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Home , Monmouthshire (historic)

12 l\iONMOUTHSHIRE. (KELLY'a

•

• GEOLOGY OF .

(Revised to 1905.) ---- •

~ATURAL HISTORY AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.-Mon­ 1872. Symonds, W. S.-Records of the Rocks. 8vo. 1 mouthshire Antiquarian Society : Jou1·nal. London. MusEUMs.-, Museum of the Monmouthshire 1875. Meade, R.-The Iron Industries of Monmonthshire. Antiquarian Society; Monmout.h [small collections in the Mining Jou1·n., vol. xlv., pp. 910, 95Ci-· Rolls Hall]; Newport, Corporation Museum and Art r879. Sollas, W. J.-The Silurian district of and Gallery, Dock Street. · Pen-y-lan, . Q. JoU?-nal Geol. Soc., vol. XXXV., p. 475• PUBLICATIONS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SuRVEY. 1881. Sollas, Prof. W. J.-8triated Triassic Pebbles near c.-'oloured Maps, on the scale of one inch to a mile (Old . Geol. Mag., P· 79· Se1-ies)-Sheets ~ 35, (southern part); 36, r883. Sollas, W. J.-The Estuaries of the Severn and its , Cardiff; Quarter Sheets: 42, S.E. ; Tributaries. Q. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xxxix., 42, N.E. Hay, Talgarth; 43, S. W. Forest of Dean to Mon- P· 6u. & p mouth. 1888. Anon.-Excursion to the Wye Va11 ey, c. roe. 1\r s · Sh 2 b B M Geol. Assoc., vol. x., p. 542. ew erzes.- eets: 32, A ergavenny, ryn awr, • 1 88g Bagnall-Oakley, -.-Account of the Rude Stone , ~hym~ey,. , and Aber-sych~n; 249• · Monuments in Monmouthshire. P1·oc. . N~wport, , Gelligaer, Pontypool, and ; 263, Antiqum·ian Soc. W entloog Level, Rumney, and St. Mellons. 1g95. ~non.-The Monmouthshire Coal-field. Collitrry The east of Monmouthshire. which is included in Sheets Guardian, vol. lxx., pp. 15, 62, 107, 155, 203, 254, 233 (Monmouth town) and 250 (), ha~ not as I 303, 362, 4n, 447, 495· yet been geologically re-surveyed. 1s99. Newton, R. !J. -On Archanodon Jukesi, from the Old Each of the New Series Maps is published in two editions. Red Sandstone of Monmonthshire. Geol. Mag., The first edition is coloured to show the Solid Geolof!Y of p. 245· the area; that is, all the Drift or Glacial Deposits (boulder- 1899. Howard, F. T. & E. W. SmaJl.-Geology of Llan- day, gravel and sand) are omitted, and the outcrop of each vaches. Trans. Cardiff Nat. Soc. • stratum of solid rock is represented as if it formed the rgo2. Strahan, A.-Origin of the River-System of South actual surface of the country. In the second or Drift , and its connection with that of the Sev~~ Edition, all the glacial deposits, &c., are- shown, the strata and the Thames. Q. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. lvm., which happen to lie beneath them being then omitted. . p. 207. . . Survey Inde:e Map.-Scale 4 miles to one inch-Sheet 11 1903. RICh~rdson, L.-RhretiC and Lo~er L1as of Sedb?-ry ( 2s. 6d.) includes the whole of Monmouthshire, and is Chff, Chepstow. Q. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. hx., very useful P· 39°· · . . 1903. Vaughan, A.-Lower Lias at ~edbnry Cliff. Q. T~ese lVlaps are further Illustrated by th~ Honzo.ntal Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. lix., p. 3g6. Sect~ons, Nos. s, 12, and I07 ; and by the Vertzcal 8ectzons, 1904. Richardson, L.-Antichne in Carboniferous Lime· Nos. 8, 9, 10, 12, So, and Sr. stone at Chepstow. Proc. Cotteswold N.F. Club, .Memoirs, vot i.-De la Beche on the formation of the vol. xv., p. 17. Rocks of and the South-West of ; 1qo5. Report of Royal Commission on Coal Supplies [Sir Ramsay on the Denudation of the Rocks of South Wales W. T. Lewis, J. P. Eeles, Prof. W. Galloway, A. and the South-West of England, 1&46; vol. ii. J. Phillips Strahan, &c.-on Monmouthshire Coal-field], fol., on The Malvern Hills, &c. (including the Silurians at ), London. 1848; The Lias of England and Wales, by H. B. Woodward, See also Transactions of Woolhope Club; Transactions of 1893; 'l'he Country around Newport, by A. Strahan, 1899 South Wales Institute of Mining Engineers, &c. ; Murray's (price 2s.); The Country around Abergavenny, by Guide to South Wales (G. P. Bevan), &c. A. Straha.n and W. Gibson, xgoo (price 2s.); The Country Introduction to the Study of Geology. As it is impossible around Cardiff, by A. Strahan and T. C. Cantrill, 1902 to enter here into an explanation of the technical terms used (price 2s. 3d.) Monmouthshire was first mapped by Sir H. in geology, or to explain in detail the relations of the strata. De la Beche and D. H. Williams for the Geological Survey of Monmouthshire to those of the other counties of Wales between 1837 and 1845. These maps having become out- and of England, we must on these points refer the student of-date, a re-survey of the part- of the county included in and the general reader to some work such as Harrison's Te:ct­ the Welsh coal-field was executed by Messrs. A. Strahan, Book of Geology, fifth edition, published by Blackie & Son, R. H. Tiddeman, J. R. Dakyns, W. Gibson, and T. C. 1903, price s. 6d. . Cantrill in 1891·96. The results of their work are given in 3 _ the new one-inch maps, sheets 232 and 249 (sheet 263 con- THE strata which form this county belong mainly to two tains only a small part of the county near Cardiff), and in great geological formations-the Old Red Sandstone and these two maps, with their accompanying memoirs on the the Carboniferous-and though the structure of the district Newport district and on the Abergavenny dil!trict, we have is in consequence simple and easily understood, it still in­ the latest results of the work of some of the best profes- eludes points of great geological interest. sional geologists of the day concerning the strata of Central Looking first at the broad physical features, we note ( 1) and Western Monmouthshire. The east of the county has extensive tracts of low flat marsh land, on the south along still to be re-surveyed. the Severn; (2) much of the centre and east of the county is fertile (especially in the Usk valley), with rich red soil brPORTANT WORKS OR PAPERS ON LOCAL GEOLOGY. and many fiat-topped hills, increasing in height northwards; x8o6. Martin, E.-Description of the Minerdl .Basin in the (3) on the west we have a mountainous mining district, Counties of Monmouth, . . . Philosoph. Trans., the eastern portion of the great South Wales coal-field. vol. xcvi., p. 342· All the rocks which form Monmouthshire are of aqueous 1839- Murchison, (SirJ R. 1.-Silurian System, 2 vols., 4to., origin-that is, they consist of sandstones, clays and lime­ London. (For Usk, see vol. i., pp. 438-441). stones, which were originally formed on the floor of the sea 186o. Lee, J. E.-Ptera:spis and Cocco.~teus from Newport. or in lakes, and have since been hardened and elevated. Geologist, vol. iii., p. 460. The present irregular outline of hill and vale is due to the 1861. Glass, Rev. N.-Silurian Strata near Cardiff. Geolo- action of the weather of rain and rivers, and frost and ice, gist, vol. iv., p. 169. which have acted on the strata, wearing them away un­ 1871. Report of Royal Commission on Coal. [G. T. Clark equally according to their relative hardness and positions. on Eastern Division of South Wales Coal-field], vol. We will now descriLe the various layers or beds of rock i., p. 9, fol., London. in order, commencing with those which form the tounda­ 187~, Lee, J.,. E.-Notice of Veins or Fissures in the Keuper tion so far as is anywhere visible of the whole county, and filled with .l:thretic .Bone Bed at Goldclifi. Rept. which must therefore be of the earliest formation and British .Assoc., p. u6. greatest age.