THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES. DECADE II. VOL. II. 



No. V.— MAY, 1875. 



OZR-IO-IZDsr^-IIL ABTICLBS. 



I. — The Search for Coal under the "Bed Bocks " of the 

 South Staffordshire Coal-field. 



By Charles Ketley, Esq. 



IT is now fifteen years since the appearance of the second edition 

 of the late Professor Jukes's memoir on the Geology of the 

 South Staffordshire Coal-field. The author observed in his preface 

 that a revision of his work had been rendered necessary by the 

 opening of many new mines and cuttings of various kinds which had 

 afforded fresh information on points that had previously been obscure. 

 He mentioned, for instance, certain red clays and sandstones occur- 

 ring at Walsall Wood, and at other places which were at first sup- 

 posed to belong to the New Red Sandstone, afterwards believed to be 

 Permian, but were ultimately decided to be Coal-measures. 



Similar terms would now help to show the necessity for a third 

 edition. New sinkings have afforded new information, and certain 

 other red beds believed to be Permian have proved to be Coal- 

 measures. 



Whoever undertakes the revision and the supplementary work for 

 a new edition will find abundant material, and among the sinkings 

 claiming his attention will be that, recently completed, through the 

 red rocks of West Bromwich, at Sandwell Park, on the estate of the 

 Earl of Dartmouth. 



In connexion with these red rocks a passing notice may be made 

 of the first search for Coal, thirty-six years ago, by the late Earl of 

 Dartmouth, who, in the face of the prevailing belief that no Coal 

 existed under the red rocks, sunk his famous Heath Pits. These 

 were commenced at the suggestion of his principal agent, Mr. Daw- 

 son, a gentleman who, without being versed in mining affairs, simply 

 applied, in this case, the knowledge he had derived from geological 

 writings, especially those of Sir Boderick Murchison. That cele- 

 brated geologist, from observations made in the old Coal-field, had 

 inferred the existence of Coal under the " Lower New Bed Sandstone," 

 as the red rocks on the margin of the Coal-field were then named. 



DECADE II. — VOL. II. NO. V. 13 



