Mr. Budsle's Synopsis of the Newcastle Coal Tield. 227 



well-known quarry of that name is worked in it. It then runs on the 

 line of the section, and gains cover by the rising of the surface till it 

 approaches the Main Dyke, where by the decline of the ground to the 

 northward of Prospect Hill, and a little to the west of the line of the 

 section it again comes to the surface and is quarried. After its depres. 

 sion by the Main Dyke, it does not again appear at the surface till we 

 find it in the bed of Holywell Burn. I shall not, in this place, notice 

 the Metal Coal Post, and other strata of Sand Stone, which occur below 

 the High Main Coal Seam, an account of their being uncertain in their 

 thickness and character, and because they do not appear at the surface 

 any where on this line of section. The only part in which the Metal Coal 

 Post has been found of any material thickness, is in Jarrow Colliery, where 

 it is 9 fathoms. Through the northern part of the section it never ex- 

 ceeds 2 or 3 fathoms in thickness- To the west of the line, however, at 

 Seghill and Cramlington, this post has been found increased to 10 

 fathoms. 



As to the Argillaceous, or Metal Stone, Strata, I am not at present 

 prepared to state, that they, with the exception of the Black Stone, 

 possess any distinctive character. The Black Stone lies immediate- 

 ly upon the Main Post, from which it is only separated by a thin 

 seam of Coal of 1 to 12 inches, with a fire-clay pavement of from 2 to 4 

 feet in thickness. The Black Stone itself seldom exceeds 21 feet, but 

 a grey Metal Stone, of variable thickness, is frequently found to repose 

 upon it, and to fill up the space between it and the 70-fathom Post. 

 It is laminated, but compact when dug out, but shivers and decomposes 

 on being exposed to the atmosphere, it is of a deep blueish black colour, 

 and abounds in small bi-valve shells. This Black Stone accompanies 

 the Main Post in every part of the Coal Field, although it is thinner 

 and of a greyer colour in the Tanfield district, and hence a deeper 

 shade has been given to those strata, to guide the eye through the se- 

 veral dislocations. The following seams of Coal are shewn on this 

 section : — The Monkton, or Hebburn Fell Seam, the Three-quarter, 

 the High Main, the Metal Coal, the Stone Coal, the Yard Coal, the 

 Bensham, the Five-quarter, and the Lo'w Main. 



