James Neilson

XIV. Geological Notes on the Cuttings in the City of Glasgow Union Railway between Bellgrove and Springburn

The branch line connecting the College and Sighthill Stations of the North British Railway, was made principally to relieve the Queen Street terminus—long inadequate for the purpose—from the ever-increasing goods traffic. Although only about one mile and a half in length, its cost has been great, as besides heavy cuttings, with much building in and tunnelling, the Monkland Canal had to be diverted, and a new bed half a mile in length constructed. Minerals have been long and extensively worked in the district. I remember a deserted coal pit and a sandstone quarry where the Camlachie goods station now stands, while another pit was till lately visible near the Cumbernauld Road, about 100 yards north of Duke Street. Craigpark whinstone quarry and Blochairn sand quarry are still being worked. Although, owing to the thick overlying deposits of clay, the locality has been so barren to the geologist as not to have been mentioned in the Transactions of the Society except in one instance, and then only to state that nothing of interest was to be seen, yet I do not know any place, where, within the space of a mile, there can be seen more interesting geological features,—igneous and stratified rocks, boulder clay, and other glacial deposits, besides numerous fossil remains. Unfortunately a number of the sections have been built up, but of those hereafter described, parts at Burnbank, Blochairn, and Garngad Road are still visible. The first section worthy of note is one seen immediately after leaving the main

XXXVI. Notes on a Section seen in a Drain on the Lands of Davieland, near Thornliebank

The drain in question runs parallel to the road which leads from the west end of Thornliebank to Clarkston, and about 50 yards south of the same. It was pointed out to us during an excursion of the Glasgow Geological Society in November, 1903. The specimens referred to were taken from a point about 200 yards east of the boundary of the Rouken Glen Park. Unfortunately it was dusk ere we arrived, and we could only secure a few specimens. I made another trip a few days later, only to find that the drain was being filled up, and, what between the slush and the men working in the hole, I was unable to get the proper section or to secure enough specimens to piece together what I consider one of the most interesting bits of local history that has turned up of late years. The best section I saw was something like the following: — Most of our Marine Limestones have a bed of coal lying at a short distance underneath, and the Arden is no exception to this rule, although it was not seen in this section. The Arden Limestone has been extensively wrought in this district for many years, but as the work ceases at the bottom of the Limestone I have never before seen these shales exposed. Our late respected Vice-President, John Young, LL.D., however, recorded the finding of these shales in a drain at Arden Old Limestone Quarry, about a mile west from here. This This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract

XXXII. Notes on the Geology and Archæology of Syria and Palestine

Travelling from Cairo in Egypt, via Port Said, the author landed in Beyrout. Of the mountains of Lebanon he remarked that, although they reached an altitude of nearly 10,000 feet, they were new, compared with our own Grampians, or even the Stirlingshire or Renfrewshire Hills, some of their rocks containing fossil fish of Tertiary age. He had been deeply impressed by the beauty and magnitude of the ruins of Baalbec, and the carving was magnificent. Some of the stones in the Temple buildings were so large that the question arose as to the appliances used for getting them into position. Three, known as “trilithons,” are supposed to be the largest stones ever used for building purposes, their weight being computed at 770 tons each. They are built into one of the walls, and their bases are over 20 feet above the ground. One still larger, but never removed from the quarry, about half a mile distant, is said by Baedeker to weigh about 1500 tons, but the author thought 900 would be nearer the reality. From this to Damascus, through Anti-Lebanon, the railway passes along several deep, narrow gorges, where great contortions and faultings in the light-coloured, thin-bedded limestones were noticed. Taking steamer from Beyrout, a call was made at Saida (the ancient Sidon), apparently a prosperous little place, while Tyre (passed in the night) seemed much less thriving. Landing at Haifa, at the foot of Mount Carmel a great ridge of Cretaceous limestone, about 1700 feet high, which from This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract

XXVII. Notes on a Recent Trip to Egypt

At the outset the author described in some detail the geographical aspect of the country. He then mentioned the temples and monuments which he had visited, particularly noting the rock-materials of which they were composed. Some of these buildings were entirely of alabaster, formed as a secondary deposit in the caverns which had been hollowed in the Tertiary limestone, while others were composed of the limestone or the granite of Assouan, or of the Nubian sandstone. He then gave an account of various geological phenomena observed by him. One group of beds on the opposite side of the Nile from Assouan seemed to be identical lithologically with our own Carboniferous rooks, with the Arran section of which they might be compared on account of the way in which they had been altered by the neighbouring granite. The general similarity was heightened by the occurrence of beds of ironstone and carbonaceous deposits, contained charred plant-remains. Another highly interesting section showed an intrusive boss of quartz surrounded by mica-schist. The occurrence of a large number of blocks of the petrified wood of an exogenous tree in the loose sand overlying the nummulitic limestone near Cairo was also described, while overlying the petrified forest was a bed of sand containing numerous beautifully-rounded water-worn pebbles, mostly of quartz. It was not easy to account for the origin of these pebbles, as the nearest rocks containing quartz, which Mr. Neilson had seen, lay something like 600 miles further south. On the surface of the desert This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract

XXVIII.—On the Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous Rocks of the North End of the Island of Arran

If there is one canon in gsology more firmly established than another, it is that fossils indicate a certain definite time in the earths history, that the various species which they represent appeared, lived, and died out at certain definite times, and that, therefore, fossil evidence has come to be considered the most trustworthy of all evidence as an index to the age and succession of the various rock-formations. In fact, that, as Dr. Mantell put it, fossils are the “Medals of Creation.” Associated with this there is another belief, viz., that the various formations succeeded each other in a certain distinct order, one at a time; that each formation was newer than that below, and older than that overlying it, but was contemporaneous with neither. With these beliefs, it appears, however, that Sir Archibald Geikie does not agree, at least, judging from the third edition of his “Text Book of Geology,” 1893, according to which fossils cannot be depended on as indications of the age of rocks, as they may be found in formations to which they do not really belong; and that the difference between two formations may be geographical rather than geological, as two entirely separate formations may have been formed contemporaneously in different, though possibly neighbouring, geographical areas. Thus, at page 665, it is stated that in Bohemia and Russia some of the most characteristic Upper Silurian organisms are found beneath strata full of Lower Silurian life forms. At page 760, when speaking of the close This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract

VIII. On the Calderwood Limestone and Cementstone, with their Associated Shales

The strata to which I wish now to direct your attention are the Limestone and Cementstone, which have been so extensively worked in the neighbourhood of East Kilbride, and which are generally known as the Calderwood Limestones. It is no part of the proposed scope of the present paper to give a particular account either of their geological position, the area over which they are spread, or of their fossil contents. All these subjects have already been treated of more or less exhaustively by many authors in many papers, prominent amongst them being the Rev. David Ure in his “History of Rutherglen and East Kilbride.” Bearing the date of 1793, the present year is the centenary of its publication, and as the author may be regarded as the father of Scottish Carboniferous geology and paleontology, it is to be hoped that such an opportunity will not be allowed to pass without any attempt to honour his memory.* These strata have also been treated of in various papers read before this Society, and printed in its Transactions, including, among others, A Catalogue of Carboniferous Fossils of the West of Scotland, by Messrs. Young and Armstrong,‡ where short descriptions of the localities are given, and the general character of their fossils is indicated. The most important paper upon the district, however, is the one by our respected corresponding member, the late Mr. Andrew Patton, which was accompanied by an admirable list of fossils drawn up by our esteemed member, the late Mr. This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract

XXVII. Notes on Scottish Brachiopoda

The subject of Carboniferous Brachiopoda has lately been of very special interest to a number of the members of this Society, from the fact that Dr. Thomas Davidson, of Brighton, has been revising his great work on the group, published by the Palæontographical Society, and is now engaged in preparing a supplement, with figures of all recent discoveries [since published, 1881]. There has therefore been a general searching for new points, and, amongst others, I have been in correspondence with Dr. Davidson regarding various matters, some of which, being quite new, I thought would be of interest to the members, more especially as, during the coming summer, there might be an opportunity of elucidating various questions not yet cleared up. Amongst the specimens I have brought for exhibition this evening you will find representatives of nearly all the species of Brachiopoda hitherto found in Scotland, there being only seven or eight not in the collection; but I need not now speak of more than the new or rarer forms. In the first place, I may direct your attention to a remarkable series of minute Brachiopods from weathered limestone at Dockra, near Beith, and which I had the good fortune to discover some six years ago. The decomposed rock is found, after washing, to abound with examples of various minute species, many of them being no larger than the dot of an i in the present type. Some of them have been hitherto regarded as very rare, while one species and This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract

XXV. On Some Sections of Carboniferous Limestone near Busby

These sections are situated about seven miles south of Glasgow, a little to the north-east of the Eaglesham Road Station, on the Busby and East Kilbride Railway, and at a height of from five to six hundred feet above the level of the sea. At this place we are near the south-western edge of the Lanarkshire coalfield, and a good idea may be formed of its transverse extent by ascending any of the hills in the district; as, for instance, that to the east of Thornton farm-house. In the distance to the west we descry the Bowling hills and the range of mountains from Ben Voirlich to Ben Ledi, while on the north the Clyde basin is bounded by the trap hills of Campsie and Kilsyth. A corresponding range of trap hills runs behind us on the south. The strata here dip under all the intermediate strata and reappear near the base of the Campsie hills, as we shall afterwards have occasion to notice. Between these points the strata are overlaid by part of the lower limestones, the middle ironstones, and the upper limestones, as well as by strata corresponding to the millstone grit, and the whole, or nearly the whole, of the upper coal measures. The surface of the ground is of an undulating character, rising gradually towards the south. The sections to be described occur at four quarries, viz.,—Thornton, Thornton Hall, Braehead, and Phillipshill—the first being on the southern, the second on the western, and the third and This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract