Horace B. Woodward — On the Permian and Trias. 387 



red sandstones in Lancashire, referred to tlie Permian period by Mr.. 

 Binney, have been considered as Bunter by Prof. Hull ; although, 

 the latter admits that, "isolated as the beds are here, there can be no. 

 certainty regarding their age."^ 



The Eev. A. Irving, in an interesting paper upon the Geology of 

 the Nottingham District, remarks that there are clear signs of con- 

 tinuous deposition of the Permian and Lower Bunter rocks ; and, so- 

 far as the area is concerned, the stratigraphical data seem to point to- 

 the Permian and Bunter as but portions of one great unbroken.' 

 sequence of rocks. Referring to Prof. Hull's Memoir on the 

 Permian and Triassic Rocks of the Midland Counties, he comments: 

 upon the meagre evidence on which the great line of demarcation 

 between the Bunter and Permian rocks has been, drawn in the 

 northern Permian area.^ 



Turning to the Triassic beds, Mr. Irving refers to the eroded or 

 denuded surface of the Bunter, where overlain by the Keuper, which, 

 has been observed in the neighbourhood of Nottingham. 



In County Down, according to Mr. Jv Anderson, however, the 

 Keuper and Bunter divisions appear conformable.^ 



In regard to the principal cases of unconformity that have been 

 noticed as occurring between the Keuper and Bunter strata, re- 

 ference may be made to Prof. Hull. He remarks that "there is 

 eveiy reason to believe that the bed of the New Red Sandstone sea 

 over the English area was elevated into dry land during the suc- 

 ceeding period of the Muschelkalk. This elevation, and subsequent 

 submersion at the commencement of the Keuper stage, has left its 

 evidences in the eroded surface, and slight unconformity, which is 

 locally * observable between; the two divisions of the Trias of 

 England." ° Mr. Hull frequently alludes to the highly eroded 

 surface of the Bunter where overlain by the Keuper ; in regard to 

 the unconformity in dip, however, the following remarks of his are 

 important : — " The district around Ormskirk affords several very 

 interesting sections in the Trias, and it is the only one with which I 

 am acquainted where we obtain in one section visible evidence of 

 the unconformity of the Bunter and Keuper divisions. The deep 

 sections opened out by the Ormskirk and St. Helen's Railway, if 

 not everything that could be wished for the purpose of demon- 

 strating the discordance between the two divisions of the Trias, are 

 probably as satisfactory as the nature of the rocks admit of. . . . 

 The basement bed of the Keuper Sandstone consists of coarse light 

 red or brown grit, containing small pebbles of white quartz, and 

 traversed by planes of current-bedding. It rests on a distinctly 

 eroded surface of the Upper Mottled Sandstone of the Bunter series. 

 .... Upon a careful examination the Keuper Sandstone will be 

 found to overlap successive beds of the Bunter, which are distinguish- 



' Memoir on the Triassic and Permian Rocks, p.. 41. 



2 Geol. Mag. D«cadel[. Vol. I. pp. 315, 316. 



3 Proc. Belfast Nat. Hist. Soc, 1873, p. 41. 



* The italics are mine. 



* The Triassic and Permian Rocks of the Midland Counties of England. Memoirs 

 of the Geological Survey of England and Wales, 1869, p. 66. 



