 79-81.
Alluvial soil, Composition of—11-12.
Alluvium covering eastern area—25, 30.
Amenemhat I—13, 26, 82, 84.
_Ampullina hybrida_—51.
_Ampullaria_—51, 81.
Analyses of water—13, 22.
Analysis of fossil bones—54.
Analysis of ox bone—55.
_Ancodus Gorringei_—34, 59, 70.
Andrews, Dr. C. W.—10, 34, 52, 59, 68, 71, 80, 87.
_Anisaster gibberulus_—52.
Anomaluridae—68-69.
Anoplotheres—69.
Antelopes—69.
Aquatic animals—55.
Aquatic hyracoid—69.
_Arca_—53, 60.
_Arca Edwardsi_—43.
_Arca subplanicostata_—90.
_Arca tenuifilosa_—90.
_Arca tethyis_—52, 90.
_Arca uniformis_—90.
Archæoceti—44, 52, 87.
Ard varks—69.
Area of Birket el Qurûn—13.
Area of cultivated land—11.
Area of desert in depression—15.
Area of Fayûm depression—9-11.
Area of Fayûm freshwater lake—80.
Arenaceous deposits—84.
Arenaceous sediments of Nile—81.
Argillaceous sandstone—36, 39, 46.
Argillaceous sands—57.
Armadillos—69.
Arsinœ—13, 83, 87.
_Arsinoitherium_—10, 54, 59, 62, 68-87.
_Arsinoitherium Andrewsii_—34, 70.
_Arsinoitherium Zitteli_—10, 34, 59, 70, 87.
Assuan Reservoir—88.
_Astarte_—46.
_Astrohelia similis_—35, 43, 51.
B
Baboons—69.
Bacchias—83-84.
Baharia Oasis—9, 25, 27, 29, 66, 67.
Bahr Belama—18.
Bahr Yusef—11-12, 17-18, 25-26, 83-84.
_Balanus_—39, 47.
Ball, Dr. J.—66.
_Barbatia_—60.
Barriers between Nile lakes—79.
Barron, T.—71.
Barton Clay—58.
Bartonian beds—43, 53-70.
_Barytherium_—10, 51, 68.
_Barytherium grave_—35, 51, 70.
Basalt sheet—15, 28, 34, 53, 56-64, 75-76 (derived).
Basins receiving drainage—25, 79.
Bats, Ravine of El—29-30, 37, 39-40.
Beadnell, H. J. L.—10, 33, 59-60, 65-66, 78, 87.
Beauchamp sands—58.
Beekite—61.
Biahmu—13, 83-84, 87.
Birds, Fossil—70-87.
Birket el Qurûn—11, 12-14, 16, 23-25, 27-28, 30-32, 36, 40-41, 43-47, 49-50, 56, 61, 72-73, 80-81, 83-84, 87-88.
Birket el Qurun Schichten—63.
Birket el Qurûn Series—23, 27, 35, 41-50, 52, 64, 72-74.
_Bithynia_ aff. _Boissieri_—81.
Blanford—69-70.
Blanckenhorn, Dr. M.—30-31, 34, 39, 45, 58, 60, 64, 66, 71, 81, 87.
Blue Nile fauna—81.
Bone horizons & pits—52, 54, 62, 76.
Borings, Artesian—18.
Borings at Medinet el Fayûm—29-30, 41.
Borings by molluscs—23, 34, 43, 71-73, 78.
Borings by shells at two levels—72-73.
_Borsonia_—37.
Boulders in gravel terraces—76.
Brackish-water shells—84.
Brain of archæoceti—52, 87.
Branches wanting on fossil trees—64-65.
British Museum collections—59.
Brown coal—53.
Brown, Sir Hanbury—11, 13, 80, 83, 87.
Bryozoa—36, 52.
_Bubalis_—80.
Bugti beds (Sind)—70.
Bullen Newton, R.—76.
C
Cairo—9, 16, 28, 49, 56, 64, 65.
Calcareous beds in lake—12.
Calcareous grits—33, 53, 56-63.
Calcareous sandstone—25, 42-43, 45, 50-51, 59, 72.
Calcite—51, 58-59, 61-62.
_Callianassa_—36, 58.
_Calyptræa trochiformis_—43.
Canals—11-12, 18-19, 29, 73.
Canals, Mud brought to lake by—14.
_Canis_—80.
Cape Rayan—21, 36.
Carbonaceous clays—46.
Carbonaceous matter—42, 51.
_Cardita_—38-39, 47.
_Cardita acuticostata_—90.
_Cardita_ aff. _carinata_—52.
_Cardita_ aff. _depressa_—52.
_Cardita ægyptiaca_—46.
_Cardita fidelis_—90.
_Cardita fajumensis_—35, 46, 50-52, 90.
_Cardita_ cf. _gracilis_ and _depressa_—52.
_Cardita mokattamensis_—90.
_Cardita Mosis_—90.
_Cardita_ aff. _triparticostata_—52.
_Cardita Viquesneli_—35, 45-46, 90.
_Cardium_—59.
_Cardium desertorum_—90.
_Cardium Schweinfurthi_—35, 43-44, 50-51, 90.
_Carolia_—36-39, 48, 50, 52.
Carolia Beds—33, 48-53, 74 (rolled blocks).
_Carolia placunoides_—35-36, 38-39, 45-49, 51-52, 73, 89.
_Cassidaria_—51.
_Cassidaria nilotica_—51.
_Cassidaria_ aff. _nodosa_—51.
Casts of crocodilian skull air passages—52.
Casts of shells—39, 44, 51, 59, 63.
Cavernous limestone—37.
Celestine—48.
Cellular weathering of sandstone—46.
Central African character of Fayûm shells—60.
Central Area of Fayûm—24-25.
Centres of independent evolution—69.
_Cerithium_—39, 46-47, 53, 57-58.
_Cerithium crispum_—58.
_Cerithium fodicatum_—37.
_Cerithium perditum_—58.
_Cerithium tiarella_—58.
Cetacea—9, 43-44, 47, 49, 87.
Chalcedony—61.
Chalky limestones—40.
Charcoal, Natural—51, 53.
Chelonians—34, 44, 54, 62.
Chert, Tabular—61-62.
Cherty limestones—57, 59, 61.
_Chicoreus anguliferus_—76.
Claudius Ptolemy—83.
_Clavellithes longævus_—35, 45-46.
Clays—12, 15, 18, 20, 22-25, 28-30, 33-53, 55-59, 61-62, 74-76, 80, 82.
Clays, Variegated—62.
Clayey marls—37, 53, 62.
Clayey sands—29, 36-37, 42, 58.
Clayey sandstones—36, 50, 57, 62.
Clayey shales—77.
_Cleopatra pirothi_—81.
_Cleopatra pirothi_ var. _unicarinata_—81.
_Cleopatra bulimoides_—81, 84.
Cliffs—12, 14-15, 20-24, 27, 32, 36, 40-41, 45-46, 48-50, 53, 56, 73-74, 84-85.
Climate, Variations in Egyptian—81.
Coal, Thin seam of—53.
Coast-line of old continent—54.
Colossi at Biahmu—84.
Concretions—35-36, 38-40, 42-46, 50, 72.
Concretionary sands—58.
Concretionary sandstones—35, 46, 49, 51, 55-56, 62.
Concretionary weathering—42, 46.
Conglomerate—25, 74-76, 78.
Conical hill near Wadi Muêla—36.
Coniferous fossil trees—63.
Constancy of beds over wide areas—33.
Continental land in Oligocene times—64.
Continuance of Oligocene continental conditions—54.
Cope Whitehouse—16-17.
Coprolites—50-51, 62.
Corals—36-37, 44, 46, 51, 53.
_Corbicula Blanckenhorni_—90.
_Corbicula fluminalis_, var. _consobrina_—81, 84.
_Corbula_—40.
_Corbula_ aff. _pixidicula_—35, 39, 43.
Cossmann, M.—45, 58, 87.
_Cossmannella ægyptiaca_—50.
Cranial casts in limestone—52.
_Crassatella fajumensis_—90.
_Crassatella Junkeri_—90.
_Crassatella puellula_—90.
_Crassatella trigonata_—90.
_Crassatellithes_—50.
Creodonts—70.
Crocodiles—9, 34, 51-55, 59, 62, 80.
_Crocodilus_—59, 70.
Crystals of quartz, calcite &c.—61.
_Cucullæa_ aff. _crassatina_—52.
_Cucullæa dimehensis_—89.
Cultivated lands—9, 11-14, 39-42, 73, 83-84.
Currents in Birket el Qurûn—14.
Currents in ancient river—52, 54, 65-66, 71-78, 80.
Current-bedded clays, sands, &c.—51, 56.
Cuvier—69.
_Cyprina ægyptiaca_—90.
_Cyrena Blanckenhorni_—90.
_Cytherea_—46.
_Cytherea Newboldi_—43.
D
Dakhla Oasis—29.
Dam at El Lahûn—84.
Dames—9, 43-44, 49, 87.
Damp climate formerly in Egypt—81.
Dashûr, Pyramids of—28.
Dasypodidae—69.
Defile of Wadi Muêla—9, 21.
Delta, Ancient—54, 66-67.
_Dentalium_—46.
Denudation, Effects of—39, 73, 75, 77, 84.
Deposition of sediments in Eocene times—54.
Depression, Origin of Fayûm—15, 29, 33, 79.
Depression cut out in sedimentary rocks—33.
Depression, Fayûm—9, 11-16, 20, 24, 26-30, 33-36, 39, 53, 61, 64, 67, 71, 75, 77-81, 84-85, 87-88.
Depression, Mogara—71.
Depression, Wadi Rayan &c.—17-19, 21-24.
Depressions of Libyan Desert—16, 29, 67.
Depth of Birket et Qurûn—13.
Der el Beda—64.
Der el Galamûn—21, 36.
Desert conditions—73, 79.
Desert region—11, 14, 16, 26-28.
Deshasleh—17.
_Dictyopleurus Haimi_—52.
Diluvial deposits—81.
Dimê—13, 31, 45, 50, 72.
Dinotheres—69.
Diodorus Siculus—13, 82.
Dionysias—83-84.
Dip, Importance and nature of—15, 33, 48-49, 55, 57, 64.
_Diplodonta corpusculum_—90.
_Diplodonta cycloidea_—90.
_Diplodonta inflata_—90.
Dip-slopes of central area &c., of Fayûm—24, 25, 27, 50.
Disconnection of Nile Valley and Fayûm—80.
Dormice—69.
Downthrow of faults—32, 50.
Drainage basins—11, 13, 23, 25.
Drains—12.
Dreikanter—56.
Druses of calcite—62.
Dugongs—53.
Dunes—17, 21-23, 26-27, 84-85.
Dunes, Slope of—26.
Dunes, Straight-lined character of—26, 85.
E
Earth-pillars—46.
Earthy limestone—46.
Echinids—36-37, 39.
_Echinolampas Crameri_—35, 50.
Edentata—69.
Edwa—82-83.
Egyptian irrigation—88.
Elephants, Early—68.
_Elephas_—80.
El-Gayat, village—20.
Elliot Smith, Dr.—52, 87.
Elwat Hialla—28, 55-56, 75-76.
Emigration of African animals—68.
Eocene sea, Extension of—66.
_Eosiren_—10, 52.
_Eosiren libyca_—35, 51, 70.
_Eremopezus libycus_—34, 70.
Erosion by Nile—79, 80.
Erosion, Superficial—85.
Escarpments—15, 21, 26-28, 31-32, 45, 49, 52, 56-58, 60-61, 75-77.
Escarpments determined by fractures—32.
_Eschara Duvali_—37.
Estuarine conditions of upper beds—53, 55.
Ethiopian faunal region—68-69.
Ethiopian region centre of independent evolution—69-70.
Euhemeria—84.
_Euspatangus Blanckenhorni_—36.
_Euspatangus cairensis_—52.
_Euspatangus formosus_—36.
Evaporation of late Pliocene lake—78-79.
Even-toed ruminants—68.
_Exogyra Fraasi_—35, 50-52.
F
Facetted quartz pebbles—56.
False-bedding—50-51, 55-57, 62, 73.
Farafra Oasis—29.
Faulting and folding—16, 29-32, 49-50.
Fault near Qasr el Sagha—32.
Fault, Nile Valley—15.
Fayûm beds shallower water than those of Mokattam—41.
Fayûm, Causes of origin of—15, 29, 33.
Ferruginous bands—51-52, 58.
Ferruginous clays—51.
Ferruginous grits—27, 58, 62, 66-67.
Ferruginous sand—54.
Ferruginous sandstone—46, 50, 52, 57.
Feshn—11.
Fibrous gypsum—52.
_Ficula tricarinata_—43.
Filhol, M.—69.
Fiord, Nile Valley—78-79.
Fish remains—9, 35, 39-40, 42-44, 46-47, 50-52, 59, 70, 77, 70.
Fish-scales—39-40, 42, 44, 77.
Fish-spines—39, 50.
Fish-teeth—39, 43, 50.
Fish-vertebrae—50.
Flat-topped hills—20.
Flinders, Petrie—13, 87.
Flint implements—61, 82.
Flint pebbles—20, 50, 56, 62-63, 73, 75-76.
Flint, Tabular—61-62.
Floods—26, 54, 67, 82.
Flood protection—88.
Flood-readings—80.
Floor of depression—39.
Fluviatile conditions of deposition—58.
Fluviatile sands, etc.—60, 66-67.
Fluviomarine conditions of deposition—33.
Fluviomarine Series—9, 27, 34, 53-65, 74-76.
Flying rodents—68-69.
Fold near Qasr el Sagha—32, 49.
Foraminiferal beds—33, 35-39, 41-42, 45-48, 74.
Formation of Fayûm lake—26, 78-80, 82-84.
Fractures determining escarpments—32.
Freshness of Birket el Qurûn—14, 24.
Freshwater conditions of deposition—58.
Freshwater lake before Mœris—79-80.
Freshwater lakes of Nile Valley—79.
Freshwater shells—18, 44, 47, 60, 80-81, 88.
Freshwater shells absent in Wadi Rayan—23.
_Fusus_—37, 48.
G
Gar el Gehannem—9, 23, 25, 27, 32, 36-39, 41, 46-47, 50, 52, 61, 67, 73, 80, 85.
Gar el Hamra—27, 67.
Garat el Esh—32, 61, 76, 85.
Garat el Faras—28, 50, 75.
Garat el Gindi—28, 75.
Garstin, Sir W.—18, 87.
Gasteropods—36, 58.
_Geniohyus_—10.
_Geniohyus fayumensis_—34, 70.
_Geniohyus major_—34, 70.
_Geniohyus mirus_—34, 70.
Geodes—61.
Geological Succession in Wadi Rayan—22.
Geological Magazine—10, 87.
Geology of Fayûm—33, 90.
Geziret el Qorn—31, 40, 43-45, 63.
Gharaq, Bahr el—11, 17.
Gharaq Basin—11, 13, 19-20, 23-26, 31, 36, 85.
Gharaq, Wadi—17.
Ghardag bushes—22.
Ghart el Khanashat—26-27, 85.
_Gigantophis_—10.
_Gigantophis Garstini_—35, 51, 70.
Giraffes—69.
_Gisortia_—37.
_Gisortia gigantea_—51.
Giza, Pyramids of—28, 63.
Glacial period—69, 81.
Glauconitic clays—36, 39, 50.
Glauconitic marl—39.
Glauconitic sands—37.
Globular concretions—35, 42-46, 72.
_Glycimeris pulvinatus_—52.
Goat remains—80.
_Goniastræa cocchii_—43.
_Goniaræa elegans_—51.
_Goniopora_—51.
Grass in desert—27.
Gravels—15, 25-27, 32, 34, 40-42, 73-78.
Gravel-capped hills—75.
Gravel terraces—25, 34, 42, 71, 73-80.
Gravelly gypsum—77.
Grenfell, Mr.—83-84, 87.
Grits—27, 33-34, 57-63, 66.
Grooving due to blown sand—85.
_Gryphæa arabica_—89.
_Gryphæa Edmonstonei_—89.
_Gryphæa histris_—89.
_Gryphæa pharaonum_—89.
_Gryphæa Whitehousei_—89.
Gauges, Nile—80.
Gypseous clays—33, 35, 37-40, 44-46, 51-52.
Gypseous deposits—71, 75, 77, 79.
Gypseous limestone—50, 52.
Gypseous marls—37-39.
Gypseous plain—20-21.
Gypseous sands—39.
Gypseous shale—42, 48.
Gypsum—18, 20, 36-37, 39, 42, 50-52, 61-62, 77-79.
Gypsum of Paris, Animals in—69.
H
Hade of fault—32.
Haram el Bahrl, El—36.
Harpoons, Flint—61.
Hawara—11, 13, 26, 87.
Headon Hill beds—58.
Height of Pliocene terraces—76.
_Heliastræa acervularia_—43.
_Heliastræa Ellisi_—13.
_Heliastræa flattersi_—43.
Heluan—16.
Herodotus—13, 82, 84.
High-level lake—83.
_Hippopotamus_—69, 80.
Historic epoch—81-85.
Horns of Birket el Qurûn due to siliceous bands—41.
Hunt, Mr.—83-84, 87.
Huxley, Prof.—68.
_Hydractinia_—38.
_Hydractinia cornuta_—35.
_Hydrobia stagnalis_—84.
Hyracoidea—69.
I
Ice periods—69, 81.
Immigration of animals into Africa—68.
Implements, Flint—61.
India, Fauna of—69.
Indo-Malayan faunal region—69.
Invasion of Africa by European animals—69.
Invasion of Europe by African animals—69.
Ironstone—50, 58-59.
Irrigation works, Result of—12, 88.
_Isocardia cyprinoides_—43.
J
Jerboas—69.
Joint-planes—36.
K
Kafr el Ayat—11.
Karanis—84.
Kayser—87.
Kenîsa, El—72.
Kharga Oasis—29.
Knobs along line of fault—32.
Kom Ombo—81.
Korif, Wadi—21.
L
Lacustrine deposits—12-13, 34, 40, 44, 47, 49, 66-67, 79-80, 82.
Lahûn—11, 26, 39, 84.
Lahûn Pyramid—28, 42.
Lake deposits—67, 79.
Lake in Fayûm—11-14, 78-80.
Lake Mœris—12-13, 18-19, 23-24, 43, 49, 79-80, 82-84, 87-88.
Lake, Nile Valley—78-79.
Lake of the Horns—12.
Lamellibranchs—12, 58-59, 89.
Lamination of arenaceous deposits—66.
Land-animal remains—52-54.
Land-areas, Ancient—65-67, 71.
_Lanistes_—53, 58, 81.
_Lanistes antiquus_—51.
_Lanistes bartonianus_—34, 60.
_Lanistes carinatus_—60.
Lava Flows—15, 33-34, 53, 56-58, 61-62, 75.
Leakage through ridge of Wadi Rayan—23.
_Leda_—35, 39.
Lenticular sand-beds—55.
_Leptodon_—69.
Levels made from Rayan to Nile Valley—17.
Libyan Desert, Area, etc., of—15, 88.
Liernur Bey—17-18, 87.
Liernur, Wadi—17, 19.
Lignite—51, 53.
Ligurian beds—43, 64, 88.
Limb-bones of vertebrates—52.
Limestones—12, 15-16, 20-25, 29, 33-42, 45-53, 56-57, 59-62, 65-66, 73-77.
_Limnæa mœris_—81.
_Limnæa natalensis_—81.
_Limnæa palustris_—81.
Linant de Bellefonds—16, 83, 88.
_Linthia_—52.
Little Rayan—22.
Littoral deposits—66.
Loam—39.
_Lobocarcinus Paulino-Wurtembergicus_—36.
Lower Headon Hill beds—58.
Lower Oligocene—53-70.
Lucas, A.—9, 14, 22, 54, 88.
_Lucina_—36, 39, 45-46, 48, 53, 58.
_Lucina calliste_—90.
_Lucina consobrina_—37.
_Lucina Defrancei_—37.
_Lucina fajumensis_—90.
_Lucina fortisiana_—51.
_Lucina gibbosula_—90.
_Lucina globulosa_—37.
_Lucina pharaonis_—35, 43, 45, 51, 90.
_Lucina polythele_—90.
_Lucina pomum_—43.
_Lucina Rai_—90.
_Lucina sinuosa_—90.
_Lucina_ cf. _tabulata_—43.
Lulu, Wadi—17.
Lydekker, R.—70.
M
_Macrosolen Hollowaysi_—35, 46, 51.
_Mactra compressa_—43.
Madagascar and Africa, Connection of—68.
Mammalia, Fossil—34-35, 55, 62, 38-70, 80, 87.
Mammillary weathering—57.
Mandibles of vertebrates—52.
Marls—18, 29-30, 33-35, 37, 39-42, 49-50, 53, 55, 61-62, 73-74, 76.
Marls in lake—12.
Marls, Saliferous—19.
Marly clays—29-30, 57, 62.
Marly gypsum—77.
Marly limestones—33, 35, 37-39, 47-48, 62, 77.
Marsh land—26, 40, 82.
Martens, Prof. von.—60, 81, 88.
Masaigega, Wadi—19.
Masaret-Abusia—40.
Mastodons—68-69.
Mayer-Eymar, K.—37, 43, 49, 53, 64, 88.
Mazana—17, 19.
Medinet el Fayûm—29-30, 41, 82-83.
Mediterranean fauna—81.
Medum—40, 77 (pyramid).
_Megalohyrax_—10.
_Megalohyrax eocænus_—34, 59, 70.
_Megalohyrax minor_—34, 70.
_Melania_—53, 57-60.
_Melania muricata_—60.
_Melania_ cf. _Nysti_—60, 64.
_Melania tuberculata_—81, 84.
_Melanopsis_—81.
_Melanopsis_ fauna—81.
_Melongena nilotica_, var. _bicarinata_—51.
Menesi Ali, Ezba—17.
_Meretrix nitidula_—51.
_Meretrix parisiensis_—51.
_Mesalia_—51.
_Mesalia fasciata_—35, 51.
_Mesalia oxycrepis_—51.
Middle Eocene—9-10, 15, 32-33, 35-53, 54-55, 57-58, 60, 62, 64, 66-67, 70, 80.
Migrations of mammalia—69-70.
Miocene beds suggested—64.
Miocene, Lower—34, 54, 70.
Miocene, Lower, of Orient European in type—70.
Miocene strata, Absence of—34, 71.
_Mitra_—36.
_Mœriophis Schweinfurthi_—50, 70.
Mœris (see Lake Mœris).
_Mœritherium_—10, 52, 59, 68, 70.
_Mœritherium gracilis_—35, 51, 70.
_Mœritherium Lyonsi_—34, 35, 51, 59, 70.
_Mœritherium trigodon_—34-70.
Mogara—34, 54, 71, 85.
Mokattam beds, Lower—35, 89-90.
Mokattam beds, Upper—33, 41, 49, 89-90.
Mokattam beds deeper water than Fayûm beds—41.
Mokattam, Jebel—39, 41, 49.
Monastery in Wadi Muêla—21.
Moncrieff, Sir C. S.—16-17, 87.
Monkeys—69.
Monoclinal fold—16.
Monograph of Fayûm vertebrates—10.
Monotony of desert—26.
Muêla, Wadi—9, 14, 16-17, 20-21, 35-37, 88-89.
_Mutela_—53, 60.
_Mytilus affinis_—51.
N
_Natica_—46.
_Natica crassatina_—64.
Natrûn, Wadi—26, 27, 54, 85.
_Nautilus_—36, 46, 48.
Nawamis—40.
_Necrodasypus_—69.
Neolithic implements—82, 87.
_Neritina nilotica_—81, 84.
Nezleh Canal—19.
_Nicolia_—63.
Nile deposit absent in Wadi Rayan—23.
Nile mud—80-82.
Nile Valley, Connection with—11, 13, 17-18, 79-82.
Nile Valley, History of—79, 87.
Nile waters enter depression—26, 79-80, 82.
Nilometer—80.
Nodular bands—44, 47.
Nodular limestones—48.
Nodules, Calcareous—39, 61.
_Nonionina_—46.
Northern Desert Region—9, 26-28, 87.
_Nucula Mœridis_—89.
_Nucularia_—35, 39.
Nummulites—33, 36, 39, 41, 46-48.
_Nummulites Beaumonti_—35, 41.
_Nummulites curvispira_—35-37.
_Nummulites Fraasi_—35, 41-42.
_Nummulites gizehensis_—33, 35-37, 39, 41, 48.
_Nummulites gizehensis_ limestones—33, 35-37, 39, 41, 48.
_Nummulites Schweinfurthi_—41.
_Nummulites sub-Beaumonti_—41.
Nummulitic limestones—36-39, 65.
O
Oases depressions—67.
Oases, Origin of—29.
Oasis, Parva—83.
Oldest beds in Fayûm—33.
Oligocene beds—34, 53, 70.
Oligocene of Orient European in type—70.
_Oliva_—46.
_Operculina_—33, 46, 74.
_Operculina discoidea_—35, 41-42, 47, 74.
_Operculina-Nummulite_ Beds—35, 41-48, 74.
Oppenheim, Dr. P.—43, 50, 88-89.
Oriental faunal region—69.
Origin of Fayûm, Causes of—15.
Original floor of depression—39.
Osborn, Prof. H. F.—68, 70.
_Ostrea_—36-39, 42, 44-46, 48-50, 52.
_Ostrea Bellardi_—89.
_Ostrea Caillaudi_—89.
_Ostrea Clot-Beyi_—38, 46, 89.
_Ostrea cucullata_—41, 71, 77.
_Ostrea digitalina_—43.
_Ostrea Edmonstonei_—89.
_Ostrea elegans_—35, 51, 89.
_Ostrea flabellula_—51.
_Ostrea Fraasi_—38-39, 47, 89.
_Ostrea gigantea_—43.
_Ostrea gigantica_—89.
_Ostrea Gumbeli_—37.
_Ostrea Hessi_—89.
_Ostrea_ aff. _heteroclyta_—51.
_Ostrea histris_—89.
_Ostrea longirostris_—43.
_Ostrea Mehemeti_—89.
_Ostrea paucicostata_—89.
_Ostrea plicata_—43, 89.
_Ostrea producta_—43.
_Ostrea qeruniana_—89.
_Ostrea ramosa_—89.
_Ostrea Reili_—35, 39, 45-47, 51-52, 89.
_Ostrea Schweinfurthi_—89.
_Ostrea semipectinata_—89.
_Ostrea Sickenbergeri_—89.
_Ostrea Stanleyi_—89.
_Ostrea Whitehousei_—89.
_Oudardia ovalis_—39.
Outlets, Subterranean, to lake—14, 24.
Outliers—21, 28.
Output of water from springs—22.
Oysters—36, 39, 42, 48.
Oyster-beds—36, 50.
Oyster-limestone—52.
P
Palæogene freshwater shells—60.
Palæogene vertebrate fauna—87.
Palæontographica—43, 63, 88.
_Palæomastodon_—10, 59, 68.
_Palæomastodon Beadnelli_—34, 59, 70.
_Palæomastodon minor_—34, 70.
Palms—21-22.
_Paludina_—81.
Pangolins—69.
Paper-shales—36, 51.
Paris basin—58.
Parisian beds—18, 35-53.
Pass from Muêla to Rayan—21.
Pebble deposits—18, 30, 39-40, 56, 58, 76, 78.
_Pecten_—39, 42, 46-47.
_Pecten benedictus_—71.
_Pecten Caillaudi_—89.
_Pecten corneus_—37.
_Pecten moëlehensis_—37, 52, 59.
_Pecten solariolum_—52.
_Pectunculus_—46.
_Pectunculus juxtadentatus_—90.
_Pectunculus ægyptiacus_—51, 90.
_Pectunculus pseudopulvinatus_—35.
_Pectunculus pulvinatus_—52.
_Pelomedusa progaleata_—70.
Pelvis of _Arsinoitherium_—54.
Perforate weathering of sandstone—46.
Permeability of Wadi Rayan—24.
Perennial irrigation in Egypt—88.
Pharaonic province—84.
Philotera—84.
_Phiomia_—10.
_Phiomia serridens_—34, 59, 70.
_Pinna_—39, 47.
Plains—50, 52, 54, 77.
Plain of subaerial denudation—39.
_Planorbis Ehrenbergi_—84.
_Planorbis marginatus_ var. _subangulata_—84.
_Planorbis subangulata_—81.
Plant-remains—42, 50-51, 53, 57.
Plateau bounding Fayûm to north—26.
_Plateaux_—15, 21, 25, 27-28, 32, 62.
Pleistocene Beds—30, 34, 47, 50, 54, 71, 79-81, 84.
_Pleurotoma_—37, 43, 46, 53, 58.
_Pleurotoma ingens_—34, 58.
_Plicatula Bellardi_—50-51, 89.
_Plicatula indigena_—89.
_Plicatula polymorpha_—35, 45-46, 51.
_Plicatula pyramidarum_—89.
_Plicatula Schweinfurthi_—89.
Pliny—82.
Pliocene Beds—30, 34, 41-42, 54, 69, 71-78.
Pliocene sea, Invasion of—43, 71, 78.
_Pliohyrax_—69.
_Podocnemis antiqua_—37, 70.
_Podocnemis Blanckenhorni_—70.
_Podocnemis Blanckenhorni_ var. _ovata_—70.
_Podocnemis fajumensis_—70.
_Podocnemis Stromeri_—35, 70.
_Podocnemis Stromeri_ var. _major_—70.
Pools formed by rainfall—25.
Pools produced by springs—20, 22.
_Potamides_—53.
_Potamides scalaroides_—34, 58, 64.
_Potamides tiarella_—64.
_Potamides tristriatus_—34.
Prehistoric epoch—81-82.
Prehistoric lake—23, 79-82.
Preservation of fossil remains—55.
Proboscidea—68-69.
Promontories of Birket el Qurûn, Origin of—41.
_Propristis Schweinfurthi_—35, 51, 70.
_Psephophorus eocænus_—35, 70.
_Pseudodon_—58, 60.
_Pterodon_—10.
_Pterodon africanus_—34, 59, 70.
_Pterodon macrognathus_—34, 70.
_Pterosphenus_—10.
_Pterosphenus Schweinfurthi_—35, 50-51, 70.
Ptolemaic lake—84.
Ptolemaic period—82.
Ptolemy Philadelphus—84.
Ptolemy the second—84.
Puddingstone of ancient rivers—26, 67.
Pyramid-like building—74.
Pyramid pebbles—56.
Q
Qalamsha, Ezba—23, 25-26, 41-42, 77.
Qasr el Banat—84.
Qasr el Qurûn—84.
Qasr el Sagha—9, 31-32, 43, 49, 52, 56-58, 60-61.
Qasr el Sagha Series—27, 32-33, 35, 38, 41, 44-57, 64-66, 75, 77.
Qatrani, Jebel El—28, 55, 61, 75.
Qatrani beds—34, 53-70.
_Qerunia_—38.
_Qerunia cornuta_—35, 45-46, 48, 51-52.
Quartz pebbles—20, 50, 56, 62-63, 73, 75.
Quartz sand—55.
Quartzite—62, 73-75.
R
Radiation of Mammalia from Africa—69.
Railway to Fayûm—40.
Raised beaches—34, 41.
Ratite bird—87.
Ravine Beds—23, 25, 29-30, 35, 37-42, 46, 77.
Ravines—12, 19, 29, 37, 39-40.
Rayan, Jebel—36-37.
Rayan, Geology of Wadi—22-23.
Rayan, Little—22.
Rayan Series—24, 25, 30, 33, 35-39, 41.
Rayan, Wadi—9, 11, 14-24, 27-28, 31, 85, 87-89.
Rays—70.
Recent Beds—34, 81-85.
Reclamation of Fayûm lake—82-84.
Reconnection of Nile Valley and Fayûm—80.
Reeds—20.
Regulator of floods, Fayûm as—82.
Reinach, Von—59, 88.
Reptiles, Fossil—70.
Reservoir at Assuan—88.
Reservoir proposed in Wadi Rayan—16-19.
Retreat of Eocene sea—54, 55, 66.
_Rhinoceros bicornis_—69.
Ridge separating Nile Valley and Fayûm—25-26, 71, 73-74, 79-80.
Ridge separating Rayan and Gharaq—23.
_Rimella rimosa_—35, 51.
Ripple-marked sandstone—51.
Rise of Nile bed—80.
River, Ancient—27, 52-55, 66-67, 79.
River-currents—65, 71, 78.
River-sand—55.
Roads in desert—27.
Rocks forming Libyan Desert—15.
Roda—13, 75, 80.
Rodents, Flying—68-69.
Rohlfs’ Expedition—9, 63.
Rolled fossils—73.
_Rostellaria_—37.
Round-topped hill-ranges—75.
Rubiat—39-42.
Ruins—20-22, 48-50, 52.
Ruminants, Even-toed—68-69.
Rushes—20.
S
_Saghatherium_—10.
_Saghatherium antiquum_—34, 59, 70.
_Saghatherium magnum_—34, 70.
_Saghatherium minus_—34, 59, 70.
Salines—20.
Salinity of lake—14.
Salinity of water in Wadi Rayan—24.
Salt—18, 36, 77, 79.
Salt in Wadis Rayan & Muêla—19, 20, 88.
Samos, Island of—69.
Sands—15, 18, 21, 29, 33-34, 40, 42, 47, 50, 53, 55-59, 61-62, 71, 74-76, 80.
Sand accumulations, Wind-blown—12, 20-21, 32, 34, 73, 84-85.
Sand, &c., deposited in Birket el Qurûn—13, 80, 84.
Sandberger Hills—62.
Sandblast action—73.
Sand-rock—44, 50-51, 56-60, 62, 74.
Sands, Variegated—34, 53, 57, 59.
Sandstones—15, 28, 32-36, 38-39, 42-63, 72, 74-77.
Sandstone, Concretionary—35, 38.
Sandstone-grit—56, 58, 62-63.
Sandstones, Mottled—62.
Sandstones, Variegated—76.
Sandy clays—12, 18, 36-37, 42, 44, 46, 50-52, 56-59, 62.
Sandy conglomerate—18.
Sandy limestones—25, 35-36, 38-39, 42, 49-52.
Sandy marl—37, 42, 62.
Sandy shale—42.
Saqâra, Pyramid of—28.
Saws, Flint—61.
Scalenohedra of calcite—51.
_Schizaster_—36.
_Schizaster_ aff. _africanus_—52.
Schweinfurth, Dr.—9, 14, 19, 24, 34-37, 43-44, 49, 64, 71-72, 77-80, 88.
Schweinfurth’s Temple—49.
Scoring due to blown sand—85.
Scott Moncrieff, Sir C.—88.
Sculpturing of sandstone—85.
_Scutella_ beds—64.
Second Cataract—81.
Sections, Geological—36-42, 44-47, 50-52, 56, 58-62.
Sediment deposited in Fayûm—26, 54.
Sêla—9, 26, 39-40, 73.
Septaria—46.
_Serpula_—46.
Sersena—25, 42, 75.
Shales—36, 42, 48.
Shaly Clays—44, 47, 62, 77.
Shaly marl—39-41, 44.
Sharks—39.
Sharks’ teeth—46, 51.
Sheep remains—80.
Shell-borings—72.
Shell-impressions—39-40, 42, 44, 50.
Shelly limestone—38-39, 46, 51-52.
Shelly sands—36.
Shelly sandstone—46, 51.
Sherwin, R. S.—78.
Shore-line, Ancient—77.
Shore-line, Movements of—65.
Shrinkage of Birket el Qurûn—13.
Sidmant el Jebel—17, 34, 71, 77.
Siliceous bands, Horns of Birket el Qurûn due to—41.
Siliceous beds capping hills—61.
Siliceous limestone—37, 41.
Silicified grits—27, 62, 67.
Silicified sandstones—32, 57.
Silicified trees—27, 34, 51, 53, 55-59, 61, 63, 65, 73-75.
Silicified trees, Size of—53, 63.
Silsila—81.
Siluroid fish—35, 51, 70, 80.
Sirenia—51.
Sites, Excavated—84.
Skeleton-carrying currents—53.
Soil, Character of—11-12, 88.
Soil survey—9.
_Solarium_—51.
_Solarium_ aff. _bistriatum_—51.
South Africa as centre of evolution—69.
South America, Migrations to—69.
_Spatha_—53, 58, 60, 81.
_Spatha dahomeyensis_—60.
_Spatha Droueti_—60.
_Spondylus ægyptiacus_—52, 89.
_Spondylus perhorridus_—89.
_Spondylus Ruaulti_—89.
Springs in Wadi Muêla—20.
Springs of Wadi Rayan—22.
Stem-weathering in sandstone—56.
Step-faults—31.
_Stereogenys Cromeri_—35, 51, 70.
_Stereogenys libyca_—70.
_Stereogenys podocnemioides_—35, 70.
Stock-work—50.
Stone Age, Neolithic—82.
Strabo—13, 82.
Strata, Classification of—34.
Strike faults—32.
Stromer von Reichenbach, E.—44, 59, 69, 88.
Strontium sulphate pseudomorphs—48.
Subaerial denudation—39.
Sub-fossil fauna of Fayûm—81.
Successive faunal invasions, Theory of—68.
Sulphate of lime—78.
Sulphate of strontium pseudomorphs—48.
Survey collections—59.
Surveying operations—9.
Surveying by Colonel Western—17.
T
Table-land of cultivated area—11.
Tafla beds—39.
Tamarisk growth—22, 25, 72, 82.
Tamia—12-13, 15, 25, 27-28, 31, 40, 42, 49-50, 55-56, 72, 75.
Tamia lake—40.
Tectonics—16, 29-32.
_Tellina_—40, 42, 51.
_Tellina pellucida_—43.
_Tellina scalaroides_—35.
_Tellina tenuistriata_—35, 39.
Temperature changes in desert—73.
Temperature effects on pebbles—56.
Temperature of springs in Wadi Rayan—22.
Temple of Qasr el Sagha—49, 56.
_Terebellum sopitum_—36.
_Teredo_—39, 47.
_Testudo Ammon_—10, 34, 59, 70.
_Thallassochelys libyca_—35, 70.
Theadelphia—84.
Thickness of beds in section—37-29, 42, 45-46, 49-52, 56-60, 65, 76-77.
Thickness of sediments in Fayûm—15.
Thinning of Fluvio-marine series—55.
_Tomistoma_—70.
_Tomistoma africanum_—35, 51, 59, 70.
Tongrian beds—13, 64, 88.
Toothed whales—39.
Topography and structural geology—11-28.
Tortoises, Large—10, 53-54, 59, 66, 87.
_Trachelochetus bituberculatus_—51.
Tropical shells in Fayûm—60.
Tuba, El—40.
_Tudicla_ aff. _umbilicaris_—51.
Tufaceous gypsum—77.
_Turbo Parkinsoni_—43.
_Turritella_—38-39, 44-53.
_Turritella angulata_—43, 45, 60, 64.
_Turritella carinifera_—35, 38, 43, 51-52.
_Turritella imbricataria_—51-52.
_Turritella Lessepsi_—51.
_Turritella parisiana_—51.
_Turritella pharaonica_—34-35, 45, 51-52, 58.
_Turritella transitoria_—43.
_Turritella turris_—43.
Turtles—53-55, 59, 60.
Twelfth Dynasty—26, 82.
Twigs preserved in clays—53.
U
Um el Atl—84.
Unconformable junctions—39-40, 73, 76.
Underground outlets of Birket el Qurûn—14.
Ungulate, Horned—10.
_Unio_—34, 53, 58-60.
_Unio abyssinicus_—81.
_Unio Bonneaudi_—60.
_Unio Caillaudi_—60.
_Unio Homsensis_—60.
_Unio lithophagus_—60.
_Unio Nyassænsis_—60.
_Unio Schweinfurthi_—81.
_Unio teretiusculus_—60.
Upper Eocene—10, 32-34, 53-70, 76.
Upper Mokattam beds—33.
Upper Nile basin—87.
Ur-Nil—66.
V
_Valvata nilotica_—80, 84.
Vegetation in water-courses—25.
_Velates Schmiedeli_—37.
_Venus_—46.
_Venus plicatella_—35.
_Vermetus_—46.
Vertebrae of _Mœritherium_—52.
Vertebrae of _Zeuglodon_—45, 47, 50.
Vertebrate fauna, Discovery of—9.
Vertebrates, Extinct—10, 34-35, 43, 49, 51-52, 55, 61, 63, 65, 67, 70, 87.
_Voluta_—46.
_Voluta arabica_—35.
_Vulsella chamiformis_—37, 89.
_Vulsella crispata_—89.
_Vulsella lignaria_—89.
_Vulsella moëlehensis_—89.
W
Wadi, Ravine of El—29-30, 37, 39.
Wadi Rayan, Muêla, etc. (see under Rayan, Muêla).
Wadi Rayan series—35-37.
Warshat el Melh—20.
Water analyses—22.
Water-courses—25.
Water-rounded pebbles—56, 72.
Water-supply of Fayûm—11, 88.
Weathering—57.
Wells—21.
Western, Colonel—16-18, 22, 87.
Whales, Frequency of river and shore-frequenting—53.
Whales, Toothed—39.
Whitehouse, Cope—88.
White Nile fauna, Absence of—81.
Widan el Faras—28, 55, 58, 60, 62, 75-76.
Willcocks, Sir William—13-14, 17-19, 80-88.
Wind-shadow—84.
X
Xiphodonts—29.
Z
_Zeuglodon_—9, 39, 44, 49, 52, 87-88.
_Zeuglodon brachyspondylus_—44.
_Zeuglodon Isis_—35, 44-45, 47, 70.
_Zeuglodon macrospondylus_—44.
_Zeuglodon Osiris_—35, 44, 47, 49-51, 70.
_Zeuglodon Zitteli_—44, 70.
Zeuglodon Valley—41, 46-49, 61, 63, 85.
Zittel, Prof. K.—43, 49, 62, 89.
* * * * *
[Illustration: PL. XVII.
GEOLOGICAL MAP OF THE FAYUM DEPRESSION
_Survey Dept. Cairo._]
[Illustration: PL. XVIII.
MAP SHOWING PRINCIPAL BONE-BEARING LOCALITIES
_Survey Dept. Cairo._]
[Illustration: Plate XIX.
SECTION FROM THE BIRKET EL QURÛN THROUGH DIMÊ AND QASR EL SAGHA TO THE SUMMIT OF JEBEL EL QATRANI.]
[Illustration: Plate XX.
SECTION FROM WADI RAYAN TO THE SUMMIT OF THE ESCARPMENT NORTH OF GAR EL GEHANNEM.]
[Illustration: Plate XXI.
SECTION OF THE DESERT RIDGE SEPARATING THE NILE VALLEY AND THE FAYÛM.]
[Illustration: Plate XXII.
SECTION FROM SIDMANT EL JEBEL IN THE NILE VALLEY THROUGH MEDINET EL FAYÛM TO THE SUMMIT OF JEBEL EL QATRANI, NEAR WIDAN EL FARAS.]
[Illustration: Plate XXIII.
MIDDLE EOCENE ESCARPMENT NEAR QASR EL SAGHA.]
[Illustration: Plate XXIV.
FROM GARAT EL ESH TO THE SUMMIT OF JEBEL EL QATRANI.]
Transcriber's note:
pg 4 Changed: "Homotoxial with quarried" to: "Homotaxial"
pg 6 Changed: "M.—_Gyseous Deposits_" to: "_Gypseous_"
pg 30 Absent references to footnotes 30 and 31 added after "an accompanying map" and "plateau north of the lake." respectively.
pg 31, footnote 32 Changed: "Bd. XXX I 1902" to: "Bd. XXXII 1902"
pg 34, footnote 34 Changed: "III, Das Miocân,”" to: "III, “Das Miocän,”"
pg 58 Changed: "_Potamides tristiatus_" to: "_tristriatus_"
pg 66, footnote 82 Some missing text has been indicated as [Blank].
pg 69, footnote 84 Changed: "für Saügetiere" to: "Säugetiere"
pg 79 Changed: "matter or considerable doubt" to: "of"
pg 80 Changed: "with little resistence" to: "resistance"
pg 87 Changed: "_Eocene beds of the Fayûm, Egypi_" to: "_Egypt_"
pg 88 Changed: "_Versteinerungen der tertiāren_" to: "tertiären"
pg 88 Changed: "_für Saugetiere_" to: "_Säugetiere_"
pg 88 Changed: "_der Libyschen Wūste_" to: "_Wüste_"
pg 89 Changed: "Nacula Mœridis" to: "Nucula"
pg 91 Changed: "_Arca tethyis_—52-90." to: "52, 90."
pg 97 Changed: "Muêla, Wadi— [. . .] 21-21," to: "20-21,"
pg 97 Changed: "_Mytilus affinus_" to: "_affinis_"
pg 98 Changed: "Perrenial irrigation" to: "Perennial"
pg 98 Changed: "_Plonorbis subangulata_" to: "_Planorbis_"
pg 98 Changed: "_Pectunculus pseudopulvinatus_—" to: "_Pectunculus pseudopulvinatus_—35."
pg 99 Changed: "Rohlfs’ Expedition—9-63." to: "9, 63."
pg 100 Changed: "Thickness of beds in section—37-29" to: "37-39"
Minor changes in punctuation have been done silently.
Typographical errors changing æ for œ and vice versa have been fixed silently.
Placenames commonly spelled with diacritics (Fayûm, Qurûn, Lahûn, etc.) were also accented elsewhere except illustration captions, headers and titles of cited works.
Other spelling inconsistencies have been left unchanged.