394 Prof. Sedgwick on the New Red Sandstone Series in the 



the point where the accompanying- section commences) another great fault, 

 producing- a downcast to the south-west, probably of not less than a thousand 

 feet, once more brings in the upper rich division of the coal field. Unfortu- 

 nately, however, between this fault and the village of Parton, the beds dip to 

 the east ; so that all those which are below the high-water mark necessarily 

 crop out under the sea. The result is, that no one has been able to extract the 

 coal, in consequence of the great quantity of sea water which finds its way 

 through the beds along their planes of dip. 



At Parton there are other considerable dislocations, not merely altering the 

 relative level of the beds, but again producing a reversed dip, by which the 

 whole series of coal measures, as well as all the overlying groups extending 

 to St. Bees Head, are made to plunge to the south-west at a small angle of 

 inclination. The successive strata, therefore, after this last inversion of dip, 

 have their outcrop in the interior of the country ; and the coal seams are 

 perfectly protected from the sea water by the impervious overlying beds of 

 shale. 



Such is the position of the submarine portion of the coal field of White- 

 haven ; and it does not seem possible to assign any limit to the works that 

 may there be conducted under the sea in the direction of the dip. But it 

 is foreign to my purpose to give any description of these works, as the pre- 

 ceding remarks are introduced for the sole purpose of explaining the nature of 

 the base line on which the accompanying section is constructed*. 



The north-eastern extremity of this section commences at Parton, among 

 some broken and contorted beds. The confused ground extends about 150 

 yards, after which the beds acquire their regular south-western dip above de- 

 scribed. Following the coast towards Whitehaven, we find the cliff composed of 

 shale and sandstone, which, after being continued several hundred yards, is sud- 

 denly cut off by a downcast fault, of 24 fathoms, to the south-westf . From 

 this point to the north end of Whitehaven, we find an uninterrupted rock of 

 coarse sandstone (resembling many well-known varieties of millstone grit), 

 generally of a gray or brownish gray colour, but here and there with stains and 

 streaks of red. Parts of the rock are of a very strong texture, and have been 

 extensively quarried for the new piers at Whitehaven. It has also been cut 

 through by the old tunnel between Whitehaven and Parton, as well as by a 



* I owe the knowledge of most of these facts to my friends Messrs. Peile, of the ColUery Office, 

 Whiteliaven ; and in a subsequent memoir on the carboniferous series of Cumberland (in which a 

 description of the Whitehaven coal field will of course form an important part), Mr. W. Peile has 

 promised to be my fellow-labourer. 



•j- This is the second fault marked on the section. 



