Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University of California-San Diego on June 28, 2016 Vol. 55.] PERMIAN CONGLOMERATES OF THE LOWER SEVERN BASI~. 97 7. The PERMIA~ CONGLOMERATES of the LOWER SEVERN BASlI~. By W. WICXHA~ KIsa, Esq., F.G.S. (Read December 7th, 1898.) [PLATES XI & XII--MArs.] CONTENTS. Page I. Introduction ............................................................... 97 II. Distribution of the Middle and Upper Permian .................. 100 III. General Features of the Middle Permian ........................... 101 IV. General Features of the Upper Permian ........................... 102 V. Relationship of the Upper Permian to the Trias .................. 102 VI. Stratigraphy of the Middle and Upper Permian in Enville } (1) South-east Shropshire, 1 a [Bowhills ............ 102 1 b Warshill (2) South Staffordshire, 2 ~ Clent Hills ] 2 b Stout Valley ~ ......... 111 2c Warley-Barr J VII. Conclusions based on the Variation in the Coarseness of the Materials ............................................................... 118 VIII. The Pebbles of the Middle Permian Conglomerates ............... 118 IX. General Conclusions ...................................................... 123 I. INTRODUCTION. BETWEEN the :River Severn and the village of Enville in South-east Shropshire, and again round the southern half of the South Staf- fordshire Coalfield, there are certain bands of rocks cemented and hardened by calcareous matber--namely, calcareous conglomerates, cornstones, and calcareous sandstones--which constitute parts of the group classified by the officers of the Geological Survey as Middle Permian. The object of this paper is to trace the materials composing these calcareous rocks to their sources. The typical Permian sequence of the Shropshire type is, according to Prof. Hull, as follows, in descending order 1: - (1) Upper Permian. Red and purple sandstones and marls (300 feet). (2) Middle Permian (130 to 500 feet). (a) Trappoid breccia. b) Sandstone and marl. c) Calcareous conglomerate. (d)t Sandstone and marl. (e) Calcareous conglomerate. (3) Lower Permian. Purple sandstones, often calcareous, interstratified with red marls (850 feet). Murchison ~ stated that at Coton and Bowhills the calcareous horiz(ms of the Middle Permian consist of ' (a) coarse conglomerate, composed chiefly of fragments of Carboniferous Limestone, generally rounded ; .... some of them are of an oolitic structure .... (b) con- glomerate, with fewer fragments of limestone, but pebbles of quartz, 1 Mem, Geol. Surv. 1869, ' Triassic & Permian Rocks of the Midlands,' p~ 13 et se~q., & descr, of Horiz. Sect. 2, Sheet 53, p. 6. ' Silur. System,' 1839, p. 48. " Q. J. G. S. No. 217. ~=~ MAP OF P~ co UPPER & MIDDLE PERMIAN xb OF o S. E. SHROPSHIRE REGION. o ! o~ EXPLANATION -- I o ~==4 I o Faults ........................... I Upper it2 where it is Marl ............. .I i Permian ]D1 where it is Breccia.......... l~'a I 37 Downloaded.4k~ ]B ~from a C ~ wherehttp://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ they are ~ ~ ~ # at University of o Calcareous Oonglomerate. } ~ / California-San Diego on June 28,/ 2016 / Ak~ ~e, #jr where they ate ~ = Middle // ,r Calcareous Sandstones. ~ ~ :-" :". '.':..:.:".:i'..~ (S) Permiat -~ ~" ,c'::'],'. / .z~i2..Xi2&C2 Sandstones & t r---] 1#1# ~,,'4,-- Marls between the Calcar- o / I eous ZOfle8 Arrows show dips ..... --4. 97." '.... : ,. : ..'; ..'. "" ".',. 'A'.: 9,, . .,. / A, pb > I ,, ...:::~..,r Hampton /,. 9 9 Load "z~ "~. e- " :""~::'i ENVILLE 1", ~x... 0 7".#x "" A z>. ! 8heepwliilt~ .# DISTRICT ~,~D/# ,/ ii' < Ks ~ / l.l Compton Gre~ /// I~ZI, ,# / I~:1"~1 II "q I ~7 ,,I i /TI I,,'%,~/ -, / z,.o" # jl-~x . I. ~, # II ~# I .-.. _~",~ ## 17~. 4 {~/Calsi.ie ~# , ,,,,,, _I-Ill i i ~u # td~ 4j ,,,1r I Ile,,~ ,,," ,,, .@. !.,"" / 92 s i / . .; oo / ," 9 ,~ .O~ ~ ."I~" /Horscley rArley ,.,% ~ " i l Farm ~ 'i /d >" I: o+- II ,.dr ..~""" //i L.- ./.jz.r Scale: z inch =. I mile. [ "*'*/LoWEd i~ ,/ ~{~ District Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University of California-San Diego on June 28, 2016 Quart. Journ. Geol. Boo. Yol. Lu P1. XII. •Z:'7 S 0 U t h ,.r 9 9-..,' ":" tV;'B~/Tr'.": ,:,:c ~ ,.' Baggerid~e! :.'.':.:':iJ!.:fSei~l~r /../:.:i':~.~ [ i,'"I:'::::," "'." ::.:...," ::V~'~ 9 /.~'.r.~r ".':.-..:'.~-::-:~' "'"': : / ~:.:.::-:.::.!::'~ f~u~Staffordshire ,r162 z. "::'::-:'>" ~: :'::'ii::'fr'{:,:-:,::'::".::z ty:'i,'::; ~::'.:'I 4.:.::-:~:.::,::-.1!:. -':'.'.:":.:-: /. ":::: :' " D, QDDII'IgIOI1 y ~ : ":. :?'-'-' ':: :."" ;.,~.,~:~,% z.-::.::'.'.v.':" -~:::..~_. I T~I /:::::::" ~::-:;:::"~ ,.~~i~::~!-i~.:-:!?;.~:f!, , D.d,o, ,I!: :::.:.--.:-:.?i-:!:ii:?~" s::-.':/:':,:::.-'?-,:2:":-:':f. :'::::?:.:,t , # t::~:..::':~:':';:-:,:f'~,.*/lfandsworth if'" : : :::"":" :." ""':'" "':""; "'"':t I t,.:: I. : .., -:" :' % '-:'-::..'-':-:.':'.':."::....:'"": ":"'"':""' .'.':.:'.'::,':::'.:.. '::" '"'"l , I V,.:':,,~ '~ C 0 a I f "i e ] d ,..::l ..... ::,l-[~lly :;"~- Lane- 9":';":" 9 9 :.::..... ".". t. :...:.....t , V i ""..':..; -- ::;:!':I ':'::-: ;,~.;'!'":"::':::i';i(::~:::::::"::?.::'::"]::'::':?] ~:~ The I,i/;-~:::-':: / t ~ ~":".:':':':~:i/r162 flU, Pedmor;'/~ ~:!!-! )~.::::i'i:;i:~?:!.~x /s s 9: ",,....:." ~ : ,- :,.':',...:::..,'.:::. v.:.',.tq:,'.',:.c.;% --~o, ,:~l/ A ~,<!;:.:~(~:::.. :-.~...:!.-,.::.:.::-,,:--::.::".>::.:::'.::.',,:-" :.::..:'.-~:-..:::.':-,:.:;..:.-."::;:,':~:.:.'.".:'b:,:.~ ,. /::=.* , ....... ......,..: ..:,......... : ." .. ~. Coalfield !:':.:~arshii! " ~._~/ Y~:~ ;:-:!i"i..~:}!) ;)" Y k :~!:!::I..~ ~' I " 9 :~ :.-i'~\ I| t :";~:.::~::. ..: \Yv'O, I Bewdley I t ~.~fagbury. , , b, /i $S ~ r s Scale: 4 miles ~ I incl,. Perm/an ar.eas. Extracted from Prof. Lapworth's r~-r A bberley t_cappo[dbreccla. Geological Sketch-Map of the Birmingham district, E~J Silur.-ia-~ an_d .o[de.r rocks. with additions, MAP OF THE PERMIAN AREAS IN THE LOWER SEVERN BASIN. Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University of California-San Diego on June 28, 2016 98 ~E. w. wIcxrrA~t xI~a o~ ran vv,~rr~ [Feb. r899, Old Red Sandstone, ere ..... and minute fragments of jasper.' He pointed out that ' the nearest known masses of similar [Carboni- ferous] rock are in the Carboniferous Limestone of the Clee :Hills.' Ramsay 1 collected from conglomerates, included by him in the Middle Permian, at Gatacre Hall 2 and Four Ashes, near Enville, pebbles of Red sandy marl. Quartz. Red sandstone. Black slate. Carboniferous Limestone. Hornstone. Chert. Red jasper. Silurian limestone, of doubtful age. * Red granite. Sandstone. Greenstone. Quartz-rock. * Felspathic trap. 9Banded felspathic ash. He states that ' the Carboniferous Limestone pebbles by far predominate,' and that ' the nearest Carboniferous Limestone is that of the Titterstone Clee :Hills .... The Coalbrookdale lime- stone contains chert .... and in the same district occur igneous and quartz-rocks not dissimilar to those found in the Conglomerates. Some of the other pebbles may have come from the Welsh Border near the Longmynd; but all of them may have been drifted by ordinary marine action.' Jukes 3 described shortly the outcrops of these calcareous bands in the South Staffordshire region',' but offered no opinion as to their origin. Prof. :Hull 4 dealt with the different localities where these calcareous bands occur in the Midland Counties, and gave it as his opinion that 'they are the fragmentary repre~ntations of an old shingle- beach, which once stretched at intervals over a large part of Salop and the adjoining parts of England.' Mr. G. E. Roberts 5 stated that ' rolled fragments of a yellow clayey rock may be me~ with in these calcareous bands'[of South-east Shrop- shire], and the same rock is in dtu in the Old Red Sandstone area of Trimpley, close by.' [Mr. Howell 6 states that the Middle Permian in the Warwick- shire Coalfield, an area outside the region now described, contains Carboniferous Limestone-pebbles, and Leicestershire is the nearest locality where that limestone is in place, but they may have been derived from other masses concealed beneath the Trias.] i Quart. Journ. Geol. See. eel. xi (1855) p. 189. The only quarries, either new or old, at or near Gatacre Hall are in the Permian breccia. In my opinion, those rocks marked in the list with an asterisk were from Gatacre Hall, and should be struck out. The quarry at Four Ashes is in the calcareous conglomerate. Ramsay's specimens are now in the ]Y[useum of Practical Geology, ffermyn Street. 3 Mere. Geol. Sure. 1859, ' South Staffs Coalfield,' 2nd ed. pp. 13--15, 177, 183 & 184. Mere. Geol. Sure. 1869, ' Triassic & Permian Rocks of the Midlands,' p. 14, etc. ; & descr, of Hertz. Sect. 2, Sheet 53. ' Rocks of Worcestershire,' 1860, p. 116. 6 ]~Iem. Geol. Sure. 1859,' Geol. of Warwickshire Coalfield,' p. 30. Downloaded from http://jgslegacy.lyellcollection.org/ at University of California-San Diego on June 28, 2016 Vol. 55.] C0~Gr.O~E]~.T~ 0~' T~r T.OWP.R S~V'~R~r BASI~. 99 ~[r. Cantrill ~ discovered ' the presence in these [calcareous] con- glomerates [of South-east Shropshire] of rounded masses of St~rorbis- limestone.' [The foregoing references are all the original observations hitherto published on these Permian conglomerates; but the Permian breccia literature is more or less closely connected with their origin. Backland ~ thought that the materials composing the Permian breccias near the Liekey came from hill-ranges to the south. ~urehison 8 considered that some of the patches of Permian breccia consisted only of, and rested upon, solid trappean