The Stratigraphy of the Valentian Rocks of Shropshire: the Main Outcrop

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Abstract
From an examination of a geological map of South Shropshire, it is manifest that the Silurian rocks rest with marked discontinuity upon all stages of the older rocks developed in the district. The irregularities of the land surface upon which they were deposited imparted to their outcrop its sinuous outline. In fact, the Silurian rocks may he interpreted as a mantle through which protrude complexes of older sediments. Owing to the overstep and overlap of Carboniferous and Salopian beds, Yalentian rocks do not always crop out at the surface, and consequently they are found in a number of disconnected areas, three of which are recognizable in Shropshire. This emerges from under the unconformable capping of Carboniferous rocks, sweeps off the south-east flank of the Wrekin, crosses the River Severn, and attains its maximum development in the neighbourhood of Kenley. Thence, with an ever-decreasing outcrop, it borders the village of Hughley, reposes for a short distance upon the Uriconian rocks of the Cardington area, and then rests upon successively younger Ordovician rocks until at the Onny Section it follows unconformably the Upper Trinucleus Mudstones. This originates north of Little Stretton and borders the Longmynd, the precipitous slopes of which form a striking contrast to the undulating country occupied by Silurian rocks. Continuing to the west, the outcrop passes to the Habberley (Shineton) Shales north-west of Lydham and then oversteps all divisions of the Ordovician System, being obscured by Carboniferous rocks east of Minsterley. A few outliers of Yalentian beds rest unconformably