8 Tattersall S: Coward, Fauna of Rostheme Mere. 



deposit is fine oozy, black mud. A small sandy delta has 

 formed at the mouth of Rostherne Brook, and is a favourite 

 resting place for gulls and wading birds. 



The marginal reed-bed on the east and south-east 

 extends for about 1,200 yards, and is in many places more 

 than a dozen yards broad. On the south margin there are 

 two beds of about 170 and 100 yards, and on the west, 

 three, extending for about 260, 130, and 130 yards 

 respectively. These extensive beds of reeds and other 

 aquatic plants have a distinct bearing upon the character 

 of the vertebrate and invertebrate inhabitants and visitors. 



The mere lies in a cup-shaped 

 Geological FotDiation. hollow in the Triassic Red 



Marl of the Keuper Series of 

 the New Red Sandstones. Overlying the Marl is the 

 Drift — Lower Boulder Clay and Sand. At a short distance 

 from the western margin of the mere is the southerly 

 extremity (so far as has been ascertained) of a " great 

 Warburton fault," which runs in a south-easterly direction 

 from the Lancashire Coal Fields. 



Hull^ says : — " It appears to be a continuation of the 

 ' Cannel-fault of Lice,' as both lie in a direct line ; but it 

 is remarkable that the directions of the down-throw are 

 reversed.... it ranges towards Rosthern {sic) Lake, though 

 I doubt if it has had any connexion with the position of 

 the lake itself" 



Within half a mile west of the mere it separates the 

 Red Marls from the Waterstones, which were formerly 

 quarried at Millington, a mile from the mere. The salt 

 deposits lie in the Red Marls to the south of Rostherne ; 

 the Cheshire rock-salt was first discovered at Marbury, 

 seven miles south-west, and brine is now pumped at 

 Holford, which is only five miles to the south. 



- Edward Hull. "The Geology of the Country around Altrincham, 

 Cheshire." Memoirs of the Geological Survey, 1861, p. 7. 



