256 3IE. W. GIBSON ON THE CHAKACTEK OF [May 1 96 1, 



and sandstones of the Newcastle-under-Lyme Series can be seen in 

 many localities in the district, and is illustrated by the following 

 section, measured in a marl-pit near Longport Railway-station : — 



P CO 





/^Yellow flags and shnles 



Yellow shales, with fi^^ll- scales 



Red shales. — Carbonia 



Black shales. — Carhmiia, fish-scales 



S c2 ^ Eed shales 



Red limestone. — t'arJow^a, fish-remains 



Yellow shales 



Blue limestone. — Anthracomya calcifera 

 "^ \^ Yellow shales 



Purple marls 



Greenish-yellow grit (base not seen) ... 



Breceiated limestone 



Red mark 



Pi < 



Feet. Inchest. 



20 











6 



1 



« 







8 



2 







1 











8 







8 



1 







35 







■f- 2 







1 







Relation of the Keele Series to the Underlying Strata. 



The Keele Series includes the red sandstones and marls formerly 

 classed with the JS'orth Staffordshire Permian. 



The Coal-Measure character of the flora, the occurrence of a thin 

 seam of coal, and the presence of entomostracan and Spirorhis- 

 limestone, suggest that the Keele Beds belong to the Carboniferous 

 system. It is, therefore, of considerable importance to determine 

 their stratigraphical relationship to the Newcastle-under-Lyme 

 Series, which has always been regarded as a member of the 

 Carboniferous. 



The Keele red sandstones and marls occupy a wide area on the 

 south and south-west of the Pottery Coalfield. They are always 

 underlain by the full thickness of the Newcastle-under-Lyme Series, 

 and are faulted and folded in a similar manner and to the same 

 extent. They also contain grey sandstones and shales resembling 

 the Newcastle-under-Lyme strata, as yvoii as thin bands of mottled 

 red marls, like those of the Etruria Marls, as may be seen in the 

 railway-cutting at Keele Park. 



It is opparent, therefore, that a close stratigraphical and litho- 

 logical relationship exists between the Keele Series and the under- 

 lying strata, and that they are conformable one to the other. The 

 contrary opinion has been held, and it has been stated ^ that, from 

 Audley to Blurton, 'the Permian red sandstones and marls rest with 

 a slight discordance upon the Upper Coal-Measures.' It is true that 

 at Blurton Tileries, near Longton, the red sandstones of the Keele 

 Beds are in juxtaposition with the Etruria Marls and basal beds 

 of the Newcastle-under-Lyme Series. In the absence of faulting 

 this would imply a great unconformity ; for 1 mile to the south in 



^ ' The Triassic & Permian Rocks of the Midland Counties of England 

 Mem. Geol. Surr. 1869, p. 24. 



