130 



GEOLOGY MAITLAND-BRANXTON DISTRICT, 



Shaf< 



sp 



I 6 



r^%?) 



have not been touched by prospecting shafts, but there is little 

 doubt that this portion is composed of sandstone and conglom- 

 erate. Below this, the section is given in a shaft some 185 feet 

 east of the main tunnel mouth. The section of this shaft is(Fig.G): 



It shows a couple of weath- 

 ered seams of coal, and a 

 band of about one foot of 

 kerosene-shale. In this lower 

 part of the section, there is a 

 sprinkling of small crystals of 

 pyrites through the shale and 

 sandstone, and also through 

 the two feet of " Black stone" 

 at the bottom. The coal 

 shown by the shaft is very 

 weathered, and of no use; but 

 it is, of course, possible that, 

 further in from the outcrop, 

 it may lose its weathered char- 

 acter. The greyish, shaly 

 sandstone, between the seams, 

 contains fairly abundant 

 plant-remains, amongst which 

 Glossopteris is the most pro- 

 minent; some of the stems of 

 these plants are replaced by 

 pyrites. 



(2.)Black Creek.— At Black 

 Creek, about one mile south 



Surface so.t 

 FineConqlomerati. 

 Coarser conglomerate 



Soft brownith Sandstone. 

 Patch o< conglomerate. 



Soft brownish sandstone 



Coal (weathered! Shaly at Top 



Grtu sandstone (wiiVbinddtwno-tlW} 

 (.p^nTous) 



Coal (w&alWed ^ 



Grey shaly sandstone (p^nfous^ 



Conglomerate « sandstone 



Shale 



Conglomerate 



Shale 



Kerosene shale 



Black stone (pyntou%) 



Greyish shale 



of the Rothbury Collieries, f^ 6 S*dio« 'of Bottom Seams at RotMwn, C.Uien, 

 two seams can be seen, corres- 

 ponding to the two upper ones at the first locality. The top 

 one of these two seams has not been prospected, but a tunnel 

 in the lower one revealed the following section(Fig.7, p. 131). 



It was near the position of this tunnel that Professor David 

 had a shaft put down some years ago,* and obtained 9 feet, 9 



* Op. cit., p. 139. 



