A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE 



may be said regarding the prevalent opinions as to its mode of formation. 

 The one most in vogue regards each seam as representing an ancient bed 

 of vegetation, and the usually accompanying underclay or fireclay as 

 the soil on which it grew. Another opinion considers that some 

 at least of the coals are made up of floated vegetable matter, tranquilly 

 deposited in still water at a time when other sedimentation was at a 

 standstill. Under either view there cannot be any doubt that each seam 

 indicates a pause of more or less duration and of frequent recurrence 

 throughout the Coal-measure period. 1 



PERMIAN SYSTEM 



The red sandstones and marls succeeding the Halesowen Sandstone 

 group have been regarded as belonging to a special type of ' Permian ' 

 developed only on the west side of the Pennine Chain, but recent borings 

 in Nottinghamshire have clearly shown the same type to be present on 

 the east side of the Pennines. The limitation of the Permian system 

 therefore needs revision, but it would be superfluous to discuss this ques- 

 tion here. The red strata overlying the grey Halesowen Sandstone 

 group are succeeded conformably by another set of red sandstones and 

 marls with lenticular bands of calcareous conglomerates, which in turn 

 are overlain by the so-called ' Trappoid Breccia ' of the Clent Hills (on 

 the northern boundary of Worcestershire). These rocks have been 

 classed as Middle Permian. 2 Very much the same succession occurs 

 round Enville, but above the ' Trappoid Breccia ' a set of red marls 

 with an intercalated band of breccia conformably follows, and has been 

 regarded as forming an Upper Permian sub-division. 



Whether these distinct groups of rocks are the equivalent of the 

 continental Permian system or not, it is beyond dispute that in this 

 country they are intimately related to the Coal-measures, but separated 

 from the Triassic system by one of the greatest unconformities known in 

 British geology. On the other hand the Magnesian Limestone Series of 

 the eastern counties considered to be the equivalent of the Permian 

 Zechstein of Germany is removed from the highest Coal-measures by 

 a strong unconformity, but is hardly separable from the Triassic 

 deposits. 



The breccia bands which characterize the South Staffordshire 

 ' Permian Rocks ' retain a general lithological facies throughout the 

 district. Set in a sandy or marly paste, angular fragments or blocks of 

 volcanic rocks, mingled with others of fossiliferous, Carboniferous, 

 Silurian and Cambrian sandstones and limestones, show the varied 

 source of their derivation. Their origin has therefore led to much con- 



1 For a recent discussion on this interesting subject see Report of the British Association (1901), 

 Bradford. 



* Quite recently a band of Spirorbis limestone has been discovered in the so-called Middle Permian 

 at Franldey Lodge farm in the Clent area by T. C. Cantrill (Summary of Progress of the Geological 

 Survey for 1901), pp. 63, 64. 



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