StrCCESSION IN THE TRENT BASIN. 447 



much cut into by the tributary valleys of the Wreak. The Quartzose 

 Sand may be seen in the north-east corner of the Thrussington 

 clay-pit, in Woldgale Lane, and again at a similar height on the 

 hill to the east, across the Ox Brook. On the road to the east of 

 Brant's Barn, north of Hoby, it has been worked at several points. 

 On the west side of the wood, near Shoby Scholes, north-east of 

 itagdale, a sand-pit exposes 8 or 9 feet of red stratified sand free 

 from pebbles ; it probably reaches a much greater thickness. 

 Pebbles being absent, no certainty can be expressed as to its age ; 

 but from its surroundings I am inclined to regard it as Quartzose 

 Sand. 



In the railway-cutting near Thorpe Satchville Quartzose Sand is 

 covered by Middle Pennine and Chalky Clay. 



Another tolerably large accumulation of Quartzose Sand lies on 

 the more elevated land in the angle formed by the confluence of the 

 Trent and Soar, east of Kegworth. On the west flank of Fox Hill 

 there is a section in about 10 feet of obliquely laminated sand with 

 carbonaceous and gravel-beds. A tolerable percentage of the sand 

 consists of finely comminuted Lias sheU-fragments. 



Another excavation on the north slope of Mill Hill, just south of 

 West Leake, exposes 15 feet of sand and gravel. Here there are 

 two thick beds of gravel, occasionally cemented into hard conglo- 

 merate, separated by a broad band of finely bedded sand. 



Half a mile due north of Stanford Hall 20 feet of fine sand may 

 be seen in another pit. In this area, between Mill HiU and Stan- 

 ford Hall, there are many good sections. 



No trace of contemporaneous Mollusca has yet been found in any 

 of these deposits ; indeed, in the Trent basin aU signs of life are 

 absent, not only in the Quartzose Sand, but in all the succeeding high- 

 level gravels and sands. That the Quartzose Sand may be marine 

 and yet be devoid of moUuscan remains will be seen by the distribu- 

 tion of life in the Chalky Sand. In this Chalky Sand the shell-frag- 

 ments are numerous on the western side of the Staffordshire portion 

 of the Trent watershed, while in the central, southern, and eastern 

 portions of the area they are nearly, if not quite, absent. Now aU 

 the sections of Quartzose Sand I have examined are some distance to 

 the east of the westerly watershed of the Trent, and it is highly 

 probable that the cause which led to the absence of moUuscan 

 remains from the Chalky Gravel was also the cause of their absence 

 from deposits of Quartzose Sand occurring in the same area. 



3. Middle Pennine Bovlder-clay. 



The conditions of climate which gave rise to the formation of the 

 early Pennine glaciers, and which passed away with the increasing 

 submergence of the Quartzose-Sand sea, again returned ; for upon 

 the Quartzose Sand there are thick deposits of Boulder-clay, giving 

 evidence of intense glacial conditions. 



Like the Early Pennine Boulder-clay, the clay of this stage is 

 almost, if not wholly, free from Cretaceous debris, but frequently 



