The Liassic Rocks of We Radstock District (Somerset)

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Abstract
I. Introduction. The Liassic rocks described in this paper are those found within a radius of about 4 miles of Radstoek. The area dealt with is a low plateau, about 400 feet high, capped by Oolites and dissected by a number of rather narrow valleys. The Lias quarries are generally situated just below the plateau-level; the valleys are usually in deep red Keuper Marl, but in some of them the horizontal Mesozoic rocks are seen resting on gently folded Coal Measures, which have long been worked in the neighbourhood. The Liassic rocks of this area have attracted considerable attention, because they are unusually thin, and in the lower part, exceptionally fossiliferous. The Lower Lias (Hettangian, Sinemurian, anjl Lower Charmouthian) is exposed in a great number of small quarries in the neighbourhood, and as each of these shows the entire succession from White Lias to Charmouthian, considerable detail concerning the sequence is available. The peculiarities of the Liassic rocks of the district result from the fact that the area is situated immediately north of the Mendips; it is well known that there was repeated movement along this axis, intermittently from post-Carboniferous times until well into the Mesozoic. The consequences of these movements are seen at Radstock: (i) in the condensed development of certain Liassic zones ; the whole of the Lias thins as it is traced from Gloucestershire southwards to the Mendips, and from Dorset northwards. (ii) in the numerous non-sequences which have resulted mainly from

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