SYENITE OF THE MALVERN RIDGE. 417 



sections (PL 36.), must then peruse the following pages upon the syenitic and trap rocks 

 of the principal ridge, and the effects produced by their intrusion upon the stratified 

 deposits. The organic remains are described in subsequent chapters expressly devoted 

 to them. 



Key's End Hill. Midsummer Hill. Hereford Beacon. Worcester Beacon. North Hill. 



The Malverns, as seen from the Vale of the Severn south of Worcester, from a drawing by Mr. H. E. Strickland. 



Trap and Altered Rocks of the Malvern and Abherley Hills, followed by an 

 account of the principal Dislocations of the Strata. 



The Malvern Hills, when viewed from the east, as represented in this vignette, or 

 from the north-east as in the sketch p. 78, form one of the most striking features in 

 the interior of the kingdom ; their steep arid sides and sharp outline exhibiting a marked 

 contrast to the soft and undulating grounds, composed of New Red Sandstone and 

 marl, which occupy the valley of the Severn. On the opposite side, as seen from 

 Herefordshire, they do not convey the same idea of a narrow mountain chain, their 

 western flank being encumbered with other hills and buttresses, constituting the Silurian 

 and Old Red Sandstone systems. (See vignette, p. 409.) 



The Malvern Ridge is essentially of volcanic origin, and its component parts were 

 long ago admirably described by Mr. Leonard Horner 1 . It is, indeed, remarkable, that 

 at a time when the intrusion of rocks of igneous origin through sedimentary deposits 

 was received with distrust, or warmly contested, he should have drawn such clear 

 inferences from dislocations of the strata adjacent to the trap. 



The prevailing rocks are varieties of syenite, consisting of quartz, felspar, and hornblende. A 

 granitic compound of quartz, mica, and felspar, however, occurs : but, as Mr. Horner correctly states, 

 it does not present the appearance of the true granite of Cornwall or Scotland and it passes into 

 syenite. One of the very finely grained varieties is of a purplish-brown colour, and sometimes con- 

 tains a small quantity of magnetic pyrites, and slender veins of compact epiilote and in the fissures 

 are crystallized sulphate of barytes, and minute rhomboidal crystals of ferriferous carbonate of lime. 

 Epidote is abundantly disseminated through some portions of this rock, chiefly on the northern 



1 Geological Transactions, Old Series, vol. i. p. 281. 



