I 



Yol. 55.] CONGLOMERATES OF THE LOWER SEVERlf BASIN. 117 



extension of the Upper Permian from the Lower Lickey into the 

 Warley-Barr district : for this reason it is descrihed now. 



The breccia (D^) occurs at Ley Hill, and is exposed over a third 

 of a square mile. Excellent road-sections occur, showing that 

 the basement-beds are made up of fine breccia and marl, the centre 

 of the coarsest fragments, while the upper measures partly consist of 

 layers of sandstone and marl. The fragments in the breccia are 

 ordinarily very angular : one seen was 21 inches long, a fair number 

 12, and many 9 inches long. I have found in this breccia blocks 

 of fossiliferous Llandovery rocks, one of which is 21 inches long, a 

 few are over 12, and many are 6 to 9 inches long : they are extremely 

 angular, and very common. The total thickness of the Northfield 

 breccia is about 350 feet. 



Warley. — No Permian breccias are marked on the Geological 

 Survey maps in this area. Their existence, however, must have 

 been known to the officers of the Survey, for Jukes ^ referred to 

 ' the angular breccia of the Permian rocks ' at Perry Hill, and 

 they have in recent years been traced by Birmingham geologists 

 to beyond Langley. 



The Warley breccias commence, at the southern end of the area 

 at Perry Hill, as a trappoid breccia interstratified with thick breccia- 

 sandstones and some marls. Here the breccia-group is about 75 feet 

 thick, and the breccia-layers lie between sandstones. The fragments 

 are sometimes subangular and sometimes rounded, but as a rule 

 they do not exceed 2 or 8 inches in length : a piece 6 inches long 

 is quite exceptional. Eragments of Llandovery sandstone are rare : 

 the few pieces that have been found do not exceed 3 inches in 

 length, and the edges are very much worn. Zones of breccia also 

 crop out near Brand Hall, which are probably the equivalent of 

 the Perry Hill breccia. 



The lowest beds of the series are exposed farther north, in the two 

 roads from Bristnall Fields to Langley and Birmingham, where the 

 fragmental material is still smaller, and the sand and marl are 

 more largely predominant. These lowest beds may be classed as D\ 

 on the ground that they form the base of the Upper Permian. 



The succeeding beds are marls, with which thin breccia-sand- 

 stones are occasionally interstratified, and they terminate against the 

 boundary of the Bunter conglomerate. Eor the sake of convenience, 

 these marls and intercalated breccia-sandstones may be classed as D". 

 There are indifferent exposures of these breccia-sandstones at the 

 base of Perry Hill, and a short distance west of Warley. The breccia- 

 bauds are inconstant, and pass vertically and horizontally into 

 marls. The breccias and breccia-sandstones predominate in the 

 lower parts of D\ and the marls in the upper beds. The total 

 thickness of D^ is approximately 200 feet. 



' Mem. Geol. Surv. 1859, 'South Staffs Coalfield,' 2nd ed. p. 177, & 

 also p. ] 1. 



