Page:VCH Worcestershire 1.djvu/46

 A HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE On the whole the Bunter beds rest unconformably on all the rocks below them, less conspicuously so on the Permian, the discordance be- tween these not being of very pronounced character, although in places the Permian was no doubt uplifted and denuded prior to or during the Bunter period. There is no evidence, according to Prof Groom, that the Malvern and Abberley ranges ever formed the margin of Triassic waters ; but it is maintained by Mr. Gibson that in the Lickey region the older rocks then formed a ridge around which the red rocks were accumulated.^ The Bunter Sandstone occurs over a considerable area at and near Stourport, Kidderminster and Stourbridge, and also to the south of the Clent Hills. The Keuper Sandstone, which is largely quarried as a building- stone, forms an escarpment above the softer Bunter Sandstones, due as observed by Mr. T. C. Cantrill to its greater power of resisting denu- dation.^ He describes the lower part as a coarse, thick-bedded, reddish- brown sandstone, with occasional quartz pebbles and hard calcareous bands. It is generally conformable to the Bunter, and occurs over a large area at Bromesberrow south of the Malvern range, and again near Martley, Ombersley, and east of Stourport to Hagley and Clent, and around Bromsgrove. Remains of the fish Dipteronotus have been recorded from the Lower Keuper Sandstone of Bromsgrove, and elsewhere remains of the amphi- bian Labyrinthodon. Other fish-remains, plant-remains, and Estheria minuta have been discovered. Fossils, however, are exceedingly rare. Both the Bunter and Keuper Sandstones, as well as the Bunter Pebble-beds, are water-bearing strata, and considerable supplies are usually obtainable from them. The ground in general is light and dry at the surface, and the scenery is pleasantly diversified with woodland and pasture, orchard and ploughed land. As a residential district it is much to be preferred to the area of the red marls. The Keuper Marls form an undulating plain, for the most part under cultivation, of meadow and pasture lands, orchards and ploughed fields. The village of Redmarley d'Abitot, which is partly on Old Red Sandstone and partly on Keuper Marl, evidently takes its name from the nature of the soil. The Keuper Marl extends along the eastern side of Malvern over Malvern Chase and the country near Upton-on-Severn, Kempsey, Worcester and Droitwich, to Redditch and Moseley near Bir- mingham. The strata consist of red and variegated marls or clays, analysis showing but a small proportion of carbonate of lime.* Occasional and impersistent bands of sandstone occur in the marls, as at Longdon, Eldersfield and Inkberrow, and these are of sufficient im- portance to be quarried in places. Scattered over the surface of the vale of the Severn are numerous patches of gravel and sand, and these yield ' G. Maw, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xxiv. p. 371. 16
 * Summary of Progress of Geological Survey io 1898, p. 125.
 * Geol. Mag. for 1895, p. 265.