part 3] CHELLASTON GYPSUM BEECCIA. 183 



There is little red and streaky rock, but certain parts are similar 

 to the 'bird's-eye' of Cumberland: that is, rounded clots or patches 

 of white gypsum set in a matrix of red gypsum (see p. 185). The 

 roof consists of a definite belt of marl, sandy loam, and ' skerry ' 

 similar to that at Woodlands. In places the seam is thin, owing 

 to the inclusion of masses of horizontally-bedded foulstone connected 

 with that of the floor. In the Dudclle workings a rock with pale- 

 green stain is found in outlying parts where the seam appears to 

 be less continuous and full of foulstone. The green portions 

 usually underlie the white rock. 



Fauld and Draycott. — At Fauld and Draycott-in-the-Clay 

 the seam appears to be very similar. Mr. T. Trait'ord Wynne 

 refers to extremely white and soft gypsum found in detached 

 bodies near the edges of the main deposits near Tutbury, and 

 locally termed ' self-pillars.' He states l that 



' on the small hills in the vicinity of Castle Hayes, between Tutbury and 

 Fauld, may still be seen the remains of shallow excavations from which the 

 blocks of alabaster were extracted in the past. These blocks do not appear 

 to have been portions of any regular seam, but were detached lumps of 

 varying size.' 



Dr. 11. Plot observes 2 that 



' in some of it ^alabaster] there are veins of a dirty red colour, which yet 

 are not very unsig'htly ; but they have a sort which is harder and stronger 

 than the rest, bearing a better polish, and finely water"d with a blewish 

 colour, much esteemed by Artists, it making as good work almost as 

 Marble . . .' 



The roof of the main deposit is composed of hard marl containing 

 still harder blue marl, * bullets ' and ; balls ' (see p. 187) of gypsum, 

 weighing several tons. 



Here, therefore, the conditions are similar in many respects to 

 those at Chellaston. (The main seam, however, contains anhydrite, 

 and in places the top of the seam swells upwards into domes, each 

 ■of which contains a core of anhydrite.) 



Newark -on -Trent. — In this district the seams occupy a 

 higher horizon in the Keuper Marl, 3 and consist of a series of thin 

 beds of white gypsum with rows of lenticular nodular masses, or of 

 halls, in the marls between and above them. Identical beds can 

 be matched in quarries several miles apart, and each is separated 

 from its fellows by only a few feet of marl in parallel stratification. 

 Occasionally the three separate beds, known as Top White Kock, 

 Middle White Rock, and The Eiders, combine to form one thicker 

 seam. Mr. A. T. Metcalfe notes 4 that in thick (relatively only to 



1 ' Gypsum, & its Occurrence in the Dove Valley ' Trans. Inst. Min. Eng. 

 vol. xxxii (1906-1907) p. 172. 



2 ' The Natural History of Staffordshire ' 1686, p. 174. 



3 See footnote, p. 182. 



4 ' The Gypsum Deposits of Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire " Trans. Inst. 

 Min. Eng. vol. xii (1896-1897) p. 110. 



