J. S. G. Wilson 8f H. B. Muff -The Hill of Beath. 57 



plateau belong to the Coal-measures of the Carboniferous Limestone 

 series. The latter are thrown into gentle anticlines and synclines, 

 the dip on the limbs of the folds usually lying between 10 and 15 

 degrees. The outcrop of the tuff has the form of uu ellipse, the long 

 axis of which trends east and west and measiu'es nearly 1,000 yards, 

 whilst the breadth of the ellipse is rather more than 500 yards. The 

 distribution of the outcrops of the Carboniferous rocks around the hill 

 and the evidence from the coal workings show that the tuff is not 

 interbedded with the sediments, but that it breaks through them 

 somewhat like an intrusive rock. Sir Archibald Geikie ' recognized 

 that the Hill of Beath was a volcanic neck, and this view has been 

 confirmed by recent mining operations in a conclusive manner. 



The Dunfermline Splint and Five Foot coals on the east side of the 

 hill are worked in the Hill of Beath Colliery belonging to the Fife 

 Coal Company. In order to reach the same seams on the north-west 

 side of the hill a ' stone-mine ' "was driven in a westerly direction 

 beneath the summit of the hill and almost along its greatest diameter. 

 The stone-mine commenced at the foot of a roadway, which is partly 

 ■cross-cut and partly ' dook ' in the Dunfermline Splint coal, as shown 



LIMESTONE 

 COALS 



HILL OF BEATH 



^ ^ oMONCHIQUITE 



STOME MINE. Ill TUrr/« i 



Section across the Hill of Beath ueav DimfermKue, Fife. 



in the section, at a depth of 500 feet beneath the pit-mouth, or a little 

 above Ordnance Datum. After driving a short distance the tuff was 

 entered, and on plotting the underground position of the junction on 

 to the 6 inch map it was found to be more than 550 feet vertically 

 below the junction at the surface. The stone-mine was driven 

 through compact tuff quite similar to that at the surface for about 

 half a mile, and finally emerged into sedimentary rocks, the junction 

 being vertical and almost perpendicularly beneath the margin of the 

 neck as seen at the surface. The mine passed beneath the summit 

 of the hill and at a depth of 700 feet beneath it, so that these 

 mining operations have proved a vertical column of tuff piercing the 

 Lower Carboniferous rocks and at least 700 feet high. 



The eastern margin of the tuff against the sedimentary rocks is 

 a typical neck junction, i.e. the beds as they approach the contact 

 bend down sharply towards it. Whilst the general dip of the 

 beds in the mine is about 10°, near the junction of the roadway 

 with the stone-mine through the tuff the dip is 22° towards 

 the neck. Eighteen yards further on it has increased to 50°, and 

 14 yards further it is 65°, and close to the contact with the 

 tuff a dip of 74° was measured. This great increase in the angles of 



1 Ancient Volcanoes nf Great Britain, vol. i, p. 425, footnote. 



