The Geological Succession and Palæontology of the Beds between the Millstone Grit and the Limestone-Massif at Pendle Hill and their Equivalents in certain other Parts of Britain
I. Introduction The following paper is an attempt to define the geographical extent, stratigraphical sequence, and palæontological horizon of the beds which lie between the top of the Mountain Limestone and the series of grits known as the Millstone Grits. We have taken as the type-section that on Pendle Hill (Lancashire), where these beds attain their maximum development; and as the term Pendleside Limestone has already been employed by the officers of the Geological Survey to designate the calcareous member of the group, we propose to extend the term to the whole group defined above and call it the Pendleside Group. It will be observed that this term includes the ‘shales-with-limestones’ that rest on the Mountain Limestone of the Derbyshire and North Staffordshire area, to which the name ‘Yoredale’ has been frequently applied; but one of us has already demonstrated the fact that the Yoredale Series of Wensleydale is totally different from the Pendleside Group, and that the former is the equivalent of the upper part of the Carboniferous Limestone massif, both on palæontological and stratigraphical grounds. The present paper is divided into six sections: the first being a brief introduction; the second describing in some detail the various occurrences of the beds with their fossils; the third embodies a general account of the palaeontology; the fourth is a sketch of the probable physical conditions of the period; the fifth describes some of the chemical and physical characters of the rocks; while the sixth deals with the petrology and micropalæontology.