While the foraminiferal limestones were being formed over most of southern Europe, a series of clastic beds were in course of formation in the Carpathians and the northern Alpine region, viz. the Flysch and the Vienna sandstone. Some portions of this Alpine Eocene are coarsely conglomeratic, and in places there are boulders of non-local rocks of enormous dimensions included in the argillaceous or sandy matrix. The occurrence of these large boulders together with the scarceness of fossils has suggested a glacial origin for the formation; but the evidence hitherto collected is not conclusive. C.W. von Gümbel has classified the Eocene of the northern Alps (Bavaria, &c.) as follows:—
| Upper Eocene | Flysch and Vienna sandstone, with younger nummulitic beds and Häring group. |
| Middle Eocene | Kressenberg Beds, with older nummulitic beds. |
| Lower Eocene | Burberg Beds, Greensands with small nummulites. |
The Häring group of northern Tirol contains lignite beds of some importance. In the southern and S.E. Alps the following divisions are recognized.
| Upper Eocene | Macigno or Tassello—Vienna Sandstone, conglomerates, marls and shales. |
| Middle Eocene | Nummulitic limestones, three subdivisions. |
| Lower Eocene | Liburnian stage (or Proteocene), foraminiferal limestones with fresh-water intercalations at the top and bottom, the Cosina beds, fresh-water in the middle of the series. |
In the central and northern Apennines the Eocene strata have been subdivided by Prof. F. Sacco into an upper Bartonian, a middle Parisian and a lower Suessonian series. In the middle member are the representatives of the Flysch and the Macigno. These Eocene strata are upwards of 5500 ft. thick. In northern Africa the nummulitic limestones and sandstones are widely spread; the lower portions comprise the Libyan group and the shales of Esneh on the Nile (Flandrien), the Alveolina beds of Sokotra and others; the Mokattam stage of Egypt is a representative of the later Eocene. Much of the N. African Eocene contains phosphatic beds. In India strata of Eocene age are extensively developed; in Sind the marine Ranikot beds, 1500 to 2000 ft., consisting of clays with gypsum and lignite, shales and sandstones; these beds have, side by side with Eocene nummulites, a few fossils of Cretaceous affinities. Above the Ranikot beds are the massive nummulitic limestones and sandstones of the Kirthar group; these are succeeded by the nummulitic limestones and shales at the base of the Nari group. In the southern Himalayan region the nummulitic phase of Eocene deposit is well developed, but there are difficulties in fixing the line of demarcation between this and the younger formations. The lower part of the Sirmur series of the Simla district may belong to this period; it is subdivided into the Kasauli group and the Dagshai group with the Subáthu group at the base. Beneath the thick nummulitic Eocene limestone of the Salt Range are shales and marls with a few coal seams. The marine Eocene rocks of N. America are most extensively developed round the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, whence they spread into the valley of the Mississippi and, as a comparatively narrow strip, along the Atlantic coastal plain to New Jersey.
The series in Alabama, which may be taken as typical of the Gulf coast Eocene, is as follows:—
| Upper Jacksonian | White limestone of Alabama (and Vicksburg?). |
| Middle Claibornian | Claiborne series, Buhrstone series. |
| Lower | Chickasawan Sands and lignites. Midwayan or Clayton formation, limestones. |
The above succession is not fully represented in the Atlantic coast states.
On the Pacific coast marine formations are found in California and Oregon; such are the Tejon series with lignite and oil; the Escondido series of S. California (7000 ft.), part of the Pascadero series of the Santa Cruz Mountains; the Pulaski, Tyee, Arago and Coaledo beds—with coals—in Oregon. In the Puget formation of Washington we have a great series of sediments, largely of brackish water origin, and in parts coal-bearing. The total thickness of this formation has been estimated at 20,000 ft. (it may prove to be less than this), but it is probable that only the lower portion is of Eocene age. The most interesting of the N. American Eocene deposits are those of the Rocky Mountains and the adjacent western plains, in Wyoming, Nevada, Nebraska, Colorado, &c.; they are of terrestrial, lacustrine or aeolian origin, and on this account and because they were not strictly synchronous, there is considerable difficulty in placing them in their true position in the time-scale. The main divisions or groups are generally recognized as follows:—
| Mammalian Zonal Forms. | ||
| Upper | 1 Uinta Group, 800 ft. (? = Jacksonian) | Diplacodon. Telmatotherium. |
| Middle | 2 Bridger Group, 2000 ft. (? = Claibornian) | Uintatherium. |
| Lower | 3 Wind River Group, 800 ft. | Bathyopsis. |
| 4 Wasatch Group, 2000 ft. (? = Chickasawan) | Coryphodon. | |
| Basal | 5 Torrejon Group, 300 ft. | Pantolambda. |
| 6 Puerco Group, 500 to 1000 ft. | Polymastodon. |