i6^ 



THE PRESENT STATE OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF 

 CARBONIFEROUS GEOLOGY. 



Dr. WHEELTON HIND, F.R.C.S., F.G.S. 



[Continued fro7n page 156). 



The whole fauna of the Yoredale Series is a Carboniferous 

 Limestone fauna, and not a Pendleside fauna. This question 

 of the relation of the Yoredale Series to the Pendleside Series 

 is one of the greatest importance, and one that I believe work 

 in this county of Yorkshire alone will settle. 



To understand this matter, a correct conception of the 

 Yoredale phase of Carboniferous Limestone deposit is essential. 

 In the Midland province the Carboniferous Limestone is prac- 

 tically one mass, but as the beds pass North, the limestones 

 are in part replaced by intercalations of shales and sandstones, 

 and this replacement at the expense of the limestone increases 

 as the Series is traced North ; that is to say beds of detrital 

 material are substituted for organic, and this change indicates 

 the influence of land whence were derived the grits and muds 

 which separate the limestones. 



How far the Seminula beds, which lie under Ingleboro, can 

 be traced North is a question for future investigation, but 

 Prof. Garwood has shewn that Seminula beds exist at the 

 base of the Carboniferous Limestone Series at Arnside and 

 Kendal, and Mr. Cosmo Johns that a small patch of probably 

 Tournaisian beds is preserved in Pinskey Gill in Ravenstondale. 



NORTHUMBERLAND. 



I believe work is now being carried on in Northumberland 

 which will settle the sequence there. At any rate, in Durham 

 and Northumberland a Dibunophyll.um fauna extends right 

 up to the Millstone Grit of that area. 



Dibiinophyllum, Cyclophyllum, Lonsdaleia, and other Corals 

 are found in abundance in the Main Limestone of that district, 

 together with a rich Visean fauna, and there can be no doubt 

 that the whole Yoredale phase of the area is typically Upper 

 Dibunophyllum. 



The Northumbrian sequence of Carboniferous rocks differs 

 considerably from those which obtain further south. I quote 

 Prof. Lebour's account given in the appendix of his handbook 

 on ' The Geology and Natural History of Northumberland 



1909 May I. 



