500 G. A. Lebour, and W. Mundle — Coal in Chile, 



conducive to a more perfect knowledge of the geological structure of 

 the coast ; and the consequent accumulation of material for its study 

 has, "we believe, brought it within our power, not only to add to the 

 very limited stock of notes on the subject, but also, it is hoped, to 

 give such explanations of some of the more obscure facts connected 

 therewith as were, from the want of reliable data, either overlooked 

 by earlier observers, or only vaguely suggested by them. 



We may premise our remarks by saying that although the majority 

 of the facts alluded to va. this paper will be found to hold good for 

 the whole of the Tertiary formation under consideration, they apply 

 more strictly to the area comprised between Concepcion and Yaldivia, 

 where these rocks have been very carefully examined during a 

 lengthened professional stay by Mr. Mundle. This portion of the 

 coast which we have selected to illustrate the general points of our 

 subject, contains the two most important and largest collieries of the 

 country, namely those of Coronel and Lota, from the workings con- 

 nected with which a large amount of the information in these pages 

 has been obtained. 



The Tertiary rocks (as, for want of a better term, we shall for the 

 present call them) form a narrow strip of beds following the coast- 

 line of Chile, and the general inclination of which is a very gentle 

 one to the W. or N.W., that is, towards the sea. These beds rest 

 unconformably on the older metamorphic and volcanic rocks of the 

 country (see fig. 1), which form the bulk of the lesser chain of 

 mountains bordering the coast, the long interior undulating plain 

 and the great easternmost Cordillera. This is shown in fig. 1, 

 which is a sketch section on a true scale, running from a point just 

 S. of the mouth of the Lebu river, crossing the valley of the Bio- 

 Bio, near Santa Fe, passing a little to the S. of Los Angeles, entering 

 the region of the Andes proper, near Lake Canquen, and ending a 

 few miles E. of the active volcano of Antuco. 



This section is merely given to show the relative position of the 

 larger groups of rocks, and lays claim to nothing beyond general 

 accuracy. In order that it may the better fulfil our object, however, 

 we have made it cut the coast at a point very near to both Coronel 

 and Lota, to which, as we have stated above, our observations will 

 mainly apply. At a number of other places along the coast of Chile 

 and Patagonia, these coal-bearing rocks have been observed, from a 

 place called Talcahuano, a few miles north of Concepcion (where 

 the. coal, says Mr. BoUaert, who surveyed the neighbourhood in 

 1828, "was so inferior as to be thrown aside "),^ to some of the 

 islands of the Chonos Archipelago, according to Darwin,* or even as 

 far south as the Straits of Magellan, where coal similar in general 

 character to that under consideration, was observed during a very 

 hasty visit by Mr. Mundle in 1865.3 



1 "Observations on the Coal formation in Chile," by "W. Bollaert, Esq., P.R.G.S,, 

 Journal of the E.G.S., vol. xxv., p. 172. 



^ Geological Observations on South America, by C. Darwin. London, 1846. 



3 Mr.W. Bollaert, in the paper referred to above, also mentions coal as having been 

 found at the Straits of Magellan. 



