heterophyllus, now
inhabiting the north of China and Japan. This conifer had a wide range in time,
having been traced back to the Lower Miocene strata of Switzerland, and being
common at Oeningen in the Upper Miocene, as we shall see in the sequel (Chapter
14.)
OLDER PLIOCENE OF ITALY.-- SUBAPENNINE STRATA.
The Apennines, it is well-known, are composed chiefly of Secondary or Mesozoic
rocks, forming a chain which branches off from the Ligurian Alps and passes down
the middle of the Italian peninsula. At the foot of these mountains, on the side
both of the Adriatic and the Mediterranean, are found a series of tertiary
strata, which form, for the most part, a line of low hills occupying the space
between the older chain and the sea. Brocchi was the first Italian geologist who
described this newer group in detail, giving it the name of the Subapennine.
Though chiefly composed of Older Pliocene strata, it belongs, nevertheless, in
part, both to older and newer members of the tertiary series. The strata, for
example, of the Superga, near Turin, are Miocene; those of Asti and Parma Older
Pliocene, as is the blue marl of Sienna; while the shells of the incumbent
yellow sand of the same territory approach more nearly to the recent fauna of
the Mediterranean, and may be Newer Pliocene.
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