CHAPTER XVI.

THE JURASSIC PERIOD.

Resting upon the Trias, with perfect conformity, and with an almost undeterminable junction, we have the great series of deposits which are known as the Oolitic Rocks, from the common occurrence in them of oolitic limestones, or as the Jurassic Rocks, from their being largely developed in the mountainrange of the Jura, on the western borders of Switzerland. Sediments of this series occupy extensive areas in Great Britain, on the continent of Europe, and in India. In North America, limestones and marls of this age have been detected in "the Black Hills, the Laramie range, and other eastern ridges of the Rocky Mountains; also over the Pacific slope, in the Uintah, Wahsatch, and Humboldt Mountains, and in the Sierra Nevada" (Dana); but in these regions their extent is still unknown, and their precise subdivisions have not been determined. Strata belonging to the Jurassic period are also known to occur in South America, in Australia, and in the Arctic zone. When fully developed, the Jurassic series is capable of subdivision into a number of minor groups, of which some are clearly distinguished by their mineral characters, whilst others are separated with equal certainty by the differences of the fossils that they contain. It will be sufficient for our present purpose, without entering into the more minute subdivisions of the series, to give here a very brief and general account of the main sub-groups of the Jurassic rocks, as developed in Britain the arrangement of the Jura-formation of the continent of Europe agreeing in the main with that of England.

I. THE LIAS.-The base of the Jurassic series of Britain is formed by the great calcareo - argillaceous deposit of the "Lias," which usually rests conformably and almost inseparably upon the Rhætic beds (the so-called "White Lias "), and passes up, generally conformably, into the calcareous sandstones of the Inferior Oolite. The Lias is divisible into the three principal groups of the Lower, Middle, and Upper Lias, as under, and these in turn contain many well-marked "zones;" so that the Lias has some claims to be considered as an independent formation, equivalent to all the remaining Oolitic rocks. The Lower Lias (Terrain Sinemurien of D'Orbigny) sometimes attains a thickness of as much as 600 feet, and consists of a great series of bluish or greyish laminated clays,

alternating with thin bands of blue or grey limestone-the whole, when seen in quarries or cliffs from a little distance, assuming a characteristically striped and banded appearance. By means of particular species of Ammonites, taken along with other fossils which are confined to particular zones, the Lower Lias may be subdivided into several well-marked horizons. The Middle Lias, or Marlstone Series (Terrain Liasien of D'Orbigny), may reach a thickness of 200 feet, and consists of sands, arenaceous marls, and argillaceous limestones, sometimes with ferruginous beds. The Upper Lias (Terrain Toarcien of D'Orbigny) attains a thickness of 300 feet, and consists principally of shales below, passing upwards into arenaceous strata.

II. THE LOWER OOLITES.-Above the Lias comes a complex series of partly arenaceous and argillaceous, but principally calcareous strata, of which the following are the more important groups: a, The Inferior Oolite (Terrain Bajocien of D'Orbigny), consisting of more than 200 feet of oolitic limestones, sometimes more or less sandy; b, The Fuller's Earth, a series of shales, clays, and marls, about 120 feet in thickness; c, The Great Oolite or Bath Oolite (Terrain Bathonien of D'Orbigny), consisting principally of oolitic limestones, and attaining a thickness of about 130 feet. The wellknown "Stonesfield Slates" belong to this horizon; and the locally developed "Bradford Clay," "Cornbrash," and "Forest-marble" may be regarded as constituting the summit of this group.

III. THE MIDdle Oolites.-The central portion of the Jurassic series of Britain is formed by a great argillaceous deposit, capped by calcareous strata, as follows: a, The Oxford Clay (Terrain Callovien and Terrain Oxfordien of D'Orbigny), consisting of dark-coloured laminated clays, sometimes reaching a thickness of 700 feet, and in places having its lower portion developed into a hard calcareous sandstone ("Kelloway Rock"); b, The Coral-Rag (Terrain Corallien of D'Orbigny, "Nerinean Limestone" of the Jura, "Diceras Limestone" of the Alps), consisting, when typically developed, of a central mass of oolitic limestone, underlaid and surmounted by calcareous grits.

IV. THE UPPER OOLITES.-a, The base of the Upper Oolites of Britain is constituted by a great thickness (600 feet or more) of laminated, sometimes carbonaceous or bituminous clays, which are known as the Kimmeridge Clay (Terrain Kimméridgien of D'Orbigny); b, The Portland Beds (Terrain Portlandien of D'Orbigny) succeed the Kimmeridge clay, and consist inferiorly of sandy beds surmounted by oolitic limestones

("Portland Stone"), the whole series attaining a thickness of 150 feet or more, and containing marine fossils; c, The Purbeck Beds are apparently peculiar to Great Britain, where they form the summit of the entire Oolitic series, attaining a total thickness of from 150 to 200 feet. The Purbeck beds consist of arenaceous, argillaceous, and calcareous strata, which can be shown by their fossils to consist of a most remarkable alternation of fresh-water, brackish-water, and purely marine sediments, together with old land-surfaces, or vegetable soils, which contain the upright stems of trees, and are locally known as "Dirt-beds."

One of the most important of the Jurassic deposits of the continent of Europe, which is believed to be on the horizon of the Coral-rag or of the lower part of the Upper Oolites, is the "Solenhofen Slate" of Bavaria, an exceedingly fine-grained limestone, which is largely used in lithography, and is celebrated for the number and beauty of its organic remains, and especially for those of Vertebrate animals.

The subjoined sketch-section (fig. 159) exhibits in a diagrammatic form the general succession of the Jurassic rocks of Britain.

Regarded as a whole, the Jurassic formation is essentially marine; and though remains of drifted plants, and of insects and other air-breathing animals, are not uncommon, the fossils of the formation are in the main marine. In the Purbeck series of Britain, anticipatory of the great river-deposit of the Wealden, there are fresh-water, brackish-water, and even terrestrial strata, indicating that the floor of the Oolitic ocean was undergoing upheaval, and that the marine conditions which had formerly prevailed were nearly at an end. In places also, as in Yorkshire and Sutherlandshire, are found actual beds of coal but the great bulk of the formation is an indubitable sea-deposit; and its limestones, oolitic as they commonly are, nevertheless are composed largely of the comminuted skeletons of marine animals. Owing to the enormous number and variety of the organic remains which have been yielded by the richly fossiliferous strata of the Oolitic series, it will not be possible here to do more than to give an outlinesketch of the principal forms of life which characterise the Jurassic period as a whole. It is to be remembered, however, that every minor group of the Jurassic formation has its own peculiar fossils, and that by the labours of such eminent observers as Quenstedt, Oppel, D'Orbigny, Wright, De la Beche, Tate, and others, the entire series of Jurassic sediments admits of a more complete and more elaborate subdivision into zones

LOWER OOLITES.

MIDDLE OOLITES.

UPPER OOLITES.

characterised by special life-forms than has as yet been found practicable in the case of any other rock-series.

.

LIAS.

{Middle Lias (Marlstone

Rhætic Marls ("White
Lias").

The plants of the Jurassic period consist principally of Ferns, Cycads, and Conifers-agreeing in this respect, there

fore, with those of the preceding Triassic formation. The Ferns are very abundant, and belong partly to old and partly to new genera. The Cycads are also very abundant, and, on the whole, constitute the most marked feature of the Jurassic vegetation, many genera of this group being known (Pterophyllum, Otozamites, Zamites, Crossozamia, Williamsonia, Bucklandia, &c.) The so-called "dirt-bed" of the Purbeck series consists of an ancien soil, in which stand erect the trunks of Conifers and the silicified stools of Cycads of the genus Mantellia (fig. 160). The Conifera of the Jurassic are represented by

various forms more or less nearly allied to the existing Araucaria; and these are known not only by their stems or branches, but also in some cases by their cones. We meet, also, with the remains of undoubted Endogenous plants, the most important of which are the fruits of forms allied to the existing Screw-pines (Pandanea), such as Podocarya and Kaidacarpum. So far, however, no remains of Palms have been found; nor are we acquainted with any Jurassic plants which could be certainly referred to the great "Angiospermous group of the Exogens, including the majority of our ordinary plants and trees.

Amongst animals, the Protozoans are well represented in the Jurassic deposits by numerous Foraminifers and Sponges; as are the Calenterates by numerous Corals. Remains of these last-mentioned organisms are extremely abundant in some of the limestones of the formation, such as the Coral-rag" and the Great Oolite; and the former of these may fairly be considered as an ancient "reef." The Rugose Corals have not hitherto been detected in the Jurassic rocks; and the "Tabulate Corals," so-called, are represented only by examples of the modern genus Millepora. With this excep