Muschelkalk

Muschelkalk ("sbellylimestone"),the German name for the middle member of the Trias (q.v.), as developed in Germany, France, and Poland. It is a. grey or cream-coloured limestone, sometimes magnesian, with beds of rock-salt and gypsum, and numerous fossils, among which the most characteristic are the ammonitid Ceratites nodosus and the crinoid Encrinus UUaformis, "the lily encrinite." The bivalve crustacean Estheria minuta and the pelecypod Gervillia socialis are also abundant. In France the series is known as calcaire coquillier. There are no similar beds in England.