84 



Bulletin 35 



232 



Page in 



The site of the discovery is on the Montserratt road, about 

 half a mile from the railway between Union and Brothers. 

 The workings are in the valley along which the road runs. 

 The seam is from four to five feet thick, and the coal is 

 apparently of fair quality, but so extremely friable that it 

 falls on handling into very small pieces. This property is 

 prejudicial to the value of the article. 



The dip of the bed is between 50 0 and 60 0 to the W.N.W., 

 consequently the strike is about N.N.E. The containing 

 strata are clays without fossils, probably belonging to the 

 upper part of the miocene (/z, Fig. 3), lying unconformabl)' 

 upon the secondary rocks. The strata are probably the 

 equivalents of the Caroni series (k" y Fig. 3), but they are 

 deposited on the opposite (southern) side of the neocomian 

 ridge which traverses the middle of the island. Our know- 

 ledge of the geological structure of this part of the country is 

 extremely deficient owing to the want of exposures, without 

 which no geologist could ascertain with precision the posi- 

 tion and relations of the rocks. In Fig. 3 I have endeavoured 

 to present an improved view of the succession of the rocks 

 of Trinidad, based upon the results of the geological survey ; 

 but with such improvements as observations extending over 

 fifteen years have enabled me to suggest. In this diagram 

 /i, h' , h" , and h'" represent the miocene or tertiary coal- 

 bearing formations, which probably pass up near the south 

 coast into pliocene beds, which also include lignite and car- 

 bonaceous shales. The extent of the eocene formation is not 

 clearly defined ; this formation does not contain beds of 

 lignite so far as known, but many of its beds are impregnated 

 with asphaltic products, which in my opinion are derived 

 from the miocene formation. 



