I. Observations on the Geology of Northumberland and Durham. 

 By N. J. WINCH, Esq. 



HONORARY MEMBER OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Read March 18th, 1814.* 



CONSIDERING the great importance of the coal and lead mines, 

 and of the quarries of Northumberland and Durham, and the oppor- 

 tunities which they offer to geological research, it is rather singular 

 that no history of the physical structure of these counties has yet 

 been laid before the public. It is however well known that much 

 interesting information on these subjects has long been accumulating 

 and is widely diffused among the professional conductors of the 

 mines. I have endeavoured in the following paper to combine 

 some of these scattered materials with the substance of my own 

 observations, and to give a general outline of the several formations 

 that compose our district. I have added short descriptions of the 

 principal rocky strata belonging to these formations, and catalogues 

 of such of their metallic ores, crystallized minerals, and organic re- 

 mains, as have come under my notice. 



. * This paper was read at the meetings of the Society six months before the publication 

 of the sketch of the same district by Dr. Thomson. See Annals of Philosophy, for 

 November and December, 1814. 



Vol. iv. a 



