548 Mr. Strickland on the Geology of the line 



exhibits an imperfectly anticlinal arrangement*. On the east of the fault above 

 mentioned, it dips about 5° to E.S.E., -while on the western side its dip may be 

 estimated at about 5° to the S.S.E. or S. The bedding is however so irregular that 

 great accuracy on this point is not attainable, but it will suffice to state, that the 

 stratification never departs far from horizontality, and is hence most strongly con- 

 trasted with that of the highly inclined sandstones above described, on which the 

 conglomerate reposes. 



The cutting here described affords a rare opportunity of inspecting the conglo- 

 merates of the upper new red sandstone. For the depth of nearly sixty feet the 

 section consists almost exclusively of rounded pebbles imbedded in soft red sand. 

 The resemblance of this deposit to ordinary diluvial gravel is so perfect, that when 

 the excavations were first begun, I considered it as such, and it was not till the 

 completion of the cuttings, that I became undeceived. The gravel is now not only 

 seen to contain numerous wedge-shaped masses of red sandstone and red marl 

 (exhibited in the section, PI. XLVIII. fig. 2,), but it is further shown to underlie the 

 regular thick-bedded sandstone at each end of the section, so that its antiquity is 

 thus most clearly proved. 



From this stratum of new red conglomerate a large portion of the superficial or 

 diluvial gravel of the surrounding counties has evidently been derived. At least 

 nine-tenths of the pebbles of the conglomerate consist of quartz, either white and 

 crystalline, or brown and granular, the latter doubtless derived from altered sand- 

 stones, such as are still seen in situ at the Lickey. The remaining portion of the 

 pebbles includes various trap rocks, chiefly porphyritic, which are often decom- 

 posed into the condition of clay. Boulders of a hard quartzose conglomerate, 

 probably derived from the old red system, also occur, together with pebbles of 

 chert inclosing casts of Spirifers and Crinoideaf . The beds of conglomerate are 

 interspersed and dove-tailed with bands of soft red sandstone, loose sand, and 

 occasionally red marl, in the manner represented in fig. 2. PL XLVIII. At each 

 end of the section, the conglomerates are seen to be overlaid by beds of massive 

 red sandstone, varying in texture from a compact rock to a loose sand, which 

 again appears about a mile to the S.W., in the cutting No. 89, at the top of the 

 inclined plane. 



The point which appears of the greatest interest in the section here described, is 



* The arrangement of the new red sandstone on the south side of the Lickey is more properly mantle- 

 formed than anticlinal. On the line of the railway the dip sweeps round from E.S.E. to S.S.E., S., and 

 W.S.W. 



t These fragments of chert appear to indicate a considerable transporting power in the sea which de- 

 posited the new red conglomerate, no chert being now known nearer than Derbyshire, a distance of about 

 ^fty miles from the Lickey. 



