Vol. 67.] 



WEST, MID, AND EAST SOMERSET. 



21 



St. Audrie's Slip section. — The first section to notice east 

 of Watchet is the fine one at St. Audrie's Slip. Its earliest describer 

 was Robert Etheridge, who, in a paper read in 1871 (Proc. Cottesw. 

 Nat. F. C. vol. vi, p. 40), spoke of it as the 



1 most complete section of the Rhsetic Series in Somersetshire, if not in the 

 West of England (except Penarth) . . . .' 



The Rev. H. H. Winwood, writing in 1896, thought that this 

 probably was so (Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol. xiv, p. 381) ; but at the 

 present time (1905) the lower part of the Westbury Beds is obscured, 

 and was so apparently in 1871 : for Etheridge remarks that 



'the measured section in full detail was constructed some years since, at 

 a, time when the Black Shales were in better order than at present, the sea 

 having made extensive ravages and changes in its aspect.' 



Etheridge made his measurements in company with Bristow, and 

 the joint section was published officially by the Geological Survey 

 in 1873 (Vert. Sects. Sheet 47, No. 6). 



In the recently published (1908) Geological Survey Memoir on 

 the ' Geology of the Quantock Hills, &c.' (p. 68), the official section 

 is re-stated, but in an abbreviated form. 



Section at St. Audeie's Slip, neab Watchet. 



Thickness in feet inches. 



-) r 



Limestone, rather earthy, 

 brownish-grey, with blue- 

 grey centre 



Clay, brown and black, or 

 limestone : 1 to 3 inches. 



Limestone, very pale grey- 

 brown, traversed by ex- 

 tremely thin ramifying 

 calcite-veins 



Shales, bluish-grey, passing 

 down into 



^Shales, greyish, thinly la-"^ 

 ruinated. Some of the 

 layers have conjoined, and 

 simulate hard beds. At 

 the base (for an extent ex- 

 ceeding 5 inches) these 

 ^ shales are more earthy ..._, 

 C Limestone, eartlry, bluish- ~) 

 ■< grey, somewhat nodular : > 



(. maximum J 



C Shales, rather earthy, blu- ) 

 \ ish-grey : 2 to 4 inches ... ) 



f Ostrea liassica Strickland, Vol- 

 sella minima (Sow.). 'Ostrea- 

 Bed ' of Bristow & Etheridge : 

 ' Bottom Lias ' of Dunball. 



3| 



Paper-Shales. 

 1 10 seen 



fLimestone, yellowish exte-^ 



rior, cream-coloured with 

 •{ bluish-grey patches inside 

 I conchoidal fracture. Sur 



1^ face very irregular 



Shale, brownish, clayey .. 



Grammatodon lycetti (Moore), 

 Isocyprina (?) sp. 



- ( Ill-preserved specimens of Os- 

 \ trea liassica are common. 



3 Ostrea liassica. 

 4 10 



J 



. 0| 



Volsella of the V.-minima- 

 group (Moore non Sow.) ; 

 Ostrea (?) on the upper surface. 



