465 



of which ftiay possibly be found in the coalfields of Nova Scotia. 

 I think we are justified in this view, for not only do the separate 

 coal areas alluded to range uniformly in one direction, but there are 

 raany points of similarity in their conditions leading to the con- 

 clusion that they were not originally isolated and distinct, but 

 rather that they originally formed one connected area of great extent. 



The coalfields of South Wales, the Forest of Dean and Somerset- 

 shire, all present the same distinctive feature of two productive 

 divisions separated vertically by an intervening mass of Pennant 

 rock, and in the number of seams as well as the general character 

 of the strata there is a close correspondence. The coal districts of 

 Westphalia, Belgium, and France also have many points of re- 

 semblance to each other, and although they will not bear a close 

 comparison with the strata of Somerset and South Wales (which ia 

 hardly to be expected considering the intervening distance), yet in 

 the number of seams, the fossils they contain, the ironstone 

 associated with them, and the total thickness of strata, the dif- 

 ferences are not greater than may often be found on opposite sides 

 of the same coalfield. Perhaps the greatest diflTerence between 

 them is that on the Continent productive Coal measures take the 

 place of the barren Pennants of England and Wales. 



The most marked points of resemblance however are well stated 

 by Mr. Prestwich to be " the uniformity of subjection to like 

 physical causes, and their relation to the underlying older and the 

 overlying newer formations." The prevailing opinion is that the 

 several coalfields mentioned owe their position to one great axis 

 of disturbance which begins in the South of Ireland, extends along 

 the Coast of South Wales into the Mendip chain, forming the 

 southern margin of the Pembrokeshire, South Wales and Somerset- 

 shire coalfields, and the eastern termination of which may be found 

 in the anticlinal of the Ardennes on the southern edge of the 

 Belgian coalfield. If then in England on the one hand, and on the 

 Continent on the other, we find to the north of this axis a series of 

 basins which present every appearance of having originally formed 

 one great coalfield, it has been thought not improbable that under 

 a large area of the South of England intervening between Frome 

 and Calais productive Coal measures may one day be found. 



