261 



PEOCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



Manchester Geological Society. — April 29. — 1. " On the Geology 

 of the Eailway between Hyde and Marple." The length of the line is 

 seven miles, and some of the sections are as mneh as sixty feet in depth. 

 It trends in a direction nearly coincident with the line of strike of the 

 rocks. The country through which it passes undulates very much, so that 

 the hue in places crosses, at a height of more than a hundred feet, valleys 

 worn out by denudations, probably, the author thinks, at the close of the 

 Pleistocene age, as Drift-beds cap their summits. The geology of the 

 railway may be set down as belonging to two widely-separated forma- 

 tions — the Lower Coal Measures and the Pleistocene. 



Going along the line from Hyde, about two miles from the town, a 

 thin-bedded argillaceous sandstone rises, overlying beds of shale. No 

 organic remains have been found in it. The dip is on the right-hand side, 

 in a direction nearly N.W., and at an angle of 10 or 15 degrees. Iron- 

 stone bands, several inches in thickness, frequently alternate with the 

 shales, and along the whole length of the line these beds are not lost sight 

 of. Towards Marple they have been affected by dislocations, and about 

 a quarter of a mile beyond the aqueduct a downthrow fault of several feet 

 is seen. Near Pomilly the gullets are deeper, and the shale-beds are suc- 

 ceeded by those ripple-marked flag-stones. Over these beds lie masses of 

 sandstone rock of coarser texture, containing imperfect impressions of 

 Calamites and Sigillarise. Two miles further on this rock is succeeded by 

 one of a conglomerate character, and very hard, — the matrix being of a 

 light grey colour, the imbedded pebbles red. 



Near Hyde, where the shales first come to view, they contain fragments 

 of Lepidodendra and Nearopteris, with numbers of Sph^orhis ctwhonarius 

 and Cyprides, in company with several species of Anihrcicosia : the whole 

 so commingled as to show they shared a common habitat. 



The Anthracosia found in the ironstone bands are interesting, from the 

 fact that numbers show the interior of the valves, and consequently expose 

 the hinge — a feature which is valuable in settling the various opinions 

 maintained as to the habits of these mollusca. In tracing these apparently 

 freshwater shales towards Marple, we find a change towards marine con- 

 ditions, Goniatites, Avicula-pectens, etc. being' mixed up with the Anthra- 

 cosice. 



This fact, the author considers, goes to prove that the Tlmo or Anthra- 

 cosia, formerly regarded as a freshwater shell, was in reality a marine one 

 that lived in shallow and brackish waters. 



The Drift deposits which overlie the Carboniferous beds above described, 

 are of the general character. Not much Till is met with until the aqueduct 

 at Marple is crossed, where these beds contain huge boulders of porphyry, 

 granite, syenite, etc. The boulders are generally rounded ; the larger 

 ones being scratched and striated. In a section about two miles from 

 Hyde the Drift beds are cut through to a depth of thirty feet, and consist of 

 beds of sand and clay alternating with each other, and containing marine 

 shales, Tellina, Cardium edule, Turritella, Terehra, and Astarte. The 

 author considers these beds are a continuation of the fossiliferous sands on 

 the Stockport and Woodley Line, formerly described by him. 



E/ich beds of calcareous marl, sometimes several feet in thickness, are 

 sometimes seen capping the Drift deposits. 



2. "On the North Staffordshire Corn Field." By Mr. John Bradbury, 

 jun. The strata of this field were minutely detailed, and a section given, 

 with their m^easured thicknesses. 



3. "On an improved Safety-Cage for Miners." By Mr. T. Farrimond. 



