[ 4-S9 ] 

 Pfoceedi?}gs of Learned Societies. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



May 11. A PAPER was read " On the Silurian and other Rocks 



J 836. -^ of the Dudley and Wolverhampton Coal-field, fol- 

 lowed by a Sketch proving the Lickey Quartz Rock to be of the same 

 age as the Caradoc Sandstone," by Roderick Impey Murchison, Esq., 

 F.G.S., V P.RS. 



In previous memoirs the author has shown that the coal-field extend- 

 ing from Dudley into the adjacent parts of Staffordshire is surrounded 

 and overlaid by the lower member of the new red sandstone ; and on 

 this occasion, laying before the Society an Ordnance map, geologi- 

 cally coloured, he gave, 1st, A general sketch of the structure of the 

 coal-field in descending order : 2ndly, Detailed accounts of the Si- 

 lurian rocks which protrude through the coal measures or lie beneath 

 them : 3rdly, A sketch of the quartz rocks of the Lickey : 4thly, A 

 description of the trap rocks : 5thly, General remarks upon the dis- 

 locations of the stratified deposits, and the dependence of these phae- 

 nomena upon the intrusion of trap rocks. 



1. Coal measures. — In most parts of the productive coal-field the 

 coal measures are covered by a considerable quantity of detritus, the 

 greater part of which has been derived from the breaking up of the 

 new red sandstone which once overspread this tract, with which are 

 mixed, especially in the northern part of the field, a few boulders of 

 northern origin and some from the surrounding region. 



General and detailed sections are then given of the regular succes- 

 sion of the carboniferous strata ; for the greater part of which in the 

 neighbourhood of Dudley, and for much valuable information, Mr. 

 Murchison expresses great obligation to Mr. Downing; the best 

 sections of the Wolverhampton field having been afii'orded by Mr. J. 

 Barker. The principal points of novelty consist in drawing a clear 

 distinction between the upper or thicker measures, which contain the 

 1 0-yard coal, generally known as the Dudley coal, and the underhjing 

 carbonaceous strata, or ironstone measures. The latter, rising from 

 beneath the 10-yard coal, range to the N.N.E. from Wednesbury 

 and Bilston, in a long tract between the parallels of Walsall and Wol- 

 verhampton, extending to Cannock Chase. At the southern end of 

 the field, emerging from beneath the 10-yard coal, they occupy the 

 'district between Stourbridge and Hales Owen, containing the well- 

 known " fire clay;" though some of the most valuable of the Wol- 

 verhampton iron-stones, beneath those called the " New Mine," are 

 here wanting, viz. the " Gubbins," and " Blue Flats." This poverty 

 in the lower coal measures extends over all the district south of Dud- 

 ley. In the northern and southern ends of the district these lower 

 measures represent the whole carboniferous system; and in various 

 natural sections near the Hagley and Clent Hills, the author has de- 

 tected them, in very feeble bands, passing upwards and conformably 

 Third Series. Vol. 9. No. r^7. Supplement. Dec. 183C. 3 N 



