COAL MEASURES. 1 8/ 



Boulders of qiiartzite have been found in the " Lount Nether " 

 coal, at the Coleorton colliery.^ The seams of coal vary from three 

 to nine feet in thickness. The main coal of Moira is from twelve 

 to fourteen feet thick. 



Prof. Hull mentions that at Whitwick a sheet of dolerite inter- 

 venes between the Coal-measures and New Red Sandstone. At 

 Whitwick colliery it is sixty feet thick, and has turned to cinders 

 a seam of coal with which it comes in contact. 



The saline waters for which this district is noted will be 

 mentioned further on. 



7. WARWICKSHIRE OR TAMWORTH COAL-FIELD. 



This tract of Coal-measures extends between Tamworth and 

 Nuneaton, and has been divided as follows:^ — 



Upper Series. — Sandstones and shales, at the base of which is a band (two to three 

 feet thick) of limestone, with Spirorbis pitsilhis {carbouariiis), 50 feet. 



Middle Series. — Sandstones and shales, with five workable coals (i seven-foot 

 seam) lying near the centre of the series, 1400 feet. 



Lmver Series. — Shales, etc., unproductive of coal, and traversed by dykes of 

 basalt, 1500 feet. 



The five workable coals, which at the northern end of the coal- 

 field near Tamworth are separated by about 120 feet of shales 

 and sandstones, combine at Bedworth and Wyken near Coventry 

 to form one bed 26 feet in thickness. Fire-bricks are manufactured 

 at Tamworth. 



8. NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE COAL-FIELD. 



This Coal-field lies mostly to the north-east and west of Stoke - 

 upon-Trent, Newcastle-under-Lyne, Hanley and Burslem (the 

 Potteries), and includes the Coal-fields of Cheadle and Wetley. 

 The beds have been divided as follows : — 



Upper Series. — Brown sandstones, greenish conglomerate with thick beds of 

 red and purple mottled clays ; thin coals and ironstone, and a bed of 

 limestone (' Spirorbis limestone') at Fenton. 1000 to 1500 feet. 



Middle Series. — Sandstones, shales with ironstone, with about 40 coal-seams, 

 including the ten-foot coal of tianley. Fish-remains. 3500 to 4000 feet. 



Loiver .SVrzVj-.^ Black shales and flags, with Wetley Moor thin coals, and the 

 red ironstone of the Churnet Valley. Marine fossils. 1000 feet. 



The coal-seams are from three to ten feet in thickness. 



i\Iany organic remains have been obtained from the Coal- 

 measures.^ The coarser kinds of earthenware, tiles, bricks, and 

 drain-pipes are made in large quantities from the clays of the 



I W. S. Gresley, G. Mag. 1885, 553. 



- See The Warwickshire Coal-field (Geol. Survey), by H. H. Howell. 



^ See W. Molyneux, Rep. Brit. Assoc, for 1S64, p. 342; and 1S65, p. 42; 

 Thomas Wardle, Geology of Leek, 1863 ; and C. J. Homer, Trans. N. Staff. 

 Inst. i. 102, ii. II. 



