A. R. Horwood — Upper Trias of Leicestershire. 23 



times great denudation occurred, causing inequalities in the Trias 

 floor, and whilst one raember was deposited tlie rest were being 

 likewise denuded in part. 



Formerly a great part of this district was covered by the Forests of 

 Charnwood and Leicester, which extended over the entire western 

 half of the county. !N"ow the district is given up to pasture-land 

 with scattered woods and parldands. The soil is sandy in tlie lower 

 part, and more wooded tiian in the Red Marl district, which is largely 

 given up to pasture and arable land. The Upper Keuper Sandstone 

 forms hilly districts suitable for the growth of trees, and the soil is 

 grejr, a feature serving to distinguish its outcrops from those of the 

 Red Marl. The Tea-green Marl outcrops also give a white soil, and 

 the Rhsetic a dark-bluish black soil easily distinguished in the field. 

 On. the latter also trees grow well. 



The Upper Keuper Sandstone horizons rise to over 400 O.D. in 

 the west, at Orton 400 O.D., 290 feet at Ratcliffe, and 220 feet at 

 Dane Hills. A sandstone lower down at Botch eston crops out at 

 400 O.D. also, all more or less on high ground. 



The Keuper Marl forms high ground at Hinckley, Ear well, and 

 Burbage, south of which it is cut through by the River Soar. North 

 of this also there is a tract 5 to 8 miles wide from Peckleton to 

 Whitwick, where the Red Marls form higher ground, from 400 to 

 8(10 feet, than the rest of the country to the south and east, where 

 it lies betAveen 100 and 300 feet. 



The hills in the southern part are largely due to river development, 

 south of the River Soar striking north and south, whilst the Upper 

 Soar Valley is free from undulations. The higher ground north of 

 Hinckley and Bosworth is ramified by ridges running east and west, 

 north-east and south-west, and further north by the more or less 

 concentric ridges following the horse-shoe structure of Charnwood 

 Forest, developed partly by modern streams, partly as a result of the 

 ancient contour of the submerged highlands now largely filled in by 

 Red Marl, which in places has again been excavated by the denuding 

 forces of rain, frost, and atmospheric agencies. It is in this upper 

 region that the most complex structure of the Red Marl area is to be 

 met with, and where radial dip and other features play a characteristic 

 part, largely dependent upon the contours of the ancient rocks which 

 have contributed towards the formation of a basal breccia and scree 

 where the two formations are superposed unconformably, as is invariably 

 the case. 



The details of the relation of the Charnian rocks to the Upper 

 Keuper Marls and the Lower Keuper Sandstone will be discussed 

 elsewhere. 



2. Summary of Previous Work. 



Leicestershire has not been wanting in scientific workers in the 

 domain of Triassic geology. Since it occupies so large a portion of 

 the county this would not fail to attract the attention of both local 

 and more general geologists. The list in my bibliography of papers, 

 etc., extends to over one hundred. 



Early workers here were J. B. Jukes, who was accompanied by 



