76 C. MOORE OIT ABNORMAL GEOLOGICAL 



Fig. 3. — Gorge of the Avon at Clifton. 



Before referring to other outlying sections near Bristol, it may- 

 be noticed that although the true New Red Marls are present 

 around, the red and variegated marls which lie on the east of the 

 basin between the Durdham-Down and Clifton escarpment, and 

 extend towards Bristol, are alluvial. They have been opened up in 

 brick-pits repeatedly, as well as the conglomerates below. From 

 the former, after long search, I obtained several small bits of Inferior 

 Oolite and fragments of shells of Ostrea. The conglomerates are 

 bedded, and are usually extracted on the site of each building 

 erected ; and although hundreds of thousands of tons have been so 

 used, I have never detected any contemporaneous organism, in 

 them, nor have I heard of such having been found. They get coarser 

 and more irony as they approach the limestone below ; and in 

 several sections its rugged surface has received pockets of haematite 

 iron-ore. The pebbles are comparatively small and angular, and 

 give the idea that they may be due to a subaerial denudation of the 

 Carboniferous tableland above. 



Conglomerate of the Avon Gorge. — Passing down the river, not far 

 below the Suspension-bridge, the " Dolomitic Conglomerate," of 

 which Mr. Etheridge has given a section, is reached. It rests on 

 the edge of the Carboniferous Limestone at the side of the road 

 leading up to the Down, and is, as a friend has remarked, " a 

 gigantic heap of conglomerate " with pebbles of great size at the 

 base, getting gradually smaller at the top. It is very irony, and 

 appears to occupy but a small area. Some red maris gathered from 



