436 A. Stvahan — Coal under Neiv Red Sandstone. 



■worth. The section, of which the following is an abstract, was 

 supplied to me by Mr. Timmins, of Euncorn : — 



feet. ins. 



T „ T\,r j-4.1 A ( Fiue-srrained yellow and wliite sandstone 124 



Lo'sver Mottled 1 t • i ^ a a ^.^ ^ or. 



Limestone ) Light-green, red, and blue clay 3 



( BrigM red sandstone 3 



Coal-measures. Pm-ple and mottled marl, with bands of limestone .. 40 0-|- 



170 



The supposed Permian rocks are therefore either altogether absent 

 here or are represented by 3 feet of clay, and 3 feet of sandstone 

 only, and this in a direction in which, according to the former inter- 

 pretation of the country, they might have been expected to be 

 present in force. 



The boundaries of these so-called Permian rocks have thus been 

 traced under the Trias from their outcrop in every direction. They 

 rest unconformably on the Coal-measures, but there is certainly no 

 nnconformity between them and the Trias, the overlaj) being due to 

 the natural thinning out of the beds, and not to their having suffered 

 denudation before the Ti'ias was deposited. Taking also into con- 

 sideration that the sandstone, as stated by Prof. Hull, is " altogether 

 undistinguishable " from the Lower Mottled Sandstone, and that the 

 shale is of a type very commonly met with in the Trias, I think that 

 the identification of these rocks as Permian is rendered exceedingly 

 doubtful. 



Nor in my opinion is it probable that any Permian rocks are 

 present under the Trias of South Lancashire, west of Warrington. 

 The beds in the Edge Green Colliery Shaft, which were identified by 

 Mr. Binney as Permian, appear to be absent under the Trias at 

 Parkside and Winwick, two miles and a half and four miles and 

 a half to the south respectively. A bore-hole at Parkside, from 

 which I was shown specimens by Mr. Timmins, passed through the 

 following beds : — feet. 



Pebble Beds. Red, brown, and white sandstone, with pebbles .... 150 



/ Bed shale 32 



Lower Mottled S Bright red and yellow sandstone with shale 4 feet, and 



Sandstone. j containing concretions of iron pyrites towards the 



\ base 109 



Coal-measures. Purple and green mottled marls 5 + 



296 

 And at Winwick specimens of the following beds were obtained 

 by Mr. Timmins : — 



feet. ins. 



Pebble Beds. Hard sandstone, with pebbles and thin beds of shale . . 229 5 



f Red shale 31 7 



Lower Mottled I ^°^* sandstone 16 5 



on,' <^ Soft grey sandstone, with concretions of iron jjyrites 21 7 



I Dull-red sandstone, with bands of shale 31 



LShale 11 



Coal-measures. Dark-red, green, and purple marls, with limestone . . 710 



412 



These two sections commence without doubt in the Pebble Beds, 



which are well exposed on the surface in both localities. It is diffi- 



