48 . GEOLOGY OF THE BRISTOL COAL-FIELD. 



€jol00a 0f iht §nist0l CfiijdaWi^td. 



BY W. W. STODDART, F.C.S., F.G.S., &c. 



6.-THE RH/ETiC PERIOD, 



WE now arrive at a very interesting point in our consideration 

 of Bristol geology, namely, the Rhaetic, or, as the 

 Government Surveyors call them, the Penarth beds. They lie 

 immediately upon and conformably to the Triassic Marls, and 

 separate them from the superincumbent Lias. For some time 

 they were the subject of much dispute, some geologists placing 

 them with the lower beds of the Lias, while others strenuously 

 affirmed that they were the highest of the Triassic series. 



The fossils are numerous, and quite distinct in their specific 

 character from those of the Lias. They correspond so exactly 

 with those found in the Rhsetian Alps in Bavaria, and had been 

 studied by M. Giimbel, the Government geologist, that the whole 

 was formed into a distinct group, and called by the name of 

 '' Rhaetic.'' In our special locality the Rhaetic strata have for 

 many years been successfully studied by Mr. C. Moore, of Bath, 

 and whose excellent papers on the subject are to be found in 

 several volumes of the Geological Journal. 



