1826.] ichkh appear on the Yorkshire Coast. o53 



great coal measures, it is not a distinct deposit, but it is a sub- 

 ordinate member of a complex formation. 



These beds of shale and sandstone are succeeded (in the clifF 

 between Guisthorpe and White-nab to ihe south of Scarborough ; 

 and also in the chfF extending from the north shore of Scarbo- 

 rough to Cloughton wyke), by a deposit principally composed of 

 beds of sandstone ; many of which in their composition and mode 

 of arrangement could not, by the most practised eye, be distin- 

 guished from the beds of gritstone which form so considerable a 

 part of the coal formation on the coast of Northumberland. Beds 

 and nodules of ironstone abound in some of the sandstone beds 

 of this series : nodules of ironstone also occur in beds of shale, 

 which alternate with the sandstone. Carbonaceous matter, 

 obviously of vegetable origin, is found associated both with the 

 sandstone and the ironstone ; and near Guisthorpe, in the higher 

 part of the series, this matter is aggregated in one or two dis- 

 tinct beds ; which are, however, too impure and inconsiderable 

 to be of any value, and are only interesting as affording the first 

 indications of coal in the district. 



Notwithstanding the analogies between this system of beds 

 and the true coal measures, a careful examination of many 

 of the extensive sections on the coast would enable us to sepa- 

 rate the formations from each other. Thus, near Cayton Mill 

 (about half way between Filey Bridge and Scarborough), a thick 

 bed of oolitic calcareous grit is interstratified with the sandstone ; 

 and further north, near White-nab, some shelly beds associated 

 with the sandstone and ironstone, bear no» resemblance to any 

 part of the true coal measures. The separation is made still 

 more complete by suifes of organic remains, found in various 



J)laces on the coast, which are identical, not with the older 

 bssils of the great coal formation, but with the fossils common 

 to some of our deposits of oolitic limestone. 



The beds of sandstone, shale, and ironstone, which occupy the 

 cliffs for three or four miles to the north of Scarborough, are at 

 Cloughton-wyke succeeded by some beds of meagre grey* 

 coloured calcareous grit, and of hard and nearly compact bluish 

 limestone. These beds, although they are in different places 

 considerably modified both in their texture and arrangement, 

 have been traced (by the authors of the " Survey of the York- 

 shire Coast,") through many parts of the interior to the western 

 extremity of the district. Near Cloughton-wyke they contain 

 many obscure traces of organic remains ; but make no great 

 feature amon^ the other rocks, and might easily escape notice, 

 were it not ^r the quantity of stalactitic incrustation which 



coral rag and the inferior formation; but in other places where the shale is interlaced 

 with, and almost replaced by sand»tone, the same boundary bne becomes ill defined 

 •nd almoKt arbitrary. 



New Series, vol. xi. 2 a 



