Geological Society of London. 283 



of the Basin of the Eden." By J. G. Goodchild, Esq. Communi- 

 cated, by permission of the Director- Greneral of the Geological Survey 

 of the United Kingdom, by H. W. Bristow, Esq., F.E.S., F.G.S. 



The author commenced by describing in detail the series of beds 

 between the true Basement series of the Carboniferous and the 

 Mountain Limestone as shown in sections at Ash Fell. The general 

 sequence in descending order is as follows : — ■ 



a. Carboniferous Limestone, with a few thin beds of stained sand- 

 stone and shale ; thickness not less than 1000 feet ; 

 h. Obliquely laminated soft, red sandstones, with coal-measure 

 plants, frequently conglomeratic, alternating with fossiliferous 

 shales and beds of limestone ; thickness about 500 feet ; 



c. Limestone, 500 or 600 feet thick, passing down into 



d. Shales with thin impure limestones, passing down through 

 calcareous conglomeratic beds into a series of apple-green quartz 

 conglomerates and chocolate and grey shales, succeeded without 

 any clear line of separation by the drift-like red conglomerates, 

 sandstones and shales forming the lower part of the Carboni- 

 ferous Basement beds, which has been regarded as the equiva- 

 lent of the Uj3per Old Ked elsewhere. 



The author described the mode of occurrence of these deposits in 

 various parts of the district under consideration, and the disturbances 

 which have affected their surface distribution. Along the Cross Fell 

 escarpment a group of sandstones and conglomerates occupies an 

 exceedingly prominent position, especially at and near Eoman Fell, 

 whence the author proposes to call these deposits the Eoman Fell 

 beds. These beds represent the series 6, and also the lower part 

 of a, at Ash Fell. Following their outcrop towards Cumberland, 

 the conglomeratic beds from the middle downwards increase much in 

 thickness and become much coarser. The author regards the Eoman 

 Fell beds as approximately on the horizon of the Calciferous Sand- 

 stone series of the south of Scotland, and he remarks that they are 

 locally undistinguishable from much of the Basement series, and 

 have been described by authors as undoubted Old Eed Sandstone. 



Discussion. — Prof. Hughes confirmed the observations of Mr. Goodchild, and 

 showed their importance as bearing upon inquiries into the changes of the land which 

 furnished, and of the currents which arranged the materials of the beds described. 



Prof. Eamsay remarked that the author was entitled to much praise for the manner 

 in which he had worked out the minor details of the Carboniferous system. The 

 Cross Fell had been called Old Eed Sandstone ; it is now placed in the Lower Car- 

 boniferous, but no distinct line of . demarcation can be determined. Prof. Ramsay 

 remarked on the distribution of deposits of the Carboniferous series in Britain, and 

 referred especially to the Carboniferous limestone. In the south of Pembroke and 

 Glamorganshire this formation is 2500 or 3000 feet thick ; in the Devonshire area 

 100 feet, and in the north of Glamorganshire 500-600 feet represent the whole of 

 the Mountain Limestone ; in Coalbrook Dale, again, its thickness is only about 100 

 feet, in North Wales 800 feet, in Anglesea 500 feet. In advancing towards Paleeo- 

 zoic districts, where old land existed, the limestone becomes thin, whilst it becomes 

 thick in the deep-water areas,— in Derbyshire 3000-4000 feet, falling off to less than 

 1000 feet in Cumberland, where it is split up by sandstones ; and this is still more 

 strikingly the case in Scotland, where 100 feet of limestone is a rarity. He thought 

 the existence of Coral Eeefs iu the Mountain Limestone doubtful. 



