W. SHONE ON THE GLACIAL DEPOSITS OE WEST CHESHIRE. 383 



22. On the Glacial Deposits of West Cheshiee, together with Lists 

 of the Fauna found in the Driet of Cheshire and Adjoining 

 Counties. By "W. Shone, Esq,, F.G.S. (Bead November 21, 



1877.) 



In March 1874, I communicated through Mr. D. Mackintosh, 

 F.G.S. , a paper on the "Discovery of Foraminifera, &c, in the 

 Boulder-clays of Cheshire " (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxx. 

 p. 181). Since that time I have continued my observations, which I 

 now place before the Society. 



The extension recently of the Midland Company's line from 

 Mouldsworth to Chester has caused interesting sections of the Drift 

 to be exposed. The accompanying section to this paper exhibits 

 that portion of the line which commences where the road from 

 Hoole to Trafford crosses it, and is continued from that point for 

 two miles and a quarter to a point a little beyond where the 

 road from Trafford to Guilden-Sutton passes under the railway. 

 Prom the commencement of the cutting at the Newton-road bridge 

 to a spot near the top of Newton Hollows, a distance of half a mile, 

 the Upper Boulder-clay through which it passes contains very few 

 (if any) striated stones, and no shell-fragments, though small 

 rounded gravel is present throughout it. 



The cutting varies from 5 to 10 feet in depth up this point, con- 

 sequently only the upper part of the clay is exposed ; its entire 

 thickness at the commencement of the section I estimate at 30 feet. 

 The sand may at intervals be observed to crop out from beneath the 

 clay in a dell which runs parallel to the railway-cutting, called 

 Newton Hollows, proving its (the sand's) continuance beneath the 

 clay throughout this part of the section. I am indebted to Mr. A. 

 Strahan, B.A., F.G.S., for pointing out to me the outcrop of the sand 

 in Newton Hollows. From near the top of Newton Hollows shell- 

 fragments and striated erratics begin to be present, and con- 

 tinue to increase in number and size to where the basement of the 

 Upper Clay resting upon the eroded surface of the Middle Sands is 

 exposed near the bridge where the road from Chester to Trafford 

 crosses over the railway. The characteristics of the Upper Boulder- 

 clay are of the same persistence here as elsewhere over the plains of 

 Lancashire and Cheshire ; it is of a reddish-brown colour, broken 

 into rude columnar structure by the cracking of the ground during 

 seasons of drought. The faces of these rude columns are of 

 a bluish-white colour, which is caused by the rain percolating from 

 the surface down these cracks, and washing away, by reason of its 

 slightly acidulated properties, the oxide of iron that colours the 

 particles of the clay. These blue partings are very characteristic of 

 the Upper Boulder-clay. 



From the Newton section of the Upper Boulder-clay I have 



