Mr. Hutton's Notes on the New Red Sandstone, ^c. 69 



at Cullercoats, a bed of Shale, having a hade or dip, at a considerable 

 angle, towards the north. On the southern side of the quarry, in se- 

 veral places where the stone has been worked near the line of the Dyke, 

 marks of mechanical action are visible, particularly near the Rail-way, 

 on its eastern side. 



The general opinion is, that this patch of Limestone overlies both 

 edges of the Dyke, and that it has been deposited not only after the slip 

 took place, but after the removal of the whole of the high side, which 

 would necessarily be left, by the sinking down of the strata on the 

 North. This is an opinion from which I confess I differ with reluc- 

 tance ; nevertheless, as the Limestone at Cullercoats is manifestly thrown 

 down along with the yellow Sand, and contorted by mechanical action, 

 we are compelled to come to the conclusion that the 90-fathom Dyke 

 was formed after the deposition and consolidation of the Magnesian 

 Limestone ; and this would necessarily be our conclusion if there were 

 no marks in the quarry at Whitley to point it out, as we cannot suppose 

 the Limestones in the two situations to be of different ages, or, closely 

 connected as they are, to be operated upon by different causes. 



The idea of the Limestone overlying the Dyke, may possibly have 

 arisen from its being considered as a perpendicular fissure, which it cer- 

 tainly is not, either in the quarry at Whitley, at Cullercoats, or at Gos- 

 forth, where it has lately been so completely examined in Mr. Brand- 

 ling's new colliery. 



We have thus traced the edge of this formation through the whole of 

 the county of Durham, and to Cullercoats, in Northumberland, its most 

 northern hmit, and, in the whole line, we have seen the yellow Sand 

 and Red Sandstone accompanying the Magnesian Limestone j the series 

 of specimens now before the Society, from the different localities, will 

 show most of the characters of the two beds. At the same time it must 

 be admitted, that hand specimens can give but a vague idea of a forma- 

 tion of such extent and variety as this is. In many situations on the line 

 it might be taken by any one, who had not examined it thoroughly, to 

 be a Sandstone of the Coal Measures, but a more extensive survey, with 

 an attention to all the circumstances under which it occurs, could not 

 fail of satisfactorily pointing out its true relations to the adjoining strata. 



