438 MK. H. KAY ON THE HALESOWEN SANDSTONE [Oct. I913, 



General Observations. 



The Halesowen Series is essentially arenaceous, although clays, 

 coals, and impure limestones occur. As to colour, the prevailing tint 

 is brownish grey, but beds are found which are green, blue, purple, 

 red, brown, or yellow. Some beds present a mottled appearance, 

 owing to the inclusion of fragments of other rocks. Others, again, 

 are stained externally, and yield variegated sandstones on being 

 worked. In texture, the lower half of the series shows a definite 

 gradation from coarse conglomerate to fine-grained sandstone ; while 

 the upper half exhibits a twice-repeated change from fine sediment 

 to coarse sandstone. 



Calcareous matter is disseminated throughout the series, and 

 lenticular beds of tough calcareous sandstone are common. Some 

 of these are markedly ferruginous, and simulate fine-grained basalts 

 in appearance. A peculiar calcareous conglomerate (the ' cornstone ' 

 of Murchison l ) occurs frequently in irregular masses, but never in 

 continuous beds. 



The only animal remains yet found consist of Spirorbis, which 

 occurs in thin, earthy, often nodular limestone associated with 

 pale-blue clay at two horizons. Plant-remains are abundant, but 

 are usually ill-preserved. They consist of Carboniferous species 

 only. A definite sequence of beds is noted, as follows : — 



; f (a) Sandstones. 

 \ (b) Pale-blue clay with Spirorbis Limestone, and impersistent coaly 

 beds. 



' (4) Sandstones with much included material. 



1 (3) Pale-blue clay with Spirorbis Limestone and a definite seam of 



coal. 

 ■ (2) Sandstones. 



•■ (1) Passage-beds, mainly conglomeratic. 



(1) The Passage-Beds. 



Coarse, pebbly sandstones alternating rapidly with bands of 

 purple marl have been shown (p. 437) to occur at the summit 

 of the Old-Hill Series. These beds are well developed on Muck- 

 low Hill between the clay-pit and the canal, and a typical exposure 

 is seen in the canal-cutting. The purple bands are here reduced 

 to mere partings, a few inches only in thickness, and the sandstone- 

 layers are highly conglomeratic. A mass of tough calcareous con- 

 glomerate overlies the highest band of marl, but is merely an 

 irregular pocket and not a persistent bed. Between the canal and 

 the railway, pebbly sandstones with arenaceous partings occur, 

 and ferruginous material is plentifully distributed. At the foot of 

 the hill, the Illey Brook flows through a V-shaped ravine in grey 

 sandstone, and forms a fine cascade, which falls into a large rock- 

 basin excavated through the conglomerates into the alternating 

 • beds. 



1 ' The Silurian System ' 1839, pp. 54-57. 



• (5) 



