LECTURE 



ON THE 



CAEEONIFEEOirS STRATA of SOMEESETSHIRE, 



BY 



J. MCMURTRIE, RADSTOCK. 



(Read January I5th, 1868.^ 



In the present paper it is not my intention to define generally 

 the geographical hmits of the carboniferous system of Somer- 

 setshire, but rather to describe a section of strata I recently 

 had occasion to construct for the purposes of the Royal Coal 

 Commission, which may be regarded as a typical section of 

 the southern portion of the Somersetshire and Gloucester- 

 shire Coal Basin. 



The line of the section I have shown by a dotted line on 

 the accompanying map. 



It commences near the Priory at Chewton Mendip, passes 

 through Farringdon, Paulton, Camerton, and Dunkerton, and 

 terminates at Combe Down Church, near Bath. 



It begins with the mountain limestone of the Mendip 

 range, showing the eastern side of that anticlinal, crosses 

 nearly at right angles the best proved and least disturbed 

 portion of the coal basin, and it attempts to define the 

 probable point at which the limestone will again emerge 

 from beneath the coal measures on the eastern side of 

 the basin. 



The surface line is from an accurate levelling and survey 



