Malta, an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, was fortified as a base for the Knights Hospitaller 1530–1798 and to provide major harbours for the British Royal Navy after 1813. Men with British military associations (all subsequently to attain some distinction in public and/or academic life) were amongst the many pioneers of Maltese geology who established the essence of its outcrop stratigraphy and structure: a circa 300-metre-thick sequence of near-horizontal mid-Cenozoic fossiliferous limestones punctuated by a ‘blue clay/marl’, cut by a series of major faults and penetrated by several caves and fissures whose infill contained significant remains of Pleistocene vertebrates. Between 1843 and 1856, Lieutenant (later Vice-Admiral) Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt (1811–1888) defined major units in the bedrock sequence, Colonel (later Major-General) Sir William Reid (1791–1858) promoted publication of a geological memoir, and a 1:31,680-scale geological map prepared by the 3rd Earl of Ducie on a Royal Engineers topographical base map was published under Royal Engineer auspices. Mostly between 1860 and 1866, Captain (later Professor) Frederick Wollaston Hutton (1836–1905) and Surgeon (later Deputy Surgeon-General and Professor) Andrew Leith Adams (1827–1882) made field observations that refined earlier interpretations of stratigraphy and structure and generated revised but small-scale maps. They also collected specimens that facilitated specialist identifications of Malta’s fossil faunas, including foraminifera by Thomas Rupert Jones (1819–1911), Professor of Geology at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Rock specimens were sent in 1888 by Surgeon-Captain David (later Surgeon-General Sir David) Bruce (1855–1931) and the former engineer Lieutenant (and later Professor) Osbert Chadwick (1844–1913) to the pioneer oceanographer John (later Sir John) Murray (1841–1914). They stimulated Murray’s benchmark study 1889–1890 of Malta’s sedimentary sequence and fossil foraminifera, and their palaeoenvironmental interpretation, plus his compilation of a 1:129,254-scale geological map. These prompted extensive local studies and collection of macrofossil specimens by schoolmaster (later Lieutenant-Colonel) John Henry Cooke (1862–1933). By the end of the century, representative Maltese fossils had been presented for specialist study and identification or description to major museums in England, Scotland and Italy, facilitating improved correlation of Maltese strata with Oligo-Miocene successions elsewhere.

中文翻译：

---

英国军事对马耳他地质的贡献，第 1 部分：19 世纪基金会

马耳他是地中海中部的一个岛屿，1530-1798 年被强化为医院骑士团的基地，并在 1813 年之后为英国皇家海军提供主要港口。有英国军事协会的人（后来都在公共场合和/ 或学术生活）是马耳他地质学的众多先驱之一，他们确立了其露头地层学和结构的本质：大约 300 米厚的近水平中新生代化石石灰岩序列，其间点缀着“蓝色粘土/泥灰岩” ，被一系列主要断层切割并被几个洞穴和裂缝穿透，这些洞穴和裂缝的填充物含有大量更新世脊椎动物的遗骸。1843 年至 1856 年间，中尉（后来的海军中将）Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt（1811-1888）定义了基岩序列中的主要单元，上校（后来的少将）威廉·里德爵士（1791-1858 年）推动出版了一本地质回忆录，由第三代杜西伯爵在皇家工程师地形底图上绘制的 1:31,680 比例的地质图由皇家工程师出版主持。主要在 1860 年至 1866 年间，船长（后来的教授）弗雷德里克·沃拉斯顿·赫顿（Frederick Wollaston Hutton，1836-1905）和外科医生（后来的副外科医生兼教授）安德鲁·利斯·亚当斯（Andrew Leith Adams，1827-1882）进行了实地观察，完善了对地层学和结构的早期解释，生成修改后的小比例地图。他们还收集了有助于专家鉴定马耳他化石动物群的标本，包括桑赫斯特皇家军事学院地质学教授托马斯·鲁珀特·琼斯（Thomas Rupert Jones，1819-1911 年）的有孔虫。1888 年，外科医生大卫上尉（后来的外科医生大卫爵士）布鲁斯（1855-1931）和前工程师中尉（后来的教授）奥斯伯特查德威克（1844-1913）将岩石标本送到了先驱海洋学家约翰（后来的爵士约翰）默里（1841-1914）。他们激发了 Murray 在 1889-1890 年对马耳他沉积序列和有孔虫化石的基准研究，以及它们的古环境解释，以及他对 1:129,254 比例尺地质图的汇编。这些促使校长（后来的中校）约翰·亨利·库克（John Henry Cooke，1862-1933 年）进行了广泛的当地研究和大型化石标本的收集。到本世纪末，具有代表性的马耳他化石已被提交给英格兰、苏格兰和意大利的主要博物馆进行专业研究和鉴定或描述，