II. On a Whin Dyke traversing Limestone in the County of 

 Northumberland. 



By the Hon. HENRY GREY BENNET, m.p. f.r.s. 



VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



[Read 6th March, 1812.] 



JL BEG leave to communicate to the Geological Society some par- 

 ticulars of a whin dyke, which traverses a portion of the limestone 

 strata in the northern district of the county of Northumberland, and 

 projects into the sea on its north-eastern coast. 



It is seen most distinctly at Beadnel Bay, and may be traced a 

 few miles inland from this spot, where it forms a species of pier into 

 the sea. The surface strata have been washed away, and the dyke 

 itself is left some few feet higher than the rock on each side of it. 

 Upwards of 300 yards are thus seen at low water running in a right 

 line from the sea towards the north-west, 27 feet in width. It rises 

 in a perpendicular position through all the strata, without making 

 the least alteration in the dip or inclination of those that are adja- 

 cent : but some short distance from the place where it is laid open 

 to view, the limestone strata are much broken and dislocated. The 

 qualities of the different strata in contact with the dyke differ mate- 

 rially from those of the same strata at some distance from it, parti- 

 cularly the limestone, which when lying in the immediate vicinity 

 of the whin will not burn into lime of any value. This deteriora- 



