107 
LIMESTO^^^E AT GARVOC. 
By L. H. Ower, Assistant Boring Engineer. 
The erosion of the Mt. Emu Creek has exposed a number of outcrops 
of murine Tertiary limestone, underlying a thin capping of basalt. The 
prospecting hole has been sunk on a low tongue of land in allotment 12, 
parish of Laang, about 1 mile south from the Garvoc railway station. 
The limestone can be traced at intervals, where the soil has been 
denuded, along the creek frontage, from which it may be assumed that 
the deposit is extensive and of considerable depth. The rock is mainly 
of a hard compact character, samples assayed at the Geological Survey 
laboratory showing 93 per cent, of carbonate of lime. 
Sufficient information is to hand to enable quarrying to be com¬ 
menced immediately, and the best position for opening out is in the 
vicinity of the present prospecting hole. 
A basalt overburden will have to be removed as the quarry advances, 
but it is not likely to cause serious trouble. 
[15.10.13.] 
REPORTED OCCURRENCE OF BLACK COAL NEAR 
CURDIE’S SIDING. 
By H. Herman, AI.M.E., F.G.S., Director, Geological Survey. 
The site where good black coal is reported to occur near Curdie’s 
Siding is that of an old sawpit, in Block 46, parish of Brucknell, 
county of Heytesbury, about 28 chains east of the parish boundary road, 
about 5 chains from the west boundary of the block, and about 30 
chains southerly from the northern boundary.^ About twenty 
years have elapsed since the pit was working, and from the 
excavation then made several barrow-loads of black coal were 
obtained from a depth of about 4 ft., according to Mr. Tranter, 
who states that he saw the coal taken out. The coal is stated to 
have been burned on the forge for several weeks and used for sharpening 
tools. Mrs. Tranter informed me that at the time she sent a sample in 
her own name to Mr. James Stirling (then Assistant Government 
Geologist), and received in reply an analysis stating that the coal was 
high grade black coal (or to that effect) and. contained only 3 per cent, 
of ash. Mr. Stirling’s report also, she states, expressed the opinion 
that the main .seam is 60 to 160 ft. from the surface.” The analysis 
and report are not now in Mrs. Tranter’s possession. 
Last year Mr. Prank Tranter bored 55 ft. deep at about 20 ft. distant 
from the pit where the coal is stated to have been obtained, and his 
records (given verbally) of material passed through are about 10 ft. of 
loam and .sandy clays, then 8 ft. of white hard limestone, then about 
30 ft. of “grey pug;” thence a white loose powdery material to the 
bottom. 
A hole a few feet from the pit shows limestone a few feet from the 
surface. There is little doubt that this limestone belongs to the marine 
Lower or Middle Tertiary series of the district, and a seam of good black 
coal overlying it, and evidently included in the marine series, Avould be 
distinctly a geological freak. The facts that the bore did not pass through 
^ Mr. Frank Tranter supplied these figures. 
