nummulitic formation

Geol.: A formation of Middle and Upper Eocene age, only a very few extending upward into the Oligocene or downward into the Lower Eocene. There are distinct species of nummulites in the several portions of the formation, Nummulites variolar i us being found in its upper, N. lævigatus in its middle, and N. planulatus in its lower part. As nummulites, whose remains were originally deposited at the bottom of the beds of the ocean, are now 10,000 feet high in the Alps, and 16,500 in Western Thibet, it is evident that these regions must have been upheaved to their present elevation since the deposition of the nummulites in Eocene times. nummulitic-limestone, s. Geol.: A limestone studded with nummulites, occurring in the Pyrenees, Alps, Car path i ans, and Balkans; in the Crimea, Morocco, Algiers, Egypt (where it was largely quarried in very ancient times for the building of the Pyramids), on the Turkish frontier near Bagdad, Persia, Afghanistan, Eastern Bengal, and on the frontiers of China. Scinde is especially a nummulitic region. More than any other Tertiary rock it enters into the framework of the globe in Europe, Asia, and North Africa.