494 H. J. EUNSON ON THE RANGE OF THE 
ampton area, and only 60 feet in thickness, which, compared with 
the thick deposits found on the borders of Northamptonshire and 
Warwickshire *, and again at Burford y, in Oxfordshire, shows that 
the Trias thinned out against the exposed plateau in the Northampton 
area, some parts of which were not entirely submerged till late in 
that age; and then it is doubtful whether the Trias reached beneath 
the town of Northampton, for the deposits between the Lias and 
the Carboniferous at the Kettering-road boring are not true Trias, 
but may be littoral or lacustrine beds. Again, this latter boring is 
situated midway between the Kingsthorpe Shaft and the Station 
boring, which are only 3 miles distant from each other, and I think 
that wé may safely conclude that the sandstones, conglomerates, 
and marls discovered in these two earlier investigations are not 
New Red Sandstone, as then stated, but are identical with the 
abnormal series at the Kettering-road boring. No mention is 
made of the discovery of the White Lias and Rheetic in the ig 
borings, nor was it found at the Kettering road. 
In examining the thickness of the several beds and the cone 
tive depths of the five borings, which are almost in one straight 
line ranging north-east and south-west, it will be noticed that the 
old land-surface at Orton is considerably higher than the others; 
the surface at Gayton is also high; but the Kettering-road boring 
shows a great depression. This may partly account for the ab- 
sence of the White Lias and Rhetic, and the sandy appearance 
and uneven bedding which the lower parts of the Lias Clay pre- 
sented in this boring, and which was not noticed at either Orton 
or Gayton. 
With the discovery of the Carboniferous series at Northampton 
the question naturally arises as to the probability of a concealed 
Coal-field in the neighbourhood. The abortive boring for Coal at 
Orton has proved the absence of any in the north part of the 
county ; but with the Carboniferous rocks dipping rapidly at Gayton 
(in what direction it was not ascertained, but there can be little 
doubt that it is south or south-west) we have reason to believe that 
to the south-west, possibly extending to Burford, where the Coal- 
measures were discovered, the much-desired Coal-beds may yet be 
found, beneath South Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, and 
Oxfordshire, and at a workable depth. Also that between the 
exposed Coal-measures of Atherstone and Nuneaton and the Car- 
boniferous Limestone at Northampton + there may extend a Coal- 
tract beneath the overlying Triassic series, which thins out towards 
the east. 
* Hull, ‘ Coal-fields of Great Britain,’ 4th edit. p. 529. 
t Etheridge, ‘ Pop. Sci. Review,’ July 1879, p. 290. 
{ Etheridge, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxxvii. p. 23]. 
