HOLL MALTEEN HILLS, 97 



conformable to the former in position, and mnst have gone down 

 with them. South of Newnham, the same series of faults has brought 

 the Lias against the Old Red Sandstone, Along the eastern foot of the 

 Malverns this fault is indicated by a line of brecciated rock made up 

 of fragments from the adjacent hills, which, within the entrance of the 

 tunnel, was ascertained by the Rev. Mr, Symonds to be about 9 yards 

 in width, 



VI. CoNCLrsioiT. . 



The first question which presents itself in a review of the geolo- 

 gical structure of the area thus briefly sketched has reference to the 

 probable age of the metamorphic rocks. It has been shown that 

 the lowest beds of the Hollybush Sandstone contain pebbles of 

 quartz, felspar, (fee, which, it can scarcely be doubted, were derived 

 from the crystalline rocks against which they rest. From this I 

 infer that the rocks of the hills were above the sea-level at the time 

 these sandstones were being deposited. In confirmation of this in- 

 ference, we find that the pebble- and grit-beds form the lowest part 

 of the series, and are seen only at the base of the Ragged-stone Hill, 

 in the Hollybush Pass, and that the beds which are in contact with 

 the crystalliue rocks higher up the hiU are the overlying greenish and 

 olive -coloured sandstones. Moreover these sandstones narrow to- 

 wards the south, and on the western slopes of the Keys End HiU are 

 overlapped by the Black Shales, which there rest on the metamorphic 

 rocks without the intervention of the sandstone. Hence we may 

 infer not only that the metamorphic rocks were above the sea-level 

 at the period of the deposition of the sandstones and shales, but 

 also that they were subsiding at the time, causing the upper beds 

 to overlap the lower ones, and rise higher and higher up the slopes 

 of the hills. 



These metamorphic rocks are for the most part highly incKned, 

 and are often in a nearly vertical position. Their disturbance and 

 metamorphism, their being traversed by granitic veins, and stiU 

 later their invasion by trap-dykes, and their subsequent elevation 

 above the sea-level, were all events which must have occupied 

 no inconsiderable period even of geological time ; and the era of 

 tbeir deposition necessarily preceded this. When therefore we 

 consider the vast thickness of these rocks (for there are few or no 

 clear evidences of repetitions of the same beds), the probability even 

 of their Cambrian age becomes questionable. 



An examination of the direction of the strike of the beds of these 

 metamorphic rocks will show that their area, uncovered by newer 

 rocks, is only part of a much larger one, and small peaks of these 

 rocks pierce the Upper Silurian beds nearly as far north as Martley, 

 marking an entire length from north to south of 16 miles; and 

 although neither in these outlying points on the north, nor at the 

 southern extremity of the range at the Keys End HiU, are the rocks 

 so highly crystalline as they are in the vicinity of the "Worcestershire 

 Beacon and North Hill, nevertheless neither is there in either direc- 

 tion any indication that the metamorphism is approaching its limits. 



VOL. XXI. — PART I. H 



