On the Carboniferous Limestone (Avonian) of the Mendip Area (Somerset), with especial reference to the Palæontological Sequence

Abstract

I. Introduction. This paper contains the results of a detailed examination of the Carboniferous Limestone in the Mendip area. The object of my work has been the complete investigation of the faunal sequence in the Carboniferous-Limestone Series, following on the lines laid down by Dr. Arthur Vaughan, in his great paper on ‘The Palæontological Sequence in the Carboniferous Limestone of the Bristol Area.’ Detailed work in the Mendips has shown that the system of zones and subzones, established by Dr. Vaughan in the Bristol sequence, requires only very slight modification to co-ordinate accurately the faunal sequence in the Mendip area. The correlation of the Mendip and Bristol areas is treated fully in the present paper, my comparison being based on Dr. Vaughan's paper, to which I make frequent reference. I am indebted to Mr. H. B. Woodward's Geological Survey-memoir on ‘The Geology of East Somerset & the Bristol Coalfields,’ published in 1876, and to a paper by Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, entitled ‘Mendip Notes,’ published in the Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists’ Society, for much valuable information and guidance. To my recent paper on ‘The Carboniferous Limestone of Burrington Combe,’ which deals fully with the Burrington section, I refer frequently. The Carboniferous Limestone presents more or less complex structural features in several parts of the Mendip area, and it is to be hoped that the application of palæontological study to these problems will furnish correct solutions. The time at my disposal has not permitted me to pay much attention to