TRIAS. 229 



of the Lower Keuper Sandstone consists of a soft current-bedded 

 mottled sandstone, where the current-bedding is on so large a 

 scale as to have been sometimes mistaken for contortion. Mr. 

 Strahan terms these the Frodsham Beds. Lines of erosion have 

 been detected not only in the Keuper Sandstone, but at various 

 horizons in the Bunter series. 



The Keuper beds occur over Delamere Forest, east of Chester 

 (450 feet), and in the Peckforton Hills south of Tarporley. The out- 

 crop of the Basement Beds forms one of the most conspicuous and 

 picturesque features in Cheshire, extending, as Mr. Strahan has 

 observed, from Frodsham by Peckforton to near Shrewsbury, and 

 thence by Hawkstone and Alderley Edge. The INIarls are exposed 

 at Eccleshall, Alton, north of Uttoxeter, Burton-on-Trent, Tutbury, 

 Colwich, Rugeley, and other places in the northern part of 

 Staffordshire. 



In South Staffordshire the thickness of the Marls is 600 feet, and 

 that of the underlying white and brown sandstone, with beds of 

 red marl (Waterstones), 300 feet. At the base there is sometimes 

 a bed of calcareous breccia and conglomerate. Sandstone occurs 

 at Stowe, near Lichfield, and the marl and sandstone are developed 

 at Oreton Hill, near Wolverhampton, and near Birmingham. 

 Further south Moseley is on the Red Marl. In Nottinghamshire 

 the Basement Beds of the Keuper consist of sandstone, marl, and 

 conglomerate.^ The Himlack (or Hemlock) Stone at Stapleford 

 Hill, near Nottingham, which at one time was regarded as Lower 

 Mottled Sandstone and Pebble-beds (Bunter), is considered by 

 Mr. J. Shipman to be composed entirely of Keuper Beds. The 

 cementing material in this and other Keuper Sandstones consists 

 largely of barium sulphate, which is practically insoluble.^ 



Mr. James Plant has given the following general section of the 

 Keuper Beds at Leicester: ^ — 



5. Marls, containing beds of gypsum and several thin bands of green marly 

 sandstone, on which were found numerous pseudomorphous crystals of 

 rock-salt. 80 to 1 20 feet. 



4. Thin sandy shales, with 'way-boards ' of green marl. 25 to 30 feet. 



3. Thick beds of soft white sandstone (Waterstones). 20 to 30 feet. 



2. Thin sandy shales, similar to No. 4. 35 feet. 



I. Red Clay. 



The total thickness of the Keuper series near Leicester is from 

 700 to 1000 feet. The Waterstones have been worked for building- 

 purposes at Castle Donnington and other places. Near the Mount 

 Sorrel granite quarry, a side cutting showed Red Marls resting 

 against the granite, and containing large fragments of the rock.* 



The Red Marls form a plain around Market Bosworth and 

 Hinckley, Atherstone and Nuneaton. Sandstone has been quarried 



1 E. Wilson and J- Shipman, G. Mag. 1S77, p. 497, 1S79, p. 532. 



2 Prof. F. Clowes, Brit. Assoc, 1885. 

 ■^ Q.J.xii. 372. 



* W. J. Harrison, P. Geol. Assoc, v. 14S. 



