THE TRENTHAM GRAVEL BEDS. 109 



correct ; but while on the question of detail in connection 

 with these deposits I would beg to draw your attention 

 to a condition which does not occur in the section before 

 us, and which is certainly not a characteristic feature of 

 the gravels in any locality. I allude to the presence of 

 copper, lead, and zinc ore, which I have recently discovered 

 to exist in the Bunter pebble-beds of Cannock Chase. The 

 occurence of ores of this description in Bunter gravels is 

 in itself a matter of some little interest to both North 

 and South Staffordshire geologists, and I have much pleasure 

 in placing it on record on the present occasion. The 

 copper ore, a green carbonate, is largely disseminated 

 amongst the gravels of the Huntington pits, belonging to 

 Lord Hatherton, on the Stafford and Cannock road, about 

 two miles from Cannock ; and beneath this, confined to 

 two thin bands of gravel and following the natural incli- 

 nation of the beds, occurs lead and zinc ore; and lead 

 ore is now being found freely associated with a highly 

 calcareous conglomerate in the sinkings of the Fair Oak 

 Colliery on Cannock Chase, near Rugeley. 



We now come to the general question of the origin and 

 distribution of the Bunter gravels. They are found in each 

 of the four kingdoms which constitute Great Britain. They 

 come down to the sea at Belfast, they surround Liverpool, 

 extend to Manchester, Stockport, and Chester, round by 

 Bridgnorth and Kidderminster, and, reappearing at Milverton 

 and Wellington in Somersetshire, pass beneath the sea at 

 Teignmouth and Exmouth. They occupy large tracts of 

 the counties of Stafford, Chester, and Warwick in the 

 west, and of York, Derby, and Notts on the east of the 

 Pennine chain, and everywhere may be found the same 

 description of coarse gravels, sandstones, and associated 

 fossils as those existing in the Trentham beds. Now it 



