858 MB. KIBKBY ON GEOLOGY OF 



Phillips,* Mr. H. H. Howell,! Dr. Geinitz,.| Professor King,|| 

 and other geologists of note, they are grouped with the Permian 

 series. 



The question of the systematic position of these sandstones — 

 usually known as the Lower Ked Sandstone — can of course only 

 be determined on its scientific merits ; and I have no wish to 

 try to swamp the opinion of the author by any quotation of big 

 authorities. But it seems to me as if both he, and the gentle- 

 man whose views he adopts, placed too great stress upon the 

 Tynemouth section, which is not a typical one so far as concerns 

 the Lower Ked Sandstone. It may be, in fact, that the red 

 sandstone and shale, from which Mr. Howse got his Coal-Mea- 

 sure plants in 1857, are true Coal-Measure rocks ; but it does 

 not follow that the soft yellow sandstone overlying it, and which 

 is seen lying beneath the Magnesian Limestone in its range south- 

 ward in various places for nearly 120 miles, also belongs to the 

 Coal-Measures. 



The soft yellow sandstone never contains fossils, so that palse- 

 ontological evidence as to its position is out of the question. 

 But when it is seen following the course of the Magnesian Lime- 

 stone, from where the Coal-Measures Lie comparatively flat in 

 North Durham, across their, outcropping edges in the southern 

 portion of the coal field (Wingate, Cornforth, Thrislington), 

 and afterwards passing into Yorkshire with the Magnesian 

 Limestone, and there seen with it resting sometimes on Coal- 

 Measures (Pontefract, Pebbley Dam, &c.), and sometimes on 

 Millstone Grit (Knaresborough, Bramham Park), and in some 

 cases actually passing up gradually into the overlying Magne- 

 sian Limestone so as to render their exact separation impossible 

 (Knaresborough), it is my opinion that the physical evidence 

 quite suffices to show that the most appropriate classification 

 for this sandstone is with the Permian, and not with the Car- 

 boniferous rocks. 



* Map of the Geology of Yorkshire. 



t Geo. Surv. Map of the Tynemouth and Seaton Shiice districts. 



t Dyas: Introduction of. See translation in Trans. Manchester Geo. Sec, Vol. IV., p. 

 121. 



II Monograph of Perm. Fossils, &c. 



