594 



ME. 0. A. SHETJBSOLE OJST SOME HIGH-LEVEL [j^OV. 1 898, 



to the Avon and Evenlode, it is of interest. It is also remarkable, 

 inasmuch as one-third of the gravel consists of subangular flints ; 

 but there is a still larger proportion of quartzite-pebbles.-^ There 

 are indications at Batsford, near Moreton, that the Qiiartzite-gravel 

 may have reached the level of 612 feet above Ordnance-datum, but 

 they are superficial only. 



Quartzite-gravel, then, is not confined to the Thames Valley 

 system. It was noticed at Shipston-on-Stour, and a gravel of the 

 Avon at Evesham was found to contain 43 per cent, of quartzite- 

 pebbles. These pebbles could be traced along the Sal warp Yalley 

 to the Lickey district, where there is an outcrop of Buuter Con- 

 glomerate, from which they may have been derived. No section of 

 the Conglomerate-beds was seen, but the slopes of the Lickey Hills 

 are mantled by gravel which consists almost entirely of re-arranged 

 Bunter pebbles. For purposes of comparison the Bunter Beds 

 at Eepton (Derbyshire) were examined. The following is the result 

 of the examination of the materials at various localities : — 



Flint-pebbles 



Subangular flints 



Quartz-pebbles 



Do. Titreous ... 



Quartzites, purple & brown 



Do. pale 



G-rit 



Sandstone 



Lvdite, etc 



Igneous or Archgean rocks. 



Conglomerate 



Schist, shale, etc 



Subangular rock 



Chert 



r<J 









§ 









to 





Moreto 



5> 



t^ 







feq 



fc; 



^ 



b 



Per cent. 



Per cent. 



Per cent. 



Percent. 



Per cent. 

 3 



33 



6 







m 



6 



9 



4 



11 



25 





6 





6 



8 





, , 



39 



50 



17 



39 



43 



34 



18 



19 



1 



6 



11 



6 



n 



6 



9 



6 



"3 



3 

 4 



5 



"3 



"i 



2 





4 





5 



4 





6 



18 







1* 



These facts support the view which has been long held, that the 

 Quartzite-gravel of the Thames Valley has derived part of its 

 material from the waste of Bunter Beds in the Midlands. Much of 

 this material probably arrived through a gap in the escarpment near 

 Moreton-in-the-]\[arsh,^ but of course under physical conditions 

 different from those now existing there ; and, as the later stages of 



^ This section was figured and described by the late W. C. Lucy in ' Gravels 

 of the Severn, Avon, & Eveulode,' Proc. Cotteswold Nat. Club, vol. v (1869) 

 pp. 71-125. 



^ [See also H. J. O. White, Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol. xv (1897) pp. IQOetseqq.l 



