T. C. Cantrill — Keiiper Outlier near Kidderminster. 265 



VIII. — On a Eecentlt Discoveked Keuper Outlier near 

 Kidderminster. 1 



By T. Crosbee Cantrill, B.Sc. Loud. 



ABOUT two and a half miles east of Kidderminster, in Nortli 

 Worcestershire, is a wooded hill, marked and named Bissell 

 Gorse on the original one-inch Ordnance Map [1831], Sheet 

 54, N.W. It is now on the six-inch Map [1882], Sheets Worcester- 

 shire YIII, S.E. and IX, S.W., named Bissell Wood. The hill lies 

 just half-way between the villao;es of Stone and Churchill. 



When examining the main Keuper-on-Bnnter boundary, several 

 years ago, in company with Mr. Walcot Gibson, now of H.M. 

 Geological Survey, we were struck with the appearance of the hill 

 as viewed from the main escarpment, and the idea occurred to us 

 that possibly it would be found to be an outlier of Keuper, although 

 mapped by the Survey as Bunter. Some time later I made a 

 preliminary examination of the hill, and have more carefully examined 

 and mapped it since. 



The hill proves to be an outlier of Keuper Sandstone [f 5], resting 

 on and surrounded on all sides by Upper Bunter Sandstone [f 3], 

 the Keuper having been thrown down by a fault which runs along 

 its south-east side, parallel with the main escarpment, half a mile 

 to the south-east. 



The relation of the outlier to the main mass of the Keuper is 

 vfell seen from the one-inch Geological Map, Sheets 54 N.W. and 

 B5 N.E., and from the accompanying Sketch Map and Section. 



The lower boundary of the Keuper Sandstone arises on the eastern 

 flanks of the Abberley Hills, where the Keuper rests directly oil 

 Silurian rocks. It then passes between Hartlebury and Stourport, 

 having the Upper Bunter below, on the west, and Keuper on the 

 east. The line then passes through the village of Stone, south-east 

 of Kidderminster, then by the farm named Middle Dunclent, to 

 Mount Segg — here running south-west and north-east — thence on 

 to Broom, and so towards Stourbridge. 



This boundary is marked by an almost constant escarpment, due 

 to the greater weather-resisting properties of the Keuper beds and 

 the extreme softness of the underlying Bunter, and this escarpment 

 is specially bold on either side of Stone. Between Middle Dunclent 

 Farm and Mount Segg, at about the position of the dip-arrow on the 

 inch Map, the vertical distance between the edge of the scarp and 

 the stream at its foot is about 130 ft. ; and the scarp slope makes an 

 angle of 20° with the horizontal, exceeding this towards the top. 



The shortest distance, measured at right angles to the strike, 

 between the boundary line in the outlier scarp and that in the main 

 scarp, is a little under half a mile. 



The bottom of the broad valley excavated in the soft Upper 

 Bunter between the outlier and the main escarpment is chiefly 

 occupied by alluvial matter. Several streams flow through the 



1 Eead before the Birmiughara Natural History and Philosophical Society, 

 Geological Section, Tuesday, 26th February, 1895. 



