The Geological Formations near Emhleton, Northumber- 

 land. By J. G. GooDCHiLD, F.G.S., Royal Scottish 

 Museum, Edinburgh. 



Embleton, and also Dunstanborough Castle, stand upon 

 rocks which, so far as those of sedimentary origin are con- 

 cerned, are of Lower Carboniferous age : that is to say, they 

 are of later date than the Old Eed Sandstone, and earlier than 

 the Upper Carboniferous Eocks of the Newcastle Coalfield. 

 The particular sub-division of the Lower Carboniferous rocks, 

 which are exposed at the surface in the districts in question, 

 belongs to what are known, in the parts of the North of England 

 lying to the South and the South-west of Embleton, as the Yore- 

 dale Rocks. If we desire to point to the equivalent geological 

 position of the Embleton strata when we are considering the 

 Carboniferous Rocks of the Basin of the Forth, we may confi- 

 dently accept the statement that they lie between the Lothian 

 Edge Coals on the one hand and the Lothian Oil Shales on the 

 other. Again, if we want to know how they stand in relation 

 to the rocks seen in the fine coast section which is so well 

 displayed for a few miles South of the Tweed, we may feel quite 

 sure that these Embleton Rocks lie on a geological horizon 

 which is lower on the one hand than the Lickar Coal seams, 

 and is higher on the other than the chief coal seams which are 

 worked at, and near, Scremerston. Thus, below the surface at 

 Embleton are, in the first place, the equivalents of the Scremer- 

 ston Coals ; next below, there come the Fell Sandstones ; and, 

 finally, so far as the rocks of Carboniferous age are concerned, 

 comes the great mass of shales, clays, impure limestones, and 

 irregular flagstones which are variously known in different 

 parts of the Kingdom as the Lower Limestone Shales, Ballagan 

 Beds, Lower Tweedian, and the Cement-Stone Series. Under 

 the bottom beds of the Carboniferous Rocks there may occur 



