Vol. 68.] GEOLOGY OF THE WAEWICKSHIEE COALEIELD. 



58' 



24. On the Geology and PALiEONTOLOGY of the Wakwickshiee Coal- 

 EiELD. By Robert Douglass Yeenoist, B.A., B.Sc, P.G.S., 

 Emmanuel College, Cambridge. (Bead June 19tli, 1912.) 



[Plates LVII-LXL] 



Contents. 



Page 



I. Introduction 587 



II. Historical Review 588 



III. Stratigraphy 589 



(A) The Coal Measures. 



(B) The Permian. 



(C) The Base of the Trias. 



(D) Tectonics. 



(E) Conclusion. 



IV. Palasontology : 615 



(A) The Fossil flora. 



(B) The Fossil Fauna. 



V. General Conclusions 634 



VI. Bibliography 636 



I. Inteodtjctioit. 



AVae WICKS HI EE, the nearest of the Midland coalfields to London, 

 with an annual output of coal exceeding 3,500,000 tons, is of 

 considerable economic importance. The potential value of this 

 coalfield is also very great, because within recent years the 

 coal- producing area has been nearly doubled, and it is still rapidly 

 extending. 



During the preparation of the reports by the Boyal Commission 

 on Coal Supplies, both in 1871 and in 1905, great difiiculty was 

 experienced by the Commissioners in estimating the coal-resources 

 of Warwickshire, because the geology of the coalfield, especially 

 with regard to the relationship of the so-called ' Permian ' to the 

 Coal Measures, was not fully understood. Again, as recently as 

 1908, Dr. Walcot Gibson (08) ^ expressed the opinion that 



* It would appear advisable, before making more ambitious attempts at develop- 

 ment in the Triassic areas, to first determine the exact geological position and 

 character of the so-called Permian.' ( Op. cit. p. 189.) 



It may be added that the current geological memoir and maps of 

 the Warwickshire Coalfield were published more than fifty years 

 ago ; and further, until quite recently, there were no records of 

 fossils from the Carboniferous rocks of the county. Thus, from the 

 points of view of stratigraphy, of palaeontology, and of economics, 

 there was a clear need for research-work on this coalfield. 



In 1909, on my election to a scholarship awarded by the Royal 

 Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851 'for research-work 

 bearing upon industry,' I was enabled to begin this investigation, 

 which has been prosecuted in the field and at the Sedgwick Museum, 

 Cambridge, during the past three years. 



^ These numerals in parentheses refer to the corresponding numbers in the 

 Bibliography, § VI, p. 636. 



