SUCCESSION IN THE TRENT BASIN. 445 



rests. The sand is very pebbly, the pebbles varying in size from 

 that of a pea to as much as six or eight inches long. They consist of 

 quartzites, quartz, brown sandstone, brown haematite, Coal-measure 

 sandstone, white, yellow, or purple clay, &c. The sand is obliquely 

 laminated, the bedding-planes sloping towards the north-east, and 

 indicating currents from the south-west. Xo flints were observed. 

 The mass is only slightly consolidated, and at a little distance looks 

 not unlike Bunter pebble-beds. 



Near the words " Avenue Plantation," on the Ordnance Map, 

 about one mile east of Annesley, on the western border of Notting- 

 hamshire, a small gravel-pit discloses about 10 feet of obliquely- 

 laminated, clean, loose sand and pebbles, the lower three feet 

 being clean sand. On this ridge is a conglomerate, regarding the 

 age of which there is considerable divergence of opinion. My re- 

 marks refer to the loose sand only. It was deposited upon the top 

 of the hill by currents which appear to have come from a north- 

 westerly direction. The sand contains large and small roUed pebbles 

 of stiff brown Boulder-clay covered by an adherent coating of small 

 pebbles. It is overlain by a thin cake of reddish Boulder-clay. 

 Sand of the same age is also found on the Long Hills, two miles 

 further south. A section about six feet deep is exposed in an old 

 working at the back of the farmhouse. The pebbles are smaU, 

 and consist of the usual quartzites and quartz, with haematite iron- 

 ore, chert and cherty limestone, red sandstone, gritstone, decomposed 

 coal, &c. The dark coaly beds sometimes reach a thickness of 

 several inches. 



These sections lie to the north of the northern limit of the 

 dispersion of Cretaceous rocks which took place during the Middle 

 Pleistocene epoch. The absence of flint from the Blackwall and 

 Long-Hills sand might therefore be considered of little value for 

 fixing their ages, were it not for the fact that the currents which 

 formed them passed over areas where flinty gravels are now well 

 developed. A great difference also existed in the direction taken by 

 the ocean-currents of the Older and Middle Pleistocene epochs. At 

 Blackwall and the Long Hills the bedding points with wonderful 

 persistency to currents from the north-west or south-west, while in 

 the southern portions of the Trent basin a flow from the south or 

 even the south-east is indicated. On the other hand, the oblique 

 bedding of the Chalky Gravel indicates indifferently currents from all 

 points of the compass. 



Still further to the east, at Gelston, north of Grantham, on the 

 top of the hill, Quartzose Sand is excavated to a depth of about 30 

 feet. Here and there in the upper portion the sand-beds are 

 cemented into a hard rock. That this hardening took place before 

 the disturbance of the upper portion of the deposit, is made manifest 

 by the way in which the hard beds have been broken up. In the 

 lower portion of the section the sand is finely stratified, and in places 

 contains beds of clay or loam. The pebbles consist almost wholly 

 of quartz and quartzite with a few Coal-measure sandstones. Flints 

 have been introduced into the disturbed surface-portion of the 



