REB SANDSTONE WITH GYPSUM. 161 



hard seams, may, like the Sandsend bands, be viewed as somewhat 

 analogous to the lias beds ; and as the latter are said to be succeeded 

 by red sandstone in other places ; particularly in Somersetshire, and 

 in the north of Ireland ;* we may infer, that our lowest shale is imme- 

 diately followed by the red sandstone of Cleveland. Some think, 

 that a considerable seam of coal exists under the aluminous beds be- 

 tween Redcar and Saltburn, as great quantities of coal are often 

 washed up on the sands there, especially after a storm. The sea-coal 

 of Redcar sands was well known above two centuries ago."!" This 

 coal, however, may be partly drifted from the mouths of the Tyne 

 and the Wear by the flood tide, and partly supplied from the many 

 wrecks of coal vessels on the Redcar rocks. No coal has been 

 found in the red strata in the interior, though there are thin layers of 

 coaly matter in the alluvial beds over it; yet it is possible, that coal 

 may exist in the strata on that part of the coast, as it is found near 

 sandstone in some other parts of Britain. 



The title which we have given to this part of our strata (mai'k- 

 ed p) does not fully expi'ess its qualities. Red sandstone is indeed 

 the most prominent feature in these strata ; but their nature and 

 colour are subject to great variations, similar to what may be seen in 

 the extensive tracts of the same strata, occurring in several of the 

 western and middle counties of England, and in some parts of Scot- 

 land and Ireland. In most places, this rock is a proper sandstone ; 

 in many, it is a kind of soft marl, so that it often obtains the name 

 of red marl ; and there are also instances where it becomes a species 

 of limestone ; while in a few places, a great proportion of clay enters 

 into its composition, on which account it has also been termed red clay. 

 Some specimens are highly schistose and micaceous ; some, mode- 

 rately schistose, and containing less mica ; some, not fissile, but 



* Geological I'ransactions, III. p. 165, 373, &c. 



■\ Sep an ancient M. S. quoted in Graves's Hist, of Cleveland, p. 399. 



