Rev. A. Irving — Geology of the Nottingham District, 315 



has aflfected hoth these series equally, but to the extent of only about 

 thirty feet of displacement. The whole fault is tlierefore the result 

 of tioo separate movements ; the first and greatest, Pre-permian ; the 

 second subsequent to the deposition of the Lower Bunter. 



The recent high prices of coal and the prosperous condition of 

 Nottingham trade have led to many borings for that mineral in the 

 neighbourhood ; e.g. at Chilwell, and at Highfield, both in the Trent 

 Valley near Nottingham, and at Swinderby near Newark. At High- 

 field, Coal-measures were entered after passing through nearly 100 ft. 

 of Bunter rock ; and Coal has been cut at a depth of 254ft. That at 

 Swinderby is perhaps the most interesting boring going on anywhere ; 

 since, if scientifically conducted, it will throw gi-eat light upon the 

 south-easterly extension of the Coal-basin, (which is considered by 

 high authorities to include Newark and Lincoln,) and inferentially 

 upon the physical geography of Carboniferous times — the extension 

 of the old land surface believed to have occupied great part of the 

 present German Ocean. At the colliery of Saul Isaac, Esq., M.P., 

 close by Nottingham, the Top-hard coal is cut at a depth of 70 yards, 

 and the Deep-hard is worked at a depth of 270 yards. The Top-hai-d 

 seam has been thrown down a distance of 95 yards on the south side 

 of the pit, and is soon to be worked at that extra depth, on account of 

 the great expense which is caused in the working of the Deep-hard 

 seam, by a number of ' step '-faults with a throw of 3 to 5 yards 

 each, on the north side of the pit. The Coal is at present largely 

 worked in the valley of the Leen, at Hucknall, and other places; 

 and even through the Triassic rocks at Annesley. A pit is being 

 also sunk on the nortb side of Bestwood Park. In this we see a 

 speedy realization of the anticipation, by the late Sir E. I. Mur- 

 chison, of tbe time when a general rise in the price of coals would 

 lead to a great extension of the working of the seams ; which, as he 

 showed in his paper before the British Association at Nottingham, in 

 1866, extend a long way to the eastward beneath the Permian and 

 Triassic rocks. 



. (2). The Permian. — The great unconformability between the 

 Coal-measures and the Permian rocks is rendered the more signi- 

 ficant by the absence of the Lower Eed Sandstone (or Eothliegende). 

 On the other hand, there are clear signs of continuous deposition of 

 the Permian and Lower Bunter rocks, as is seen by examination of 

 the sections exposed: (1) at Cinder-hill, (a) in the brick-yard, (&) in 

 the railway cutting now in progress through the outlier of Bunter 

 resting upon Permian rocks a little more to the North ; (2) at 

 Kimberley. The junction of these two (so-called) formations is 

 marked by a band of breccia, the rocks above and below this band 

 being conformable to one another. Moreover, as we pass south, the 

 Permian strata disappear altogether, the Bunter overlapping them 

 and resting immediately upon the Coal-measures. 



In the absence of palgeontological evidence, what can we rely 

 upon but stratigraphical data ? And so far as this area is concerned, 

 the latter seem to point to the Permian and Bunter as but por- 

 tions of one great unbroken sequence of rocks with perhaps a 



