600 ME. E. D. YERNON 02s^ THE GEOLOGY AXD [DeC. I9I2, 



outcrop of a richly fossiliferous Spirorbis Limestone about 9 inches 

 thick. In this limestone fishes occur, while ostracoda and Sjnrorbis 

 are very abundant. 



The Haunchwood Sandstones.^ — The Nuneaton Clays pass 

 gradually upwards into a series of pale-grey, micaceous, current- 

 bedded sandstones, shales, and marls containing a few thin and im- 

 persistent coal-seams and Spirorbis Limestones. To this sub-group 

 I apply the term ' Haunchwood Sandstones.' 



The base of this sub-group has been taken at the uppermost bed 

 of Espley Rock, where that is present ; while its upper limit is 

 clearly defined by a thick and persistent bed of Spirorbis Limestone. 



In the north of the coalfield, where the Nuneaton Clays are 

 locally absent, both the sandstones towards the top of the Pro- 

 ductive Coal ^Measures and the Haunchwood Sandstones appear to 

 be much thicker than in the south ; and it is, therefore, difficult to 

 distinguish the base of the Haunchwood Sandstones. 



In the Nuneaton district the outcrop of the Haunchwood Sand- 

 stones is very narrow, on account of their high dip ; but in the 

 north, near Wilnecote, along the axis of the syncline the beds are 

 almost horizontal, and cover a much wider area. 



Being more resistant to denudation than the soft marls of the 

 Nuneaton Clays these sandstones make sharp features in the field ; 

 this is well seen to the south of AYilnecote, and again between 

 Merevale and Polesworth, where the sandstones have been quarried. 

 At Stockingford the sandstone quarries on the Heath-End road 

 provide good sections in these beds, which consist of soft, yellow, 

 current-bedded, micaceous sandstone containing lumps and thin 

 lenticles of green marl. 



An uprise of the Haunchwood sub-group at Arley breaks the 

 symmetry of the main syncline ; this may possibly be caused by 

 the fault which crosses the coalfield at this point. 



Plant-remains are not infrequently found in the Haunchwood 

 Sandstones ; but, so friable and soft is the weathered rock, that it 

 is impossible to collect satisfactory specimens. However, a number 

 of plants were obtained in the shales from the cores of the Whit- 

 more Park Boring, near Coventry ; from a Avell-sinking at Griff, 

 near Nuneaton : and also from a new pit at Piddles Wood, near 

 Kingsbury. 



The Keele Peds, — The strata of this sub-group consist of 

 calcareous red and purple sandstones alternating with red marls, 

 which contain three thin beds of Spirorbis Limestone and a 

 number of hard lenticular bands of calcareous marly breccia. The 

 breccias are lenticles composed exclusively of rounded pisolitic 

 masses of red and yellow ferruginous marl (presumably of Keele 

 age) set in an abundant matrix of crystalline calcite. Red is the 



"■■ These rocks are tbe chief source of the water-supply of the Nuneaton 

 district; and, as the main water-bearing bed has an average thickness of 

 100 feet, it has received the local name of the Hundred-Foot Sandstone. 



