80 A. R. Horwood — Upi^er Trias of Leicestershire. 



(3) HincMey and Croft District. 



The best bounclar)- for this uuifoz'in tract of Red Marl, with intrusive 

 knolls of syenite in the south-east, is on the west the Shackerstone line, 

 on the south the Watling Street, on the east the Leicester and Rugbj' 

 branch of the Midland Railway, and its Burton and Leicester branch on 

 the north, with the West Bridge line. It is in this area in the south 

 that we have indications of the Upper Keuper .Sandstone lying near 

 the top of the series. In the extreme west south of Nailstone a wide 

 tract of Boulder-clay obscures the Red Marl entirel}-, except just 

 round Market Bosworth, to which reference has already been made. 

 The eastern side is also much obscured by drift, but numerous streams 

 have cut through this mantle and exposed the Red Marl in a series of 

 ramifj'ing branches north of the Soar Valley. To the south the River 

 Soar has spread a wide tract of alluvium over the excavated Trias, and 

 elsewhere it is covered by drift right up to the Liassic outcrop, and 

 covers the Rhsetics in the north-east coiner except where quarrying 

 has, as at the fine section at Glen Parva, exposed them. Owing to 

 the existence of outliers of syenite, which rise vl\) in dome-like masses 

 forming isolated knolls, a good many sections in the Trias are 

 accessible, and the relation of the Red Marl to the pre-Carboniferous 

 floor can be studied with great advantage. Reference to the paper by 

 Mr. Harrison on this subject will facilitate any observations on this 

 head, and it is not intended to deal with this aspect here in any great 

 detail. Though there are no exposures of Lower Keuper Sandstone in 

 this district, borings for coal south of the Burton line have encountered 

 a variable thickness of this member. At the South Leicestershire 

 Colliery, just south of Bardon Hill, 178 ft. 1 1 in. of Red Marl and 

 Sandstone were pierced with tive beds of whitish sandstone varying 

 from 2 to 9 feet in thickness. At No. 2 the Trias was 181 ft. 2 in. 

 thick, and overlaid dolerite, as at Whitwick. At the Ibstock Old 

 Pit (470 O.D.) 124 ft. 6 in. Red Marl and sandstones overlie a con- 

 glomerate or Crossil bed 2 feet thick. Five beds of sandstone 3 to 

 9 feet thick were encountered, some of this belonging to the Lower 

 Keuper. At Ellistown Colliery (560 O.D.) there is a bed of skerry 

 6 feet thick at 205 feet, marl and skerry 10 feet at 245 ft. 9 in., 

 which is probably the same as a bed 12 feet thick at Nailstone. This 

 is perhaps equivalent to a skerry outcropping in District (4) at 

 Botcheston, and in the Lindridge borings. 



In the brickyard at Bagworth Station six green marly bands and 

 a skei'ry 1 foot thick are exposed. Ripple-marks north 20 degrees 

 west ai'e frequent in the skerries, and are exceptionally deep. 

 Pseudomorphs of salt crystals are frequent. As at Sileby and Bardon, 

 vertical streaks of Green Marl, deltoid in shape, depend from below 

 the Green Marl bands, chiefly from the top band, but here and there 

 from others, but this does not occur in tiie Red Marl. In the Bagworth 

 Colliery section (533 O.D.) 315 feet marls, skerries, and sandstone 

 overlie a conglomerate 1ft. 6 in. At 203 feet stone 20 ft. 6 in. was 

 met with. This probably represents the Orton-on-the-Hill Sandstone. 

 In the Bagworth new sinking (533 O.D.) 299 ft. 4 in. of Red Marl, 

 sandstone, gypsum, and skerries overlie a conglomerate 2 feet thick. 



