GEOLOGY 



An immense break in the series occurs between the Great Oolite 

 and the succeeding deposits which are now found in Worcestershire. 

 We miss all the Middle and Upper Oolites, the whole of the Cretaceous 

 and Tertiary strata, and our next records are those of a time when man 

 had probably appeared on the scenes. 



In the meanwhile the changes that took place must have been 

 enormous, both as regards the deposition of great masses of strata and 

 their subsequent removal by rain, rivers and sea. There can be little 

 doubt that the Oolites were spread over the Malvern and Lickey areas, 

 in fact over the entire county ; and that they suffered denudation during 

 Upper Cretaceous times, when the Chalk extended far and wide over the 

 country in general. Since then the Chalk has been removed, and the 

 great vale between Malvern and the Cotteswold Hills carved out. 



GLACIAL DRIFT, VALLEY DEPOSITS AND ALLUVIUM 



We have at present but very imperfect knowledge of the Drift de- 

 posits of Worcestershire, or indeed of the Vale of Severn. The latest 

 deposit, the ordinary Alluvium, is composed of silt and mud and gravel 

 brought down by the river since it commenced to flow, much in its pre- 

 sent form. It is now liable to be swollen by heavy rains and by rapid 

 thaw after snow, though it is more hampered than at one time by the 

 works of man. 



Bordering the river at higher levels are beds of gravel, which extend 

 in patches over a wide area in the Vale of Severn and in the Vale of 

 Evesham.^ The gravels are made up of quartzite, quartz, slaty rock, 

 flint and Jurassic material. 



Some of these patches are old river gravel and brickearth ; they 

 contain Unio and other freshwater mollusca, as well as hippopotamus, 

 rhinoceros, mammoth and other mammalian remains. Sections have 

 been opened up at Cropthorne, Fladbury, Bengeworth, Little Comberton, 

 Eckington, Defford, and Pull Court, near Bushley. 



Remains of mammoth have been found at Droitwich, and of reindeer 

 at Upton Snodsbury. Again, in what Prestwich has called the ' Rubble 

 Drift,' remains of mammoth and rhinoceros were found in digging the 

 foundations of the Imperial Hotel at Malvern.^ 



Other deposits of gravel and sand in the Severn Vale contain marine 

 shells, or fragments of marine shells, as well as mammaUan remains. 

 Among the shell-fragments are those of Cyprina islandica, Cardium edule, 

 Lucina borealis, Rissoa, Turritella terebra and Purpura lapillus. One of 

 the localities is Beckford, and here have been found remains of mammoth. 

 Rhinoceros antiquitatis. Bos taurus var. primigenius and reindeer. At Kempsey, 

 near Worcester, and other places along the Severn Valley below Bewdley, 

 both mammoth and rhinoceros have been found. It is by no means unlikely 



* See T. G. B. Lloyd, Quart. 'Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xxvi. p. 204. 



* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xlviii. p. 317 ; see also Life and Letters of Prestwich, 1899, 

 p. 262. 



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