180 PROF. T. T. GROOM ON THE GEOLOGICAL [Feb. I9OO, 



pointed out that the structure of May Hill is related on one hand 

 to that of the Malvern district and on the other to that of the 

 Woolhope district. In the two last-named areas the axial planes of 

 the folds dip towards the eastern side, and occasional inversions are 

 seen in May Hill. I have observed that at Fiaxley, at the southern 

 end of this district, the Silurian beds are inverted. The dip of the 

 beds on the eastern side of the Forest-of-Dean coal-basin is, on the 

 whole, decidedly steeper than on the western, as may be seen from 

 the section drawn to scale by Messrs. Insole & Bunning. 1 In some 

 places the beds are vertical, or even slightly inverted. There is, 

 therefore, a general tendency for the axes of the north- an d-south 

 folds in these districts to dip eastward, as in the Malvern and 

 Abberley areas. 



In addition to the north-and-south folds others occur directed 

 transversely. Besides the great fold of Abberley Hill, there is a 

 second which gives a westerly strike to the rocks on the northern 

 side of the Silurian area of Ledbury, while a third gives the northern 

 limit to the Forest-of-Dean Coalfield. The combination of the two 

 sets of intersecting folds tends to divide the whole area into a 

 series of basins, separated by anticlinal ridges of varying direction 

 and breadth. The Old lied Sandstone area west of the Malvern 

 and Abberley districts shows a series of these basins and ridges. 

 The close relations which exist between these folds and those that 

 form the coalfields of South Wales and Bristol make it difficult to 

 avoid the conclusion that we are dealing with the same set of folds 

 throughout the region to which I have referred, and that the move- 

 ments which produced the Malvern and Abberley Ranges also gave 

 rise to the coal-basins of the Forest of Dean, South Wales, and 

 Somerset. Now, the two last-named coalfields constitute a part of 

 Sucss's great Armorican Bange, which, from evidence quoted on 

 pp. 178-79, must be regarded as chiefly of Coal-Measure age. We 

 have, therefore, evidence from two distinct sources that the Malvern 

 and Abberley Banges are of Coal-Measure age, and may accordingly 

 regard this West-of-England chain as a small branch of the great 

 Hercynian system, mainly produced in the same limited geological 

 interval. It will be seen, then, that there is no reason to believe that 

 the two sets of folds which have given rise to the coal-basins of 

 Southern Britain are of appreciably different ages, and on this point 

 I am at issue with Prof. Hull, 2 who maintains that the folds running- 

 east and west are of earlier age (pre-Permian) than those running 

 north and south (post-Permian). 



The post-Permian age of the Pennine chain has been disputed 

 by Edward Wilson 3 and Mr. Teall, 4 who have both maintained 

 that the Pennine uplift took place in pre-Permian times, as did 



1 « The Forest-of-Dean Coalfield' 1881. 



2 Rep. Brit, Assoc. 1870 (Liverpool) p. 74 ; Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxiv 

 (18G8) p. 323 & vol. xxv (1869) p. 171 ; ' Trias & Permian of Midlands 

 Mem. Geol. Surv. 1669, p. Ill ; 'Coalfields of Gt. Britain' 3rd ed. (1873) 

 p. 468; ibid. 4th ed. (1881) p. 522; Geol. Mag. 1880, p. 185. 



3 Geol. Mag. 1879, p. 500; & ibid. 1880, p. 93. 4 Ibid. 1880, p. 92. 



