NOTES ON THE OANNOOK OHASE COALFIELD 31 
The theory advanced by Mr. Jukes Brown and others is that 
during the Bunter period all Northern Europe formed one continent, 
and that a chain of mountains extended from North Eastern France 
to England. Such a mountain range might have supplied the 
material of which the Bunter beds are composed, in which case the 
course of the rivers would be from the south-east to the north-west. 
The fossils found in the Bunter beds are mostly those contained in 
the pebbles which are derived from older formations In England 
at any rate there are very few contemporaneous fossils, from which 
it may be concluded that the period was opposed to the presence of 
organic life, or that the conditions were unfavourable to preserving 
it. We can imagine the huge lake beds choked with torrents of 
sand and gravel, afterwards converted into wind-swept desert plains, 
more desolate and exposed than are the moorlands of Cannock Chase 
to-day. 
THE COAL MEASURES. 
Over a large portion of Cannock Chase the Bunter Rocks rest 
unconformably upon the Coal Measures This proves a break in the 
succession of the strata. A great interval of time probably elapsed 
between the end of the Carboniferous Period and the laying down 
of the Bunter Rocks ; during that time voleanic forces twisted and 
contorted the Coal Measures, evidence of which is found in the 
extraordinary quantity of faults met with in working the coal. 
Subsequently large portions of the Coal Measures were denuded and 
washed away by river or flood, and deep valleys were formed. 
The Permian Rocks which usually occur between the Carbonifer- 
ous and the Triassic, may or may not have been deposited on Cannock 
Chase ; if they were, it was only to be removed also by denudation 
previous to the laying down of the Bunter Beds. 
It is indeed very doubtful whether there is now any rock on 
Cannock Chase corresponding to the Permian. 
This fact of the uncomformity existing between the Bunter Beds 
and the Coal Measures is of very great interest and of great commer- 
cial importance. If the Triassic, the Permian and the Carboniferous 
Measures were conformable, it would always be safe to rely upon 
these groups being found in succeeding order, and the hazards 
