43 



SKETCH OF THE GEOLOG-Y OP THE TOEBAXE 

 MNEEAL EIEED. 



Ey ANDREW Tatloe, E.E.P.S., E.B.S.E. 



The various corps of an army drawn up in line of battle are dis- 

 tinguished not only by tlieir various uniforms, but also by the dis- 

 tinct position assigned them in the field. This greatly helps the 

 general to the immediate disposition of sharpshooters, infantry, or 

 artillery, as the fate of battle may require. 2^Iost of the minerals 

 which are the basis of our commercial and mining greatness are 

 obtained from the Carboniferous system. The industrialist obtains 

 them from various parts of this formation. When a new substance 

 has presented itself, having characters very ditferent from the ordi- 

 nary rank and file of coals, clay-bauds, or fire-clays, it? stratigraphi- 

 cal position will help tis to determine if it is entitled to a distinct 

 character. If its place be distinct from those of the ordinary coals, 

 if likewise there are indications of a difierent physical mode of for- 

 mation, then its claim to be a new mineral will be greatly strength- 

 ened. 



The lower carboniferous rocks of Scotland consist of shales and 

 sandstones more than a thousand feet thick, termed by Mr. Maclaren 

 the calciferous sandstone series. A freshwater limestone, equivalent 

 to that worked at Burdie House, near Edinburgh, is the predominant 

 member of this group. This limestone runs in an elliptical area 

 round that city for nearly twenty-fotir miles, extending through Eife, 

 Midlothian, and Liulithgowshires. Part of this series extends to t]^.e 

 south-east of the town of Bathgate, round which is tlie Torbane Hiil 

 mineral basin. A geological section in the Bathgate Hills, taken from 

 Dechmont-law to Balbardie House, exhibits a limestone containing 

 freshwater fossils, and equivalent to the one worked at Burdie House, 

 gradually merged into another limestone containing marine fossils, 

 which is usually recognized as the lowest bed of the carboniferous 

 series. 



The axis of the bills occurs in a wooded pron;inence overlooking 

 the Caputhall Bogs, and near the Clinking Stane." At this point 

 the limestones may be traced within a few hundred yards of each 

 other, dipping north-north-west and south-south-east. The Kirkton 

 limestone, a peculiar bed, described by Er. Hibbert, containing both 

 marine and fluviatile remains, intervenes. Eastward from the pro- 

 minence just indicated, both the axis of the hills, and the connexion 

 of the limestones, may be traced in the burn running through Ban- 

 gour Farm, at Binny, and thence at various points to the shore of 

 the Eorth at Hopetoun. 



From the section described, the succession of the strata on either 

 side of the axis, comprising the country eastward to Edinburgh on 

 the one hand, and westward to bhotts on the other, is as follows : — 



