Geology 



and to some extent also in Port Hutton and the smaller 

 towns. We called this rock the Coal Hill Sandstone, 

 and examined it carefully as it might serve as a useful 

 index bed in our future investigations. 



The sandstone rested on a very dark-gray, almost 

 black, calcareous shale in which were numerous fossils, 

 and was upwards of 60 feet in thickness. Its exact 

 thickness could not be ascertained as the top had been 

 worn away by denudation. 



The black shale, which was 10 feet in thickness, 

 contained amongst other fossils many specimens of a 

 shell similar to that of an ordinary scallop, which in 

 most instances were crushed flat and lay one upon 

 another in such profusion that they could be flaked off, 

 one after another, almost like sheets of paper. The 

 fossil was Pterinopectenpapyraceus, from which we judged 

 that we were dealing with the Upper Carboniferous or 

 true Coal Measures. 



Beneath the black shale was 30 feet of gray shale 

 with two bands of nodules of clay ironstone ; then 

 followed the upper seam of coal. This was 3 feet 6 

 inches in thickness, and rested on a 2o-foot bed of almost 

 white sandstone containing numerous fossil roots and 

 rootlets in its upper portion, and near its base a cast of 

 the trunk of a large tree. Beneath this was 15 feet of 

 gray shale, and then a 5 -foot seam of coal, which in turn 

 rested on a bed of fireclay. 



The strata in the lower part of the hill were obscured 

 by talus material which had fallen from above, but there 

 appeared to be at least two beds of white sandstone of 

 the variety known as ganister and similar to that immedi- 

 ately below the upper seam of coal. The seams of coal 



124 



