446 Geological Society. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



December 3rd, 1913. — Dr. Aubrey Straban, F.R.S., President, 

 in the Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. * A Contribution to our Knowledge of the Geology of the 

 Kent Coalfield.' By Dr. E. A. Newell Arber, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S. 



In this paper an attempt is made to give a general and connected 

 account of the Carboniferous rocks of Kent, based on the evidence 

 of some nineteen borings or sinkings. The Mesozoic cover of this 

 wholly concealed coalfield is ignored. It is shown that the proved 

 area is 200 square miles (128,000 acres), partly lying beneath land, 

 and partly beneath the North Sea, the Straits of Dover, and the 

 English Channel. The general strike is about 30"^ south of east 

 and north of west, and the dip of the Transition Coal Measures is 

 2° to 3°, in the two localities where reliable evidence is alone 

 available on this point. 



The area, as a whole, is a syncline, limited on the north and 

 south by Annorican folds, of which the northern has been now 

 fairly accurately located. Tliere is evidence also of a fold on the 

 east ; and it is maintained that the Kent coalfield is not continuous 

 with that of the Pas de Calais. Tliere are reasons for believing 

 that the western boundary is a great fault. 



The chief sm*face-featm-e of the Coal Measures is that of an 

 inclined plane, sloping rapidly but regularly westwards and south- 

 westwards from an elevated region near Rij^ple and Deal in the 

 east. 



The Lower Carboniferous rocks exceed 450 feet in thickness, and 

 were denuded before the Coal Measures were deposited. 



The Coal Measures consist of the Transition Series (1700 to 

 2000 feet thick), and the Middle Coal Measures (2000 feet). No 

 Lower Coal Measures or Millstone Grit occur. The measures are 

 grey throughout, and no red rocks, Espley rocks, Sjpirorhis- 

 limestones, nor igneous rocks occur. 



The coals are well distributed, and are often of considerable 

 thickness, although there is a frequent tendency t<i s])litting and 

 inconstancy. Steam and household coals predominate, but gas- 

 coals also occur. 



The most productive portions of the measures are the higber 

 part of the Transition and the lower part of the Middle Coal 

 Measures. 



2. ' On the Fossil Floras of the Kent Coallleld.' By Dr. E. A. 

 Newell Arber, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S. 



The floras of ten further Iwrings in Kent arc here recoi'ded, and 

 the number of species known from tbc Kent C\)allield is raised to 

 96, as compared with 10 known in 1S<>2 and 20 in 1909. A 



