1849.] 



BROWN ON THE SYDNEY COAL-FIELD. 



125 



within a space of thirty feet. In some instances a hed of shale of a 

 deep red colour at the outcrop passes gradually through all the shades 

 of red, purple, brown and grey, until, at the foot of the cliff, it can- 

 not be distinguished from common grey shale ; and in others, as 

 represented in the cut, a bed three feet thick at the outcrop thins 

 out altogether before it reaches high-water mark. 



Fig. 2. 



1. Grey shale. 



2. Red shale. 



3. High-water line. 



Argillaceous ironstone is found in small detached nodules, rarely 

 in continuous layers, in many of the shales, but never in sufficient 

 quantity for working profitably. 



The total thickness of the sandstone beds is 562 feet ; they are of 

 a greyish white colour, sometimes tinged brown or green. The 

 thick beds are generally coarse; those numbered 272, 282 and 310 

 contain rounded pebbles of white quartz of all sizes up to one inch 

 in diameter. False stratification is very common in the thick beds ; 

 one of the most remarkable examples is shown in fig. 3, which is a 



Fig. 3. 



High. I 

 water > 

 line. J 



sketch of an outlying mass separated from bed No. 272 ; its height 

 is 9 feet. Many of the sandstones are micaceous and flaggy ; some 

 (Nos. 42, 292, 293, 294 and 332) so finely laminated and regular in 

 their bedding, that from twenty to thirty distinct layers can be counted 

 in one inch of depth. 



The bituminous shales are not numerous, their united thickness 

 being only 26 feet; they are of a black colour, and all more or less 

 inflammable ; those numbered 225 and 227 may be designated im- 

 pure Cannel coals, being very compact, possessing a conchoidal frac- 

 ture, and burning for a short time with a bright yellow flame. The 

 remainder are soft and laminated. They are all highly fossiliferouSj 

 as will be noticed in the sequel. 



