1845.] BINNEY ON THE NEW RED SANDSTONE. 15 



having been long acted upon by the water which deposited the now 

 red sandstone, give no indication as to whether or not the disloca- 

 tion was up or down. 



Connexion of the Lancashire Coal-field with other Coal-fields, 



No positive evidence has yet been obtained to prove the continuity 

 of the Lancashire seams with those of Flint or the Dee, but judging 

 from the dips of the two coal-fields, and the similarity of their re- 

 spective strata, there can be little doubt of their extending under 

 the new red sandstone formation of Cheshire, and being connected. 

 The coals at Neston, Northop and Bagilt appear to be identical with 

 the thick coals of the lower part of the middle division of the Lan- 

 cashire coal-field. Unfortunately the great upthrow of the moun- 

 tain limestone of Halkin has cut ofi" the coals on the rise, and we 

 are deprived of the sight of the lower coal-field, which is so generally 

 the most useful part of the deposit when we wish to identify one 

 coal-field with another. 



With regard to the Yorkshire and Derbyshire coal-field*, there is 

 no doubt of its identity with that of Lancashire, the millstone grit 

 which forms the lower part of both fields being continuous over the 

 hills along the line of the Manchester and Sheffield Railway, by the 

 Huddersfield Canal, Blackstone Edge and Todmorden, the lime- 

 stone shales being sometimes seen under them in the valleys. In 

 addition to this, all the seams and rocks of the lower coal-field, with 

 their beds of Pecten, Goniatites^ &c., in the neighbourhood of Staley- 

 bridge and Marple, can be as well identified with those of Deepcar 

 and other places in the valley of the Don and Brampton near Ches- 

 terfield, as they can with those of Harrock Hill and Newburgh near 

 Ormskirk. 



The deposits in the middle of the coal-field, it has been already 

 stated, cannot be well identified even in Lancashire at distant points, 

 owing to the change in the seams of coal and the variability of their 

 accompanying rocks; and it is therefore scarcely to be expected that 

 they can be better compared with beds in a different field. But the 

 black shale coal of Sheffield and Chesterfield — the last thick seam — 

 can be identified with the Riley mine, the last bed in the middle di- 

 vision of the Lancashire coal-field. This bed of coal in each field is 

 generally of great value, both for its thickness and quality, and lies 

 immediately above about 200 yards of barren shales and sandstones 

 which occur over the lower coals. These strata have become well- 

 known in both districts, owing to the fruitless searches which have 

 been made in them for workable seams of coal, and they constitute 

 a good line of boundary to separate the middle from the lower coal- 

 field. 



Having thus obtained some evidence of the identity of a seam of 

 coal in the two fields, there is little difficulty in learning how I'ar 

 each field is developed, and what portions of each remain under the 

 new red sandstone formation. Probably the best way to ascertain 



* Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society, vol. i. pp. 78, 80. 



