Mr. N. Wood on the Geology of Northumberland, S(c. 333 



the influence of the latter hills appears to predominate, and the rise of 

 the beds then ranges more towards the north. This position of the 

 strata exposes, in the vale of the Tweed, the lowest beds of the Moun- 

 tain Limestone series, having the great central beds of Limestone 

 cropping out to the south and east of Ford, Barmoor, Ancroft, and 

 Scremerston. 



The lower beds which thus form the rocks in the upper part of the 

 vale of the Tweed are, as previously noticed in explanation of the coast 

 Section, thick beds of Red Ferruginous Sandstone, with occasional thin 

 beds of Limestone, lying immediately underneath the great central beds 

 of Limestone. Mr. Witham and Mr. Winch have, in the Trans. 

 Nat. History Society, pp. II7 — 172, described more particularly the 

 local position and mineralogical character of the beds of Sandstone in 

 this part of the Tweed, rendering it unnecessary for me to give any 

 more detailed account in this paper. Mr. Witham, especially, has suc- 

 ceeded in discovering and elucidating the existence and character of 

 numerous Fossil Plants, imbedded in the Shale accompanying these 

 Limestones, which are well worth the attention of the Geologist. 



It is in the superior beds of this Red Sandstone and thin beds of 

 Limestone, and underneath the great central beds of Limestone, that 

 the numerous seams of Coal, forming the Scremerston and Gatherick 

 Coal-field, exist, — a Section and description of which, by Mr. Fenwick, 

 is given in vol. i., p. 1 29, Trans. Nat. Hist. Society. The Coal, though 

 exhibiting the general properties of that found in the Mountain Lime- 

 stone, is superior in quality to several of the thin beds found in other 

 parts of this formation : but the quality differs essentially from that of 

 the regular Coal Measures, in being more Carbonaceous, having a con- 

 siderable residue of ashes, and not being sufficiently Bituminous to 

 render it coking. Agreeably to the position of the underlying beds, 

 these Coal seams rise rapidly from the coast westward, when they gra- 

 dually become more flat, and assume a more southerly dip, cropping out 

 to the surface on the east and southern banks of the rivers Till and 

 Tweed ; the upper beds being worked at Scremerston, and the lower 

 at Shoreswood, Gatherick, Etal, and Ford. 



