350 G. WAREING ORMEROD OX THE MURCHISONITE 



Keeping these divisions in view, the country north of the fault at 

 Lympstone and of Staplake Brook to Exeter will be shortly de- 

 scribed. The beds here found consist of those above the con- 

 glomerates with limestone, lying to the west of Dawlish, as they 

 have not been found north of the line just mentioned. 



As there are but few exposures on the left side of the Ex, except 

 near that river, the following remarks will be confined to the sup- 

 posed representatives of No. 3, No. 4, and also, possibly Nos. 5 and 6, 

 the representatives of the beds west of Dawlish. It is but rarely 

 that a good natural section can be observed except in the cliffs ; 

 but it is there seen that small dislocations are of constant occur- 

 rence ; these generally have a N.-and-S. direction. The valleys of 

 the Ex and Clyst probably owe their origin to this cause, and that 

 the softer and more friable beds for the most part occupy that 

 district. In addition to the N.-and-S. faults there appear to be 

 some large dislocations which range from east to west, dividing this 

 country into zones. The most southerly, lying to the south of 

 Lympstone and Staplake, has been noticed. The second zone com- 

 mences at Lympstone, where a low cliff faces the Ex (fig. 2). This is 

 composed of small angular and subangular fragments of hard brown 

 stone, Lydian stone, porphyry, and granite, with Murchisonite, both 

 in the granite and in detached crystals ; and this stratum is overlain 

 by the fine red sandstone, with false bedding, as shown at the north 

 end of the cliff, and in various cuttings. The dip is about 8° N.E. 

 These beds have apparently been thrown down to the west, and 

 appear on the right bank of the Ex, extending on the strike from 

 the south of Powderham Castle to the south of Lower-Marsh Row. 

 The dip of the rocks to the east of Kenn Brook (about 11° N.E.) 

 is so much greater than that on the west of the brook (about 

 5° JST.E.) that very possibly the Kenn flows along a line of fault 

 (fig. 2). Erom Kenton a thin variable bed of Murchisonite and small 

 angular fragments of rock can be traced to Beavis Bridge on the 

 Kenn ; and the soft red rock extends to the south-west, in which 

 1 have not found Murchisonite, until it occurs with angular and 

 granitoid fragments on a hill on the Kenton Road, about half a 

 mile to the east of Low Thornton, where it overlies the fine con- 

 glomeratic Murchisonite beds, and on the road from Oxton to High 

 Thornton, where iron bands occur in this sand-rock. The exposures 

 are generally so small, and the confusion caused by false-bedding so 

 great, that it is not in my power to state whether this extent of red 

 sand-rock is caused by a succession of faults, or by a widening out 

 of the bed ; but it probably arises from the first-mentioned cause. 



Below these sandy beds the fine conglomerate with Murchisonite 

 appears (fig. 2, e). Some of the beds are soft and friable ; but others, 

 which are well exposed at High Thornton, Low Thornton, Bickham, 

 and Trayhill, are of hard rock, much used for building-purposes, and 

 of exactly the same character as those at East-Wonford Quarry and 

 Exminster. A fault can be traced to the east of Low Thornton ; 

 the beds on the road to Kenton which overlie this conglomerate are 

 seen low down in the valley to the west of Low Thornton. The 



