Vol. 56.] SIRC/CTURE OP THE MALVERN AND ABBERLEY HILLS. 193 



(3) The present relation of the Permian and Trias to the Malvern 

 and Abberley Ranges is due to a post-Liassic fault of 

 moderate downthrow. 



XXII. Movements other than the Hercynian in the 

 Malvern and Abberley Districts. 



Early movements which appear to be independent of the Hercy- 

 nian folding have left their traces in the Western Midlands. In 

 addition to these, a well-marked series of later movements took 

 place, which followed the lines of the old Hercynian folds. Similar 

 instances in many tracts of country have long been known, and 

 our knowledge of such posthumous movements has been utilized by 

 Godwin-Austen and other geologists to settle questions of great 

 practical importance. It is proposed to defer the discussion of such 

 movements in the Malvern and Abberley districts to a future 

 occasion. 



XXIII. Summary of the Structure of the Malvern and 

 Abberley Ranges. 



1. The tract of country which includes the Abberley Hills, the 



Malvern Hills, May Hill, the Old Red Sandstone district 

 west of these, the Forest-of-Dean Coalfield, the Coalfields 

 of South Wales and Bristol, and the district of Tortworth, is 

 traversed by a series of related folds. The axes of these 

 run in two chief directions, intersecting one another at a 

 considerable angle. The axial plane of one set tends to dip 

 in an easterly, and that of the other in a southerly direction. 

 (See p. 179.) 



2. In the Malvern and Abberley district much overfolding has 



taken place, frequently from the east, more rarely from the 

 south. The inversions are not confined, as Phillips supposed, 1 

 to the Abberley Hills and the northern and middle portions of 

 the Malvern Range, but also affect beds in the southern part. 2 

 Inversion is, in fact, the rule along the western side of the 

 Malverns. The amount of inversion is frequently consider- 

 able, and in some places in the Abberley district the beds 

 are completely overturned. The evidence obtainable militates 

 against the idea of overlap of the Lower Palaeozoic beds 

 suggested by Holl. (See pp. 143, 150, 163.) 



3. The western margin of the Archaean massif appears everywhere 



to be defined by a fault, in some cases about vertical, in others 

 reversed, sometimes with a considerable hade. The result of 

 these thrusts is that the Archaean has been shoved on to various 

 zones of the Cambrian at the southern end of the Malvern 

 Range, 3 and in other parts of the chain on to various zones of 



1 Mem. Geol. Surv. toI. ii (1848) pt. i, p. 71. 



2 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. lv (189 ( .» pp. 154 & 155. 



3 Ibid. p. 155 & map, pi. xiii. 



Q. J. G. S. No. 221. o 



