((/) Upper Eocene? Calcareous Sandstone of Phil- istia. — This formation is frequently laid open in small sections between Beersheba and Jafl'a, and in the Plain of Philistia. It consists of soft yellowish calcareous sandstone ; but its relations to the Creta- ceous and Nummulite beds are unknown, as the junction has not been observed. The writer has provisionally assigned these strata to the Upper Eocene stage, for reasons which are too much in- volved to be stated at length here. J No fossils were noticed in the sandstone ; and it is onlj' right to observe that Blanckenkorn considers it to be of post-Tertiary or Diluvial origin. Its real age is one of those points remaining to be determined by future exploration.
(A) Miocene Period. — This epoch in the geological history of Palestine is unrepresented by any known strata ; yet it was one of the greatest im- portance as regards the development of the physical features of this region, and, it may be added, of that of the whole basin of the Mediterranean and surrounding districts. The Miocene was the great land-forming epoch, during which the general out- lines of the existing land surfaces were finally determined, and the relative areas of land and sea were constituted as they exist to this day. Down to the close of the preceding Eocene epoch the whole of Palestine, including the Lebanon and the Great Desert east of the Arabah, formed the bed of the ocean, the only emergent portions being the Sinaitic mountain-tops ; all to the northward, eastward, and westward as far as the borders of the Atlas mountains, was overspread by the waters of the ocean. But with the close of the Eocene period a great physical change set in. Owing to contraction and movements in the crust, the sea- bed was elevated into land in the tracts bordering the Great Sea. Mountains, such as the Lebanon, were upraised ; the strata were bent, folded, and fissured ; and amongst the greatest of these fissurea
• ■ Entstehung u. Gesohichte d. Todten Meeres,' 7.DPV(,lS9ff). + Carl Diener, Der Libaium.
} These reasons are stated in the Mem. ' Phj-8. Geol. Arabil Petnea,' p. 64.
GEOLOGY OF PALESTINE
GEOLOGY OF PALESTINE 15!
was (Jiat of the Jordan- Arabah Valley, alone which the tableland of Edom and Moab was elevated into land. In a word, all the main phj-sical features of the rejjion here being passed under review had their lirst inception ; and although they have been somewhat modified during succeed- ing periods, these modilications have not materi- ally altered the main outlines of the land. Kiver channels have been originated and deepened, and the land-surfaces have been somewhat eroded and worn down, but the main features remain as they were at the close of the Miocene period. These terrestrial changes occupied, without doubt, a vast length of geological time.
(i) Plloceiie to Pluvial. — The deposits referable to this period consist of raised beaches on tlie areas bordering the Mediterranean and Red Seas, and the terraces of the Jordan-Arabah Valley ; tliese latter having been already described, our observa- tions here will be conlinej to the old sea-terraces.
After tlie CTeat emergence and elevation of land areas which had taken place during the preceding Miocene jieriod, there appears to have been a subsidence to the extent of at lea.st 220 or 230 ft. around the shores of the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The escarpments bordering the Delta of the Nile, and those of the Tih and Western Pales- tine, again became sea-clifl's, with beaches at their base, while the waters of the Mediterranean and Red Seas commingled along the Isthmus of Suez. The amount of the submergence, as above stated, is demonstrated in the clearest manner by the occurrence of old sea-beaches both in Egj'pt and Palestine, at or about this level ; of which the most remarkable is that known as ' Fraas' beach,' at Jebel Mokattam, above Cairo, and again at the Great Pyramid platform nearGliizeh. This occurs at a level of 220 ft. above the sea, and is char- acterized by beds of sand and ^Tavel with marine shells, some of which are extinct species, while others are still living in the Red Sea ; the dill's of limestone are also penetrated by numerous borings of Teredo. Similar beds of gravel with shells may be observed on the eastern niarf'in of the Gulf of Suez, as well as in the Arabah Valley up to a level of nearly 200 ft. above the Gulf of 'AVabah. But the most important case is that occurring in the valley of the Sheriah at Tell Abu Ilareireh, east of Gaza, at a level of 200 to 220 ft. above the Mediterranean on both sides of the stream — a level corresponding to that of the raised beach above Cairo. Here the terrace lies in a hollow formed in the 'calcareous sandstone of Philistia,' which is clearly of older date than the shelly gravels of the raised beach : the following ia the section in descending order ; —
ft. in.
1. Loam SO thick.
2. Soft calcareous sandstone in thin layers 10 0 „ 8. Beds of sllells (cliietly costs) . . ' . 0 8 „ 4. Soft ciUcareoiis sandstone, with small
pebbles of Hint and oyster shells . 6 0 „ 6. River-bed; hard calcareous sandstone