Yol. 69.] SERIES OF THE SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE COALFIELD. 449 



northwards in the Cradley area and the direction of their dip is 

 modified. The continuity of the fault is, therefore, apparent. 



(d) The Oldenhall Fault. — -This appears on the published 

 maps as a very short line branching east-north-eastwards from the 

 Hayes Fault, a little south of the Oldenhall Colliery. South of 

 the dislocation thus indicated, horizontal beds of sandstone occur, 

 which, in the Lutley Gutter, are seen to overlie the Halesowen 

 Coal and Clays : they are, therefore, members of the Hasbury Group. 

 North of the fault the sandstone beds belong to the Witley 

 Group, since in the colliery-shaft and in the tramway-cutting 

 they overlie the purple marls of the Old-Hill Series. 



Evidence of faults along the same Hue eastwards has already 

 been given (p. 439). The exposures are practically continuous, 

 and therefore a single line of fracture is indicated on the accom- 

 panying map (PI. XLIV). The beds are thrown down southwards 

 along the whole line, but evidence as to the amount of throw is not 

 available. The fault appears to hade southwards, and to intersect 

 the shaft of the Witley Colliery, but information as to its position 

 in the workings is not forthcoming. Still farther east a fault is 

 exposed in the banks of the Canal, and also near the Bellevue 

 Potteries. Each of these exposures is likewise in the line of the 

 Oldenhall and Eurnace-Hill dislocation, and may possibly be con- 

 nected therewith. 



(e) The fault running through Hasbury and Hayley Green, which 

 is shown on the published maps and was inferred by Jukes, 1 is 

 omitted, inasmuch as no evidence for it has been met with on the 

 ground, and the features indicated by Jukes are sufficiently ex- 

 plained by the occurrence of two similar series of beds separated by 

 highly inclined strata, as shown on p. 444. A second fault, shown 

 on the same maps from Hunnington to Old Hill, is an obvious 

 error, being in reality the line of a horizontal section (No. 10: 

 Sheet 25). 



VI. Unconformities. 1 ' 



The first unconformity occurs at the base of the Witley Group, 

 and is confined to the area west of Cradley and the Lutley Valley. 

 The evidence for it is as follows : — 



Oldenhall Colliery stands at 580 feet O.D., and its shaft passes 

 through 135 feet of sandstone (Witley Group), some marls and 

 conglomerates (Old-Hill Series), and the productive Coal Measures. 

 The Thick Coal is reached at a depth of 484 feet, or 96 feet 

 above sea-level. It lies horizontal from north to south, but has 

 a slight eastward dip. 



* ' The S. Staffs. Coalfield ' Mem. Geol. Surv. 2nd ed. (1859) p. 155. 



2 This information is gleaned partly from observation, partly from Jukes's 

 Memoir, partly from Mr. W. Mathews's paper on ' The Halesowen District of 

 the South Staffordshire Coalfield,' and partly from conversations with the 

 managers at the mines. 



