V.—The Upper Trias of Leicestershire

Extract

This district is bounded on the north by the Coalville and Ashby line, on the west and south by the county boundaries, on the east by the Shackerstone and Market Bosworth lines. In the north are exposures of Coal-measures, Permian breccias, and Bunter, which the Trias in turn rests upon unconformably. The Lower Keuper forms a long tract on the west not more than two miles in breadth, forming a good feature, the sandstones giving rise to scarps, whilst the Red Mail occupies the rest of the district to the east. On the south-west beds of sandstone form marked features, which also give rise to bold escarpments, whilst the Red Marl itself constitutes a uniform plateau with little or no variation in heights. There are few exposures in the marls, which on the extreme east are covered by a mantle of Boulder-clay and sands. The River Sence and the Sence Brook, however, cut down to the lower parts of the Red Marl, and a good deal of alluvium fills the valleys to the south. The altitude over most of this ground rises uniformly above 300 feet, and in some parts to over 400, rarely sinking below 250. A ridge of hills is formed by the Orton Sandstone striking north-west and south-east, and another ridge meets it at right angles from Market Bosworth.