508 THB GEOLOGIST. 
I 
1 
BRITISH ASSOCIATION- MEETING. 
THE BURNLEY COAL-FIELD. 
By Joseph "Whitakeh, Member of tlie Mancltester Geological Society, and 
T. T. Wilkinson, F.R.A.S., &e. 
Although of limited area, the coal-field of Bitrnlev is UDCommonly rich, not 
only in its stores of fossil fuel, but also in points of stratigraphical interest, 
and in organic remains. It comprises within itself a complete series of the 
middle and lower coal-measures. 
It may be described as occupying a basin Kke a vaDey surrounded by high 
ranges of hills, amongst the most prominent of which may be noticed Pendle 
on the north, Boulsworth on the east, Gorple towards the south, and Hambleton 
on the west, some of which rise to near two thousand feet above the level of 
the sea. Geographically it occupies the lowest portion of the valley, geologi- 
cally it is the highest, when considered with reference to the stratification of 
the district. 
The most productive portion of the field underlies the town of Burnley, 
where it assumes the form of a long troiigh, bounded on the east and west by 
two lines of upheaval, running nearly parallel. 
The greatest depth to which the strata has been pierced occurs on the Tul- 
ledge estate, where a depth of six hundi-ed feet has been attained, and where 
the following seams of coal have been found : — The Dog Hole Mine, or top 
bed, six feet thick ; Kershaw Bed, three feet ; Shell Bed, two and a-half feet ; 
Burnley Old Tive feet, or main coal, five feet ; Higher Yard Bed, three feet ; 
Lower Yard Bed, Low Bottom, or four feet coal ; Thin Coal, two and three- 
quarters feet ; Great Mine, or Bing Bed, four feet. 
These are locally known as the Burnley " Top Beds.*' They include about 
thirty-five feet of coal embedded in about six hundred feet of intermediate 
strata. Tor a depth of about two hundred feet below these no coal occurs. 
Then come the Arley series, or Habergham mines, consisting of the follow- 
ing workable seams : — The China Bed, two feet thick ; the Dandy Bed, three 
feet ; the Arley or Habergham Mine, four feet ; giving a total of nine feet of 
coal to about four hundred and forty -five feet of interposing strata. 
A series of strata devoid of coal of at least five-hundred feet in thickness 
here again form another natural division of the measures, which is succeeded 
by the Gannister series comprising a foot mine with a hard gannister floor ; the 
Spa Clough Top Bed, two and a-half feet thick ; Spa Clough Bottom Bed, four 
feet ; or a total of about eight feet of coal with six hundred and eighty feet 
of intervening strata. 
From the lowest coal of the Gannister series to the Rough Rock, or the 
highest member of the Millstone-grit formation the distance is something over 
three hundred feet. 
Hence, omitting many thin seams of less than a foot in thickness, there is, 
from the highest mine of the Burnley measures to the highest member of the 
Millstone-grit, an entire total of over fifty feet of coal for a depth of two 
thousand and twenty-five feet of strata. The millstone grit series of coals 
occur next in the descending order, consisting of three thin seams of less 
thickness than one foot, none of which have been worked in the neighbourhood 
