Vol. 56.] STRUCTUKE OF THE MALVEEN AND ABEERLEY HILLS. 185 



the Malvern and Abberley Hills was, indeed, so great that nowhere 

 is any considerable thickness of Upper Coal Measures left, though 

 these clearly extended at one time over some of the higher portions 

 of the chain. Their removal has taken place nearly or quite down 

 to the level of the old plain on which they were deposited, and 

 in most cases denudation has progressed still further, so that the 

 Haffield Breccia rests directly upon older rocks. 



XX. The Relations of the Trias to the ' Permian ' (Haffield 

 Breccia) and to the Older Rocks of the Malvern and 

 Abberley Hills. 



As long ago realized by Holl, the Trias is let down, together 

 with the rocks upon which it rests, all along the eastern side of the 

 Malvern and Abberley Hills. 1 No beds older than the Haffield 

 Breccia appear on the eastern side of the main fault ; the relations of 

 the Trias to the Lower Palaeozoic and Archaean rocks on this side 

 of the fault are, therefore, not determinable. Triassic beds, however, 

 occur on the western side of the fault in two localities : namely, at 

 Knightwick, and at the extreme southern end of the Malverns, in 

 the district about Bromesberrow. This circumstance indicates that 

 the Trias formerly extended across the site of the fault on to the 

 rocks of the Banges. 



In the former locality (see map, fig. 28, p. 186), the Haffield 

 Breccia of Osebury Pock rests, dipping east-south-eastward at 

 angles varying from 8° to 50°, unconformably (as stated by Phillips 2 ) 

 upon green Silurian shales (? Wenlock) with bands of limestone 

 dipping east-north-eastward at 45°. On the east the Haffield 

 Breccia is faulted against the Keuper Breccia, and on the south 

 against a thin slice of the Haffield Breccia itself and of Bunter 

 Sandstone. This slip is again faulted against a larger patch of 

 Bunter Sandstone, bounded on the east by a fault bringing it 

 against the Keuper Breccia and Keuper Marl, and on the west by a 

 fault bringing it against the Silurian of Lord's Wood. The Keuper 

 Breccia and Sandstone are again faulted against the Keuper Marls. 

 The relation of the Bunter Sandstone to the Haffield Breccia is 

 admirably exposed in the thin strip, a good section of which is 

 shown along the road (fig. 29, p. 187). Mention was made of this 

 section by Phillips, who recognized its importance. 3 



The massive Haffield Breccia, dipping 17° east-south-eastward, is 

 overlain with apparent conformity by the Bunter Sandstone. A 

 small fault has let down the rocks on the south-eastern side, and 

 causes the apparently conformable junction to be once more 

 revealed, giving rise to the deceptive appearance of a band of 

 breccia in the sandstone. The junction of the two series is, how- 

 ever, quite sharp in both places, there being no passage between 

 them, and I could detect no traces in the sandstone of pebbles or 



1 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxi (1865) pp. 95 & 96. 



2 Mem. Geol. Surv. vol. ii (1848) pt. i, p. 161. 



3 Ibid. pp. 113 & 160, 



