301 
The Burrum Beds themselves lie un conformably on the Gympie Beds (Permo- 
Carboniferous), as is shown by the Section, PI. 50, fig. 2, taken from a Beport by Mr. 
Bands,* * * § who remarks : — 
“The actual junction of the Gympie Beds with the [Burrum] Coal Measures is 
concealed by sandy country. At the southern boundary of the Coal Measures the 
relation of these beds to one another is better seen on the Maryborough and Gympie 
Bailway, about two miles south of the Curra Station. There is a hard porphyritic rock 
containing crystals of felsjjar, hornblende, and mica, in the cutting fifty-one miles from 
Maryborough. Laminated sandstones and shales belonging to the Burrum Beds occur 
in a cutting fifty and a-half miles from Maryborough. They dip N-W. at 6°, and 
overlie the porphyry, which here is more of the character of a white felsite. In the 
cutting at fifty-one and a-half miles from Maryborough, white felsite occurs again, 
while, ten chains further south, the upper shales of the Gympie Series come in, dipping 
E. 40° N. at 45°. A small ‘ sheet ’ of felsite is seen in these shales, about two 
chains further south, and a larger sheet of it about one and a-half miles south of that 
again. The Gympie shales do not appear to have been baked or altered by this rock, 
and I am of opinion that the felsite is interbedded with the shales. But supposing the 
felsite to be intrusive in the shales, it was intruded before the Burrum Beds were 
deposited, otherwise we should find it intruding these beds also, which is not the case. 
In either ease, therefore, the unconformability of the Burrum and Gympie Beds is 
manifest.” 
Within certain limits, therefore, the age of the Burrum Beds is fixed by 
stratigraphieal evidence. They are newer than the Permo-Carboniferous, and older 
than the Upper Cretaceous. 
On the western edge of the field the strata, which in the type district are 
Unaltered, and but little disturbed, become inclined at high angles, and altered into 
micaceous slates, which are veined with quartz, and finally rest upon granites. 
Prior to the date (1886) of my “ Handbook of Q.ueensland Geology,” the chief 
sources of information regarding the Burrum Coal Pield were Mr. A. C. Gregory’s 
two BeportSjt and passages in the Bcv. J. B. Tenison Woods’ “ Coal Besources of 
Queensland.”J Since that date, Mr. Bands has furnished two Beports,§ dealing with 
the stratigraphical geology of the series in detail. The description which follows is 
mainly compiled from these writing.^, with such additions as I have been able to make 
from a limited personal knowledge of the district. 
In the immediate neighbourhood of the town of Howard, which is the centre of 
mining operations, the .strata dip with great regularity to the north-east, at an average 
iiugle of about 12°, and do not appear to be disturbed by faults of any magnitude. 
Erom his surveys, Mr. Bands has compiled the following section : — 
Ft. in. 
Brown and grey sandslone ... 
Shales with beds of sandstone 
r Coal 
Beidoe Seam < Shale ... 
i. Coal 
40 0 
60 0 
2 7 
6 0 
3 0 
Carried forward ... ... ... ... ... ... 116 7 
* Report on Tiaro District : The Coal Measures, &o. Brisbane : by Authority : 1890. 
t On the Geology of part of the Districts of Wide Bay and Burnett. Brisbane: by Authority : 1876. 
nd Report on the Burrum Coal Field. Brisbane : by Authority : 1870. 
+ Brisbane : The Government Piinter, 1883. 
§ Report on the Burrum Coal Field. Brisbane : by Authority ; 1886. And Report on Tiaro District : 
ne Coal Measures, &c. Brisbane : by Authority : 1890. 
