Vol. 55.] CON-GLOMEEATES OF THE LOWER SEYERN BASm. 101 



(2) The Soutli Staffordshire Region. (PI. XII.) 



.2 a. In the Clenfc Hills district these Middle Permian calcareous 

 bands crop out, more or less continually, in the low ground at 

 the southern end of the South Staffordshire Coalfield. 



.2 b. In the Stour Valley district they reappear, north-west of the 

 Clent Hills district, on the western side of the same coalfield, 

 between Stourbridge and Kingswinford, and again at Baggeridge 

 Woods and Sedgley Hall. 



.2 c. In the Warley-Barr district they are fairly well developed — 

 north-east of the Clent Hills district, on the eastern side 

 of the coalfield between Brand Hall and Langley (=Warley 

 area), and again at Haudsworth and Great Ban. 



III. GeI^TERAL PeATURES of THE MiDDLE PeRMIAN". 



The entire Middle Permian series is thickest and most complete 

 in the Bowhills-Enville district. Three calcareous zones are present, 

 divided by marls and sandstones, the whole resting conformably on 

 the Lower Permian. The series appears to be thinnest at Warshill, 

 where only one calcareous band is visible, resting upon marls. 

 JFour miles to the south, at Stagbary Hill on the Severn, these 

 Middle Permian calcareous zones are wholly wanting. Still farther 

 south, at Abberley, the local trappoid breccia rests on the Silurian. 

 This Abberley breccia ^ and those occurring to the south at Alfrick, 

 etc., and indeed ascending into the Keuper Marls at Tortworth, 

 form a groap of breccias wliich are of post-Permian age, and there- 

 fore any further mention of them will be deferred. 



When these Middle Permian calcareous beds are carefully studied 

 in the various districts, it is found that they present as a group the 

 following peculiarities : — 



(i) They change, when followed for fairly long distances, from 

 conglomerates to sandstones ; but they usaally retain their more or 

 less calcareous character throughout, and thus can be followed 

 in the field as prominent ridges between the lower grounds, eroded 

 out of the softer sandstones and marls. 



(ii) The component materials of any given calcareous zone decrease 

 in size in definite directions when followed across country : the 

 pebbles of the conglomerates becoming smaller and more rounded, and 

 gradually dying out altogether as the rock passes into a sandstone. 



(iii) In definite directions, the beds between the lowest two 

 .calcareous zones change from marls to sandstones. 



(iv) As a general rule, in proportion as the pebbly or marly 

 materials of any band are replaced by sandstone, the band itself 

 increases in thickness. 



(v) The pebbles forming these conglomerates vary, stage by stage, 

 from about 21 inches in length down to rounded sand-grains. 



(vi) The pebbly materials are chiefly limestones, intermixed with 



^ For a short account of the Alpine structure of the Abberley Hills, see 

 Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol. xv (1898) pp. 425, 426. 



